This post comes to you from Engage by Design

Campus Party is the largest Internet event in the world, with several different ‘parties’ being held all over the globe. For seven days they open their doors to thousands of people all working in the digital sector. Campus party believe that the human factor is at the heart of the festival and run by the slogan ‘The Internet is not a network of computers, it’s a network of PEOPLE’.

The event has evolved into a 7-day, 24-hour festival connecting online communities, gamers, programmers, bloggers, governments, universities and students and has a broad focus, covering technology innovation and electronic entertainment, with an emphasis on free software, programming, astronomy, social media, gaming, green technology, robotics, security networks and computer modeling.Their stated goal is to bring together the best talent in areas regarding technology and Internet to share experiences and innovate for a “better tomorrow”#.

In collaboration with ‘Apolorama a popular online cultural magazine, and Sari Dennise  the volunteer coordinator of Campus Party Mexico, we were invited to hold a 30 minute video call workshop from the UK with the Campus Party Mexico in Mexico City.

Using one of our values; innovation, as a tool for social change as the basis for the workshop, we asked ‘what is innovation?’. We outlined the Kaleidoscope project and then introduced the concept of innovation* as we see it. For the most of the developers, gamers and participants once we asked the question ‘what is innovation? the response was associated to words like new and the development of technology.

As the workshop was held online we had support in Mexico from the Apolorama team. We presented a slide show which shares the main following ideas;

1. Explore the perception of Innovations under The Kaleidoscope Project scope.
2. The kaleidoscope Project diagram.
3. Intervention and innovation as a social revulsive.
4. Examples of innovation? from iPhone 1, 5, GMC (genetic modified crops), hummer limousine, chocolate 3d printer, COMA Torolab, Clorus bulbs and mobile apps.
5. Our understanding of innovation.
6. The process to be innovative, beta stage as trigger for action and development.

The feedback was really positive from the participants. The Q&A at the end of the workshop shows their attitude and awarenes to develop meaningful innovations with a different paradigm.

Engage by Design is a social enterprise developed through the final Master research of Rodrigo Bautista and Zoe Olivia John in sustainability and design. As a consultancy they specialize in strategic interventions that aim to support the transformation of your product or service into a more sustainable one.

Engage by Design’s research arm intends to act as a platform which enables dialogues and actions between a diverse range of disciplines around sustainability and design.

Rodrigo Bautista – Rodrigo is an Industrial Designer and has worked in many different industries including media, products, services and telecommunications. Today his work focuses on strategic interventions and tools to apply sustainability and design instruments within a company.

Zoë Olivia John – Zoë’s background in Fashion & Textiles has lead her into the research and development of better ways to integrate learning about sustainability for Higher Education students and tutors, particularly within the F&T programme. She is interested in finding new ways to readdress our value structure from one of linear economic quantity to one of circular quality.

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