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Innovative City Forum Provides a Platform for Creative Minds
November 26, 2014
Heizo Takenaka, a professor at Keio University and director of Academyhills.
Each speech I had the pleasure to hear was as interesting as the last, and I am sure each one planted new ideas and seeds of creativity in the minds of the many audience members.
Joichi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab.
The 2014 installment of the Innovative City Forum took place at Toranomon Hills Forum. The program included an impressive roster of leaders in their fields from around the world. From academics to museum curators, creators to public policy leaders, the variety of topics discussed was surprisingly broad.
I had the opportunity to attend the keynote session on Thursday morning. After an introduction by Heizo Takenaka, a professor at Keio University and director of Academyhills, the audience was treated to a very interesting speech by Joichi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab. Mr. Ito spoke about a "new science of design."
One particularly intriguing section of his address was a description of new ways in which design is being taught at universities like MIT, by giving students the freedom to create and play with something in order to foster their creativity and imagination.
Another part that stuck out was when he talked about how a colleague of his has merged both science and design to create an artificial limb that replicated human motion to a point where it allowed a ballroom dancer injured in the Boston Marathon bombings to dance again.
Apinan Poshyananda, permanent secretary in Thailand's Ministry of Culture, followed Mr. Ito with a speech entitled "creative chaos." He spoke of the many recent natural disasters and political upheavals that have affected his country, and how art and design helped people to move on from these crises. One interesting example was after the 2004 tsunami, when Mr. Poshyananda invited artists from around the world to create pieces that would be displayed on public beaches and in public gardens, helping the people affected by the disaster to heal.
Each speech I had the pleasure to hear was as interesting as the last, and I am sure each one planted new ideas and seeds of creativity in the minds of the many audience members.
I look forward to attending the Innovative City Forum again next year.
Kelly