News Facts:
-- PopTech 2009 http://poptech.org/2009schedule/, one of the world's best thought leadership events, opened the doors to participants at its 13th annual event starting today in Camden, Maine. Thanks to support from Livestream, the entire conference will be simulcast free at poptech.org/live from Thursday 22nd - Saturday 24th October (9:00 am - 6:00 p.m. EDT daily). -- Over 600 preeminent thought-leaders, social innovators and change agents from a wide range of fields are convening for a shared exploration of America's opportunities, its challenges, and its future; and will be examining cutting-edge ideas in education, energy, entrepreneurship, and the many systems on which America's future wealth depends -- from the social impact of new technologies, to the forces of change shaping our future, and how to take action on new approaches to making the world a better place. -- The conference brings together over 70 thought-leaders including Michael Pollan, Robert Guest, Esther Duflo, Daniel Ariely, Kurt Andersen, Daniel Goleman, as well as other emerging thought leaders such as Daniel Nocera, Neri Oxman, Michael Wesch, John Fetterman, Erica Williams, Marije Vogelzang, and internationally known performers including Zoe Keating, John Forté, and Anthony Doer; as well as many thousands of viewers online, who are able join the discussion live via Twitter @poptech and submit questions over email to questions@poptech.org. -- The class of 2009 PopTech Social Innovation Fellows will be presenting their projects to conference participants -- they include: Aviva Presser Aiden & Hugo Van Vuuren with Lebônê, Jason Aramburu with re:char, Eben Bayer with Ecovative Design, Paula Kahumbu with WildlifeDirect, Deb Levine with ISIS, Inc., Derek Lomas with Playpower Foundation, Josh Nesbit with FrontlineSMS:Medic, James O'Brien with Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School, Ory Okolloh with Ushahidi, Emily Pilloton with Project H Design, Hayat Sindi with Diagnostics For All, Taylor Stuckert & Mark Rembert with Energize Clinton County, and Nigel Waller with Movirtu. -- Viewers may follow PopTech's daily conference video digests and other updates online at the PopTech Blog, http://poptech.org/blog.Partner Collaborations:
-- FLAP Initiative -- Over the past 12 months, PopTech has partnered with
Sheila Kennedy, founder of the Portable Light Project, and Timbuk2
Designs to prototype and field test an adaptable, affordable, portable
source of flexible light and power (FLAP) that has the potential to
benefit some of the 2 billion people worldwide who live without reliable
access to electricity.
-- The goal throughout has been to engage the PopTech community in an
open, collaborative social innovation project -- developing use
cases, distribution strategies, and funding mechanisms, as well as
exploring ways to bring the FLAP project to scale. The initiative has
resulted in a new type of messenger bag (created by Timbuk2) that
integrates a new 2-watt lighting and charging resource (created by
the Portable Light Project) into its flap.
-- Extensive field-testing in Ghana, Kenya, and Arizona in the U.S. has
provided invaluable feedback and allowed for ongoing product
development, and as requests for testing the FLAP bags continue to
filter in via a growing network, the initiative will expand the
distribution regions and selected user groups in direct response to
the tester's needs. The FLAP team actively seeks the involvement of
partners to help scale the program going forwards; visit
poptech.org/FLAP for up-to-date project information and to learn how
to get involved.
Partnerships:
-- PopTech recognizes and is grateful for the support of numerous partners,
who help further the organization's breakthrough programs and
initiatives. In 2009, these partnerships include:
-- Strategic level partnerships with Nike, Inc., Microsoft Research,
Time Warner Cable, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Economist, and Frog
Design.
-- Program level partnerships with National Geographic, Thomson Reuters,
Timbuk2, Scion, Cognizant, American Express, and the Surdna
Foundation.
-- Friend level partnerships with eBay Green Team, Text 100, Steelcase,
Hamilton Hughes Design, Livestream, Duarte, Canaan Partners,
Trollback & Company, and Wert & Company.
Speaker Highlights:
-- Michael Pollan, leading food journalist and activist,
michaelpollan.com
-- Kurt Andersen, best-selling author, cultural critic and host of
Studio360, kurtandersen.com
-- Esther Duflo, developmental economist and antipoverty researcher,
povertyactionlab.org
-- Daniel Ariely, behavioral economist and author of "Predictably
Irrational," predictablyirrational.com
-- Daniel Goleman, leading psychologist of emotional and ecological
intelligence, danielgoleman.info
-- John Fetterman, Mayor of Braddock, PA, http://www.15104.cc
-- James Fowler, author of "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social
Networks and How They Shape Our Lives," jhfowler.ucsd.edu
-- Neri Oxman, architect and material ecologist, materialecology.com
-- Chris Jordan, artist whose large scale photography depicts consumerism
and its aftermath, chrisjordan.com
-- Luis von Ahn, computer scientist, and researcher on "human
computation," cs.cmu.edu/~biglou
-- Dan Nocera, artificial photosynthesis and solar energy pioneer,
mit.edu/~chemistry/faculty/nocera.html
-- Jay Rogers, CEO and founder of Local Motors, local-motors.com
-- Jonah Lehrer, author of "How We Decide" and "Proust Was A
Neuroscientist," jonahlehrer.com
-- Willie Smits, founder and Chief Science Officer of Tapergy, a zero-
waste, people, planet, profit, global bio-fuels company, masarang.org
-- Michael Wesch, digital anthropologist studying the social impact of
YouTube, ksuanth.weebly.com/wesch.html
-- Dan Ornish, founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research
Institute, pmri.org/dean_ornish.html
-- Katy Payne, bio-acoustician and authority on language of elephants,
birds.cornell.edu/brp/elephant/
About PopTech
PopTech is a renowned thought leadership and unique innovation network
dedicated to accelerating the positive impact of world-changing people,
projects, and ideas. The organization is known for its thriving community
of thought-leaders, visionary annual conferences, engaging media
productions, and the breakthrough innovation programs that it fosters
worldwide.
PopTech creates transformational experiences that showcase the ideas,
trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the future. It is a non-profit
501(c)(3) organization that fosters breakthrough, multidisciplinary
collaborations through which individuals, companies and organizations work
together to change the world. Please visit http://www.poptech.org for more
information.
Contact Information: Press Contacts: Marie-Claire Meisels PopTech 718-260-9758 marieclaire@poptech.org Ryoko Ono Text 100 Public Relations (212) 331-8437 ryokoo@text100.com