Economy

12.09.2012

Oikos Winter School 2012

Local innovation for global Impact is the slogan of the oikos Winter School 2012. From the 3rd to the 11th of November they are inviting “young change maker from all around the world” to join them in the Ruhr area: “Germany’s post-industrial area where transition is happening”.

“In order to answer the question “How to create a sustainable future?” we want to gain knowledge on Post-Growth Economy, Global Responsibility and Urbanization & Communities . With Design Thinking and sustainable project development we will scale up your ideas and projects. And all together we will face a City Development Challenge!”

Applications till the 15th of September with your idea or project with the chance to gain the “oikos consulting Award” to make your vision become real.

For further information and application, visit the event website website: www.oikos-winterschool.org

By Sacha Kagan

02.09.2012

2nd African Creative Economy Conference

The Arterial Network is holding its second “African Creative Economy Conference” on November 14 -16 2012 in Dakar, Senegal.

According to its organisers: “The aims of the conference are to provide practical analysis and reflective overview of the current status of African creative economy. This should help consolidate emergent African expertise in this area while providing critical thought necessary in navigating the unfolding realities the sector is faced with. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

28.06.2012

McDonalds and Sustainability –

- come to think of it…

McDonalds and Sustainability. Sounds extremly logical, doesn´t it? These days, the construction of the first sustainable McDonalds store, comes to an end in London. Does that mean, that in the future the well known Fast Food Chain won´t be the place anymore where uncritical and environmentunfriendly voices are still welcome? Probably not. It does sound great at first, but in no way believable. The ¨green¨ turn is placed in the context of the Olympic Summer Games in London this year. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) had the vision of an all-around effective event, not to miss out on the offered food. Luckily McDonalds is one of the main sponsors of the Games, besides well known cola and beer brands, and announced to make the vision real and serve high quality British food.

Read more »

By Elisabeth Lena Aubrecht

23.06.2012

50+20 Management Education for the World

From June 13th to 20th  diverse events were held by 50+20 to orientate management education towards the common good at Rio+20.

50+20’s point of departure is the belief that “the time is ripe for critical reflection on the role business and management education plays in society, today and specifically tomorrow.”

This project was initiated by The World Business School Council of Sustainable Business (WBSCSB) as part of an initiative born in a supplementary event at the Academy of Management in Montreal in 2010, meanwhile the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), a global partnership of leaders from companies and business schools had launched project SB21, focused on a blueprint for the business school of the twenty-first century.

The Principles of Responsible Management Education (U.N. backed PRME) joined their efforts and, in January 2011, the three organizations signed a joined agreement of collaboration; projects SB21 and 50+20 were merged into one with the team members, complementing another in terms of know-how, skills, global make-up and competences.

You can visit http://50plus20.org/ to know more about the organization and the contents of the events that were held the past days.

By Luis Bravo

22.06.2012

Nigerian Activist Nnimo Bassey : Rio+20 Summit Will Not Get Us Out of Environmental Crisis

Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, chair of Friends of the Earth International is taking part in the Rio+20 Summit, and in a recent interview, he commented on the failure by the governments and policymakers on reaching the goals agreed in 1992.

He also mentioned the low ambitions and the lack of desire to commit and make changes that would not represent a benefit to their countries, as well as the fact that there´s already a draft agreement, which the presidents are constantly looking at, and that doesn´t contain the causes or proposals  to deal with the crises we´re facing nowadays.

You can read the transcript of the interview here.

By Luis Bravo

17.06.2012

UNGA Resolution on culture and Development

As we approach the start of Rio+20 ,it may be interesting for you to read about the UN General Assembly resolution on culture and development/2011/A/RES/66/208. In this document the important contribution of culture to the achievement of sustainable development and of national and international development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals is emphasized, mentioning diverse actions, and encouraging/inviting diverse levels of government and international agencies to place emphasis on culture in order to make sustainable development possible.

You can read the full Resolution here.

By Luis Bravo

13.02.2012

The Slave Business and Its Material and Moral Hinterlands in Continental Europe

Conference at the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool (UK), April 20-22, 2012

The history of transatlantic slavery is one of the most active and fruitful fields of historical research worldwide. As scholarship in this field is increasingly global, it opens up unique possibilities for international collaboration. More particularly, the most recent research which looks beyond the familiar Atlantic axis and the principal slave-trading nations has made clear the scope for new kinds of comparative and trans-regional studies.

The conference revisits a number of key themes relevant to the relationship between slavery (outside Europe) and the dynamics of (European) metropolitan society, giving specific attention to developments in Continental Europe and in particular to the German-speaking regions. These themes include the impact of the slave business on capitalist development and the development of discourses around slavery and abolition in the public sphere. Behind that there lie questions about private conscience – in the first instance about what was known and knowable about the implication of individual economic actors in one of the earliest globalised businesses. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

12.09.2011

PICNIC Festival 2011

September 14th-16th, Amsterdam

“PICNIC Festival is an annual three-day event that blurs the lines between creativity, science, technology and business to explore new solutions in the spirit of co- creation. This year’s theme is Urban Futures, with a focus on sustainability, infrastructure, society, design and media. PICNIC Festival 2011 takes place from 14 to 16 September at NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam.”

more information: http://thirdwaveberlin.com/2011/08/picnic-festival-2011/?utm_source=Cognitive+Cities+Conference+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d958e85e4f-PICNIC8_29_2011&utm_medium=email

By Benjamin Smith

17.05.2011

Exhibition: “On the Metaphor of Growth”

Reposted from: www.kunstverein-hannover.de

Installation of Michel Blazy

Until June 26, 2011 in Hannover, Germany

As a concept initially associated with biology, “growth” suggests something natural.  However, if one follows the concept of growth as a metaphor borrowed from biology, one additionally encounters a second side that usually negates the metaphorical use. Organic growth is consistently defined by a natural border; it knows a state of being fully grown and is determined by the cycle of growth and decay. Stagnation, transience and renewal are part of the “natural,” but hardly find any metaphorical acceptance. Economic growth or technical development, for example, knows no boundary and no saturation.

The international exhibition project “On the Metaphor of Growth” brings together various strands of artistic dealings with different phenomena of growth to construct a tension field out of positive and negative connotations of growing, occasioning fundamental reflections. In the process, the artists’ designs — their reactions and answers to specific consequences of the idea of growth — form a matrix that enables the central position of the concept of growth in the social self-image to be experienced.

Read more »

By Ronja Röckemann

14.03.2011

FCForum conclusions – sustainable economic models for the creative sector

“We can no longer put off re-thinking the economic structures that have been producing, financing and funding culture up until now. Many of the old models have become anachronistic and detrimental to civil society. The aim of this document is to promote innovative strategies to defend and extend the sphere in which human creativity and knowledge can prosper freely and sustainably.

This document is addressed to policy reformers, citizens and free/libre culture activists to provide them practical tools to actively operate this change.”

Download the Declaration and “How-to” guide to new models of sustainability in the digital era at http://fcforum.net/sustainable-models-for-creativity

By Sacha Kagan

23.02.2011

Lectures and presentations available on video

READY TO CHANGE: An Experimental Forum on Culture and Social Innovation in Europe and in the Med Area

An event organized in Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2–4 December 2010, within the framework of the Sostenuto project “Thinking culture as a factor of economic and social innovation”

Direct link to the videos of the lectures and presentations held at the Forum: http://www.bunker.si/eng/sostenuto-lectures-and-presentations

Direct links to: the Catalogue: PDF file ;  the forum’s manifesto: http://www.bunker.si/eng/manifest-towards-transformational-cultures ; photos from the event: on flickr

By Sacha Kagan

05.02.2011

Conexiones improbables: Call for Applications

Call for artists and social scientists to develop joint research projects with 9 organisations located in Spain

Deadline to apply: 9am on 28 March 2011.

Collaboration period: May 2011 – January 2012 (part time).

Payment: 12,000 euros (including travel and accommodation).

Improbable Connections is a community of collaborative and co-creative research initiatives aimed at innovation and social responsibility. It is based on the paradigms of open innovation and the principles of interrelated fields, disciplines and individuals. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan