At the second Open Innovation 2.0 conference, Michela Magas, co-founder of design and technology innovation lab Stromatolite, tells us why our focus should be on STEAM – science, technology, engineering and maths with an injection of arts.
During the event on 12 June in the Convention Centre Dublin, discussions revolved around crowdfunding, entrepreneurship, smart cities and the internet of things. Magas has an alternative term for that last one, though: the ‘allternet’. As in, an internet for all.
“It’s not just about things, it’s about people,” she said.
“We are now in a generation we call ‘Generation C’, which is a generation of content creators. Users are not just someone who comes on at the end. They participate in innovating together with the creators. They add content to the platform, so this is a very interesting space.”
At London-based Stormatolite, Magas works at the confluence of science and art, technology and design. The company has a history of advising esteemed clients on futures concepts, including Nike, Nokie and Apple.
These days, however, Magas has taken a more pro-active role in generating futures concepts and futures products and is directly involved in guiding the European Commission on policy regarding the creative industry and the internet of things.
