Silicon Valley has an unusual number of programmers, entrepreneurs and innovators. New start-ups are established here everyday. People talk about new ideas everywhere in the Valley. Many new technologies developed here in the last 20 years have changed the world. As an innovation leader in the world today, Silicon Valley has evolved unique resources and circumstances, which are regularly drawn upon to generate break-throughs on demand.
At SVII, innovation in about Human Potential.
Being innovative is an approach to life, whether you are old or young, whether you are in high-tech or low-tech. SVII hosts a number of initiatives to act as a force of convergence for those who seek to apply their insights.
Why do we educate our kids in school, in the same way as 20 years ago, while the world has changed so dramatically? In Aug 2010, SVII held a community-driven panel discussion to address this question. Apparently all of us feel a great need to increase innovation in our education systems.
In response to this initial conversation, SVII kicked off an educational initiative on February 18, 2011 and has received support from Wells Fargo Bank, Serena Software and The Miller Institute for Learning with Technology.
The goal of the program is to make kids more innovation resilient, by providing a joyful innovation experience, to stimulate creativity and reward the natural tendency toward innovation. The mechanism we have chosen to do this is to develop a portable programming environment called Phonetasia – which teaches kids about physics, through music on their phones.
The concept is really bout Human Potential than about phones or physics. The general premise is that reaching one’s innovation potential requires innovation resilience. Right now humanity may not be doing well enough to be sustainable. There is some urgency about developing approaches to increase our innovation resiliency.
The conversation will keep going. We currently host two Interactive Briefings a month to focus on this revolution to reach human potential!
This is about the premise that a place can be consciously designed to be much more likely to create a meaning in the lives of those who interact with it. A reverse panel discussion took place at SVII’s January 2011 Society Dinner to explore the value of this proposition for local independent business owners.