IDSA / ICSID Connecting Congress 2007: Day 2

published Oct 21, 2007
IDSA ICSID Connecting Congress 2007 Day 2
The day kick-started with a video-collage by Rick English, which is a brief collection of highlights and events from the day before.

The theme of Thursday was "Connecting People and Places".

The morning plenary sessions which started at 9.00 am took place in the large Masonic Audiotorium.

The first speaker, Hans Rosling, who is a Professor of International Health at Karolinska Instituted, Stockholm, Sweden showed how powerful design can be if used in the correct way.

Titled "Design As Myth Buster", he effectively presented how complex world statistic can be showed in a playful way with the help of design.

Aiming to destroy the myths about the differences between the so-called third world and the first world, his software effectively promotes a more "fact-based" world view.

The second presenter, Richard Seymour, who is the co-founder of world-famous design firm Seymourpowell, gave a speech with the title "Space Tourism".

Given the job to work on the design of the Virgin Galactic space tourism project, Seymour provided glimpses into our changing image of space-travel.

Being one of the Europe's best-known product designers, Seymour pointed out that designers cannot be pessimistic by definition.

Therefore, every designer should strive for a future that is "a little bit better than it is now".