Institute For The Future

Come see the top ideas to BodyShock the Future on Friday, October 8!

For 11 weeks IFTF collected ideas from around the world in the BodyShock The Future contest to improve the future of healthy bodies and lifestyles. 112 designs ranging from augmented reality running to behavior change games to sleep tracking apps poured in. And you are invited to a special celebration to honor the winners!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Palo Alto, CA — Oct 7, 2010.

IFTF ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF BODYSHOCK

Five top design ideas to transform lifestyles and well-being in the
next decade

With obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease rampaging populations around the world, Institute for the Future (IFTF) decided to turn up the volume on global well-being. On October 8, the five winners of  IFTF's BodyShock competition for crowdsourced designs and solutions for better health will present their ideas to the world.

BodyShock launched in June and called upon the public to design innovative ways to improve individual and collective health over the next 3-10 years by transforming our bodies and lifestyles. For over 11 weeks there were 112 video or graphical entries illustrating new ideas, designs, products, technologies, and concepts, submitted by people around the world. The entries collected over 8,000 votes and generated over 1,000 tweets. The five winners, as selected by the public and BodyShock judges, are: 

• Anjna Patient Education
• Play It! Say It! Gaming for mental health
• The Recovery Project
• Thrive Portion Ware
• ZedAlert

The winners will present their ideas at IFTF in Palo Alto, California on October 8 and be connected to other innovative thinkers to help bring these ideas to life. The grand prize winner will receive the $3,000 IFTF Roy Amara Prize for Participatory Foresight.

"It was incredibly inspiring to see the variety of ideas coming in from around the world, from augmented reality running to customized synthetic bacteria to 'random acts of healthy living' programs," said Alexandra Carmichael, co-creator of BodyShock and member of the Health Horizons Program team at IFTF. "I look forward to helping the winning ideas take root in the world and running BodyShock again next year!" 

David Delany from NeuroSynergy Games said, "Entering BodyShock has been very rewarding in terms of forcing us to visually clarify the more revolutionary implications of our idea. Thank you for creating the opportunity."

BodyShock's grand prize, the Roy Amara Prize, is named for IFTF's long-time president Roy Amara (1925-2000) and is part of a larger program of social impact projects at IFTF honoring his legacy, known as The Roy Amara Fund for Participatory Foresight. The Fund uses participatory tools to translate foresight research into concrete actions that address future social challenges - using the crowd to solve the world's problems.

BODYSHOCK WINNERS CELEBRATION DETAILS

WHAT: A celebration to honor the BodyShock winners - come join us to hear five 5-minute presentations on the winning visual design ideas to improve global health over the next 3-10 years by transforming our bodies and lifestyles. The grand prize winner will be announced.

WHEN: Friday, October 8, 2010, 6 – 9 p.m - FREE and open to the public

WHERE: 124 University Ave, 2ndFloor, Palo Alto, CA – RSVP at www.eventbrite.com/event/787664927/

WHY: Meet the competition winners and judges, be inspired by the presentations, network and enjoy refreshments with a future-oriented health community.

See you there!

Questions? Ask @IFTFHealth on Twitter.