IFTF: Youth Show Off Innovations in 21st Century Science Fair

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Youth Show Off Innovations in 21st Century Science Fair

Sep 01, 2010 By IFTF Staff

What happens when you convene great young minds for a modern-day digital science fair with an innovative online social media network? You discover hope for the future.

The Digital Open, an Institute for the Future (IFTF) project in partnership with Sun Microsystems and Boing Boing, captured the spirit and sensibilities of these passionate young makers in an open, public forum. The contest encouraged youth ages 17 and younger to submit free and open technology projects that create, improve, explore, or contribute to their world. The projects were classified in eight categories, ranging from sustainability to gaming, media to science and education. Industry notables such as Lawrence Lessig, founder of Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, Isaac Mao, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Kiruba Shankar, CEO of Business Blogging and co-founder of The Knowledge Foundation, and many other esteemed innovators judged the entries.

The Digital Open (DigitalOpen.org) ran from April 15 until August 15, 2009. Youth from around the world submitted text, photos, and videos documenting projects all created from a list of free and open software licenses. The projects focused on the transformative power of open technology. Resources from figures like respected open source advocate Richard Stallman to organizations like Creative Commons were made available to contestants to help them learn more about free and open technology movements.

Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the IFTF has been deeply moved by the passion she has seen in the project’s participants. “The drive and sense of possibility that these young people brought to this competition has been overwhelming,” she says. “The spirit of these contestants not only inspires me, but gives me hope for the future.”

Raymond Zhong, one of the winners, echoes Gorbis’ vision for how open technologies can transform the future. "The possibility that people who are passionate and really care about things can join together and solve problems—is amazing. That's what technology makes possible."

As an online, open source interpretation of the traditional high school science fair or world expo, the project’s social networking-driven website encourages collaboration, communication, and sharing ideas. On DigitalOpen.org, youth were able to converse with each other about their projects, submit entries together, and win a series of achievement badges that they can repost on their own blogs and websites.

Forty years ago, IFTF’s founders imagined a world in which it would be possible to improve human lives and build better organizations by thinking systematically about the future. These were visionaries who saw the power of using computers and networks to build collective intelligence. IFTF's methodology harnesses the intelligence of large groups of experts to develop forecasts, using new open source tools take forecasting to the next level, engaging vastly larger groups of experts and non-experts in immersive experiences that allow us to envision multitudes of future possibilities in a dynamic and continuous way.

Linda Rogers, director of global communities at Sun Microsystems encourages the use of open technologies to unlock innovation from every corner of the globe. “The Digital Open brought together a truly wonderful network of global youth connected by one passion—to change the world through their ideas and inventions. Their use of open technologies demonstrates that innovation can occur literally everywhere. The project entries submitted as part of this competition were astounding. We all have much to continue to learn from this amazing network of youth and the power of this community in shaping all our futures.”

Aatash Parikh, another winner, agrees, "There's a lot of power in building communities that are organized around solving world problems. In the future, we can use technology to tap into the voices of knowledge in the world that aren't often heard."

DigitalOpen.org is the third open, collaborative platform that IFTF has launched this year where the public can participate in imagining and inventing the future, and the first specifically targeting youth—the true future of innovation. Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing Video interviewed each of the winners and BoingBoing.net will feature a new video profile starting today through Friday, 10/23. The winners will also receive a technology prize package including a PeeCee mini laptop running the OpenSolaris operating system, a video camera, a solar-powered flashlight, and other assorted goodies.

Digital Open winners and their projects:

1) NAME: ALEXIS MCADAMS

PROJECT: "Dioractive" (USA / Lombard, IL).

www.digitalopen.org/projects/dioractive

2) NAME: BRENNON WILLIAMS

PROJECT: "BW Science Labs" (USA / Hillsborough, CA).

www.digitalopen.org/projects/bw-science-labs

3) NAME: CARLOS ANDRES

PROJECT: "Making Free Software Profitable" (Argentina/Colombia)

digitalopen.org/projects/free-software-and-bussiness

4) NAME: HARRY LEE

PROJECT: "Sneaky Card" (Australia).