As a bit of a social media geek, I loved following tweets and chatting online about Olympic events as I watched the action unfold. Dubbed by organisers as 'The Social Olympics', applications like Twitter have been used in way not seen before at an Olympics.
Consider the possibility of Google and Facebook announcing a new link: not only do tomorrow’s Googlespecs have an embedded camera and phone as well as internet access, but they also have an embedded RFID tag and a QR code tag. Your Googlespecs could ‘recognise’ other wearers and bring up their features and their Facebook, Twitter and Google+ details on the lenses of your own Googlespecs.
Michael Gove's decision to overturn internal advice of the School Playing Fields Advisory board has once again brought to light the difficulties politicians can have with advisory boards.
The new European Space Agency Incubator at Harwell has yet to establish itself as a new-business community. It has available outstanding technical support in the shape of a number of world-class scientific organisations on the site; and it provides generous funding for technical support. But its business support is limiting: it provides no business mentoring; it provides little business advice - there is little call for it and channels to access for venture funding are at present small in scale.
Last week Nesta and the RSA published a report by Ben Rogers calling for citizens to be trained in how to stop fights and intervene in anti-social behaviour. As you'd expect, the report generated some interesting debate.
At Nesta we are managing the Innovation in Giving fund backed through £10 million from the Cabinet Office. The fund is investing in, supporting and growing innovative ideas that will bring about a step-change in the giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money.
One of my favourite things about these amazing Olympics has been the Games Makers. That's the 70,000 or so volunteers that can be seen across Central London and at Olympic venues all over the country.
The past week has been a showcase of British Olympic ambition, not just on the track, field and water, but also in the opening ceremony.
With the intensive and sophisticated learning regime that it has developed, the RCA feels that it has a lot to give other incubators. But will it deliver on this? Nesta who is a major supporter of the initiative has high hopes that it can.
Around seven million tickets have been sold for the London Olympics and if the viewing figures for the Athens Olympics are anything to go by, a further four billion people will tune in at least once to watch the Olympics on TV.
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