Policy Innovation Blog

Hot Topics

Stian Westlake - 19.01.2011

What is the next technology that will overturn how we live our lives? Chances are, it’s already here.

Do you have an idea for one of our Hot Topics series? Find out how to send us your idea.

This morning we hosted the latest in NESTA’s new series of 'Hot Topics' technology events on ‘personal manufacturing’ and the new entrepreneur.

This one seemed to be timed perfectly. The subject was determined last year, and partly inspired by a Wired article in April of last year called ‘Atoms are the new bits’. However, in the past few weeks, the ‘Thing-o-matic’ 3D printer by MakerBot industries was named best gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show by Forbes and many of the broadsheets have covered the trend.

Cutting-edge technologies

The point at which new technology starts to come into mainstream awareness, and to be used in new ways, is exactly the type of subject we are interested in. NESTA brings together venture investors, policy advisors, researchers and programme managers, so we love to talk about new technologies that can disrupt all of these things, and potentially redefine some aspect of the way we live our lives.

The game layer

The first in the series covered Serious Games and gamification. We discussed some great examples of serious games, the importance of proper game design if you want to really capitalise on the best aspects of games, how awarding points or prizes doesn’t make it a game and some of the areas they can be applied, such as healthcare, education and online safety.

The power of big data

In November, we got some of the best names from the ‘Silicon Valley comes to the UK’ programme to come and speak about ‘Big Data’. With speakers from Google and Nokia there, we got a glimpse into the data discovery and prediction that is possible with large volumes of automatically generated data, and lots of processing power.

More Hot Topics to follow

We are planning to run many more of these events this year, which is where you come in. We are planning to group this year’s events into the themes of ‘Digital’, ‘Cleantech’ and ‘Healthcare’. Our next event in March will look at different views of sustainability, and then in April we will look at the opportunities and disruptive effects of telemedicine. After that it’s up to you.

Send us your Hot Topic

We would love to get your ideas on topics that we should cover, speakers we should host or questions that you want to see answered. If you would like a different format or timing for the events, let us know that as well. We can’t promise to satisfy everyone, but we’d like these events to be inspiring and a place to meet people you otherwise wouldn’t encounter, so let us know what you would like to see.

You can email us at hottopics@nesta.org.uk, drop us a message on twitter @nesta_uk or join in with the discussion on Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also send us a comment below...