The evening before iDiscover, 30 brave and bright entrepreneurial teams set the alarm clock nice and early to rise to the occasion: a day of iDiscover powered by VODW and Deloitte. What did they get up to? They brought their upcoming business ideas to the perfect environment to expand, simplify and develop it.
Creativity galore at Deloitte's iDiscovery workshop for TEDxAmsterdam
VODW opened the doors of their amazing greenhouse meets country house in Leusden. A riveting Fisker Karma was nonchalantly parked up front. A 3D printer was organically layering away inside. The latest innovation in electric bikes was whizzing around. All creating the inspirational backdrop for the innovation program Deloitte had designed for the day. Insightful exercises were tackled by the entrepreneurs in the morning to identify their most important business challenges. After lunch, different forums (ranging from Sustainability to Legal) were free and accessible for all. Meanwhile various experts and coaches supported and challenged the teams. All to kick-start the magic that began when these innovative ideas were first shared at the TEDxAmsterdam Award pitch day.
10 iDiscover takeouts
For those who want an impression of what’s buzzing on a day like that… here are 10 random takeouts of the day.
1. Last year MetFarm won the TEDx Amsterdam Award 2011. A tough act to follow…but the 30 new teams all proved to have potentially winning ideas for the TEDx Amsterdam Award 2012. Check out the aspiring and inspiring ideas here.
2. This witty video was shared by host and speaker Arjen Lettinga on how new ideas are not often recognized immediately. But hey, don’t let it discourage you, you might be on to something…
3. The ideas the teams worked on gravitated around relevant trends: wisdom of the community, smarter sustainability, personalisation within the medical and pharmaceutical world, harnessing the power of natural energy and urban farming.
4. Between brain-picking sessions and getting a professional profile picture shot, the teams could enjoy a chair massage from visually impaired masseurs called Chairmen at Work. A brilliant business idea in itself and very relaxing.
5. Teams could songify their business vision with singer-songwriter, Bernard Hering. A valuable exercise to distill their business idea into a few harmonious chorus lines.
One of the logos created instantly
6. It was just as insightful for the teams to have their business logo designed within 30-minute sprints. It revealed the stage of development a business idea was in.
7. Guest speaker, Menno van Dijk, a member of THNK, shared a map of the old world before Columbus discovered the Americas. He illustrated that finding a new market or idea needs an illogical leap of faith that doesn’t add up immediately.You just have to discover it at some point.
8. Another interesting mention by Menno was that although the infamous Fosbury Backflop is always hailed as picture perfect example of innovation and doing things differently, there were several important innovations leading up to it. The Western Roll and the Straddle led to almost the same amount of centimetres gained before the Backflop led to another breakthrough. His point being that progress is a process: a series of innovations.
Dick Fosbury wins the 1968 Olympic High Jump in Mexico City
9. A few nice quotes… got to love this Seth Godin quote in Lettinga’s presentation: Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers. And a quote from Menno van Dijk’s presentation about storytelling: Story is the way the mind works. Nice, ain’t it?
10. The pioneers of the day were the entrepreneurial teams who even started combining business ideas in cross-pollination. And luckily they got plenty of TLC (tender love and care) from enthusiastic experts and coaches from Deloitte, Cervino Marketing, ING, Mission Matters, Customer Media Associations, VODW, Freshfields, Clifford Chance, Trends Active, MadLogic, Social e-valuator, Start Green, World Smart Capital, McKinsey, photographer Jos Kottman and freelance designer Arianne Vogel. We are also very grateful for the contributions by Smulders (AV support), Ambius (scent marketing) and Grand Catering’s creative food.
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