Last week I was privileged enough to be able to attend Ideacity in Toronto. If you are following me on twitter, you would have seen me constantly updating my feed throughout the three days. Ideacity is very similar to TED talks. A round up of inspiring thought leaders coming together to listen and learn about new things. I loved what I saw there and was very inspired by the presenters that were my age, who were conducting innovative research that will better society. Aside from paper, glitter and other crafting menagerie, I love technology. I grew up fixing computers, extracting data from hard drives and working in the mobile phone industry. I am always excited to get the newest gadgets and latest updates on my devices. Being able to attend this conference allowed me to tap into this part of my hobby list. I could have watched how the 3D printer works all day!
I was really excited to learn from all the speakers that were attending the event. I couldn't wait to learn about all the new technologies that are being worked on behind closed doors in labs and studios all around the world. The sorts of things that people see for the future and the depth of research that has gone into these projects is astounding. research that will better society. A few projects really stood out to me and I thought id share that here
The ones that are in the top of my head are:
The cardboard bike is a given. It's the closest thing to paper and its just SO COOL. It was inspired by another cardboard project that the inventor had created for someone. He thought that if the technology could work for that, it could work for something else. The great thing about the cardboard bike is that it could withhold a lot of weight, it is coated in a thin resin so it is waterproof and it is very cheaply produced. The only parts that are not cardboard are the brakes and the chain, however, the chain is not metal, but a thick plastic, so say goodbye to your dress getting caught!
It is the perfect solution to affordable bikes that can be used by everyone, and are great to send to third world countries where something as simple as a bike can change lives.
The flying car's introduction was given with The Jetson's theme song. Everyone has always looked into the future and thought of flying cars and its about time that they are finally here. This car was shown with a video of a working model that was on a runway ready for flying. It showed the car/plan gaining momentum and finally taking off. The video shows the enthusiastic team who are celebrating with loud screams and whoops as they see the project come to life! Their goal is to eventually have something like this in everyones garage, able to open the wings from the sides so they can be tucked back it. They also want to make sure they can get it to fly off straight up in a vertical motion instead of diagonally like planes do now. They have brought these prototypes to trade showed and already have a lot of people interested in purchasing them. I really hope I am able to see this available on the market in the future!
Lastly, The transportation section presented the vacuum tube travel system. This Transportation system makes it possible to travel from Toronto to Beijing in less than two hours for approx. $100 or so.If that is not mind blowing for you, then I don't know what is!It can travel from 350 mph locally and 4000mph internationally. The ET3 system is very futuristic looking, and at the moment they have a working prototype. The tube systems look similar to ancient roman aqueducts in design and would run up above the ground the same way. I would head onto their website to get some more info on this amazing technology.
I hope everyone can see how awesome these new technologies are and why I am so excited over them! If you can dream it, you can make it. I saw this motto in real time while at Ideacity 2013 and would love the chance to attend in the future!
