Young innovators to the rescue with MID Talent
by Niko Posted on December 08, 2017
Combine 20 bright young minds together in the Fab Lab for a week of intensive team building, innovation, design and prototyping and what do you get? The answer is MID Talent.
This year MID Talent explores the creative potential of 20 future innovators with Fab Lab Barcelona. MID stands for the Mercat d’Idees Disseny - Market of Design Ideas - an initiative organised by the Barcelona Centre de Disseny, that fosters creative entrepreneurship among young people.
For one week the 20 candidates collaborated to invent a product or a service that helps solve the growing crisis of homelessness in Cataluña. The challenge was not just to invent a new product but to understand the needs faced by homeless people themselves, and design a response to those very real challenges.
The solutions presented were of a wide range. Customising buses that are out of use to provide nightly shelter. Another involved building a mobile bike-repair kit for those with manual skills to be able to repair bicycles. One idea that got prototyped was a fabricated lunchbox and food kitchen. Yet another involved creating a foldable bed contraption would also help homeless safe keep their belongings while they slept.
The exercise of researching this issue (actually discussing the issue with homeless people on the streets) and then brainstorming, designing and fabricating a prototype was immensely rewarding. It demonstrated the power of collaborative thinking for solutions-driven strategies. It showed the ability of the creative process to overcome challenges both social and economic.
For 10 years now, Fab Lab Barcelona and its FabCity project has been providing a space for innovative events, projects and ideas geared towards transforming cities into more sustainable, humane and smarter communities.
It was inspiring to see a group of motivated youngsters invade the Fab Lab Barcelona to flex their creative muscles. Also to see the application and potential of digital fabrication for prototyping solutions to problems faced not only in Barcelona, but the world over.
MID Talent has been a huge success inspiring young people with new ideas and approaches to innovation and entrepreneurship.
For more information and to participate in the next sessions click HERE
