Exploring Innovation launched

Exploring Innovation was devised as a three-way collaboration between InnovationRCA, Unwired Events and Inflate, the inflatable structures company founded in 1995 by RCA design graduate Nick Crosbie.

Visitors to the innovation fair, held at the RCA on 22 July 2008, were invited to meet inventors and designers at timed intervals in a series of seven luminous inflatable pods – each with a different theme.

Exploring Innovation presented ideas in the following areas: Sustainable Spaces; Developing the Desktop; Material Futures; Mobile Life; Alternative Interfaces; Ambient Interiors and Wellbeing At Work.

Exploring Innovation was sponsored by Knoll, which furnished the pods with modern classic furniture. 

Several innovations by RCA graduates and alumni were presented, including new Selected Works, alongside new ideas from the corporate labs. There were also contributions from three innovators working in the Design London Incubator, a joint initiative with Imperial College London funded by NESTA.

InnovationRCA Director Jeremy Myerson developed the event with leading technologist Philip Ross of Unwired, his co-author on a trilogy of books about changing patterns of work.

As Myerson explained, ‘Exploring Innovation was conceived as an opportunity for technology-led innovations and intellectual property owned by the College to reach a new business audience. By devising a novel format that is highly creative, we’ve shown that we can stimulate dialogue and investment around ideas at an early stage in their development. Now we want to make Exploring Innovation an annual event.’