Jessica Banks: Real furniture from unreal visions

Jessica Banks is an inventor, roboticist, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of RockPaperRobot, a company specializing in responsive objects that expand the functional and aesthetic versatility of traditional decor. From levitating and transformable tables to robotic chandeliers, RPR aligns time-honored craftsmanship with progressive engineering. She is also a creative and technical consultant on major advertising campaigns, global initiative development for international corporations, and robotic designs for high visibility clients. 

FULL BIO | WEBSITE | TWITTER

Erika Hall: Asking "why?"

Erika Hall is the author of Just Enough Research. In 2001, she co-founded Mule Design Studio in San Francisco where she is the Director of Strategy. Erika speaks and writes frequently about cross-disciplinary collaboration and the importance of natural language in user interfaces. In her spare time, she battles empty corporate jargon at Unsuck It.

FULL BIO | WEBSITE | TWITTER | BOOKS

Eric Liu: Hybrid and our civic life

Eric Liu is founder and CEO of Citizen University and the executive director of the Aspen Institute Citizenship & American Identity Program. His books include the national bestsellers The Gardens of Democracy, and The True Patriot, both co-authored with Nick Hanauer. Liu’s first book, The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, was a New York Times Notable Book featured in the PBS documentary “Matters of Race." 

FULL BIO | WEBSITE | TWITTER | AMAZON

George Arriola: Mashing it up

George Arriola is an entrepreneur, craftsman, product guy, (a)rchitect, type designer, nerd, otaku, sous chef, and epiphany engineer. He is currently founder and CEO at a skunk_works product design boutique known as Minimalisms, and is a Founder, President & Chief Product Officer at Monohm Inc. Monohm exists to create New Necessities™ crafted on core values: heirloom, connection, control, ecosystem - Heirloom Electronics™. Previously, as Founder / CXO at zeroº (zero360, inc.) a stealth wearable hardware and platform company. 

FULL BIO | WEBSITE | TWITTER 

Alexa Clay: It's time for Misfit Entrepreneurs

Alexa Clay is a leading expert on subculture and innovation from unlikely places. She is the co-author of The Misfit Economy, a book that explores underground and informal innovation. Alexa works to create bridges and opportunities for misfit subcultures within the formal economy. She is the Founder of Wisdom Hackers, an incubator for philosophical inquiry, as well as the Co-Founder of the League of Intrapreneurs, a movement to create change from within incumbent systems and big organizations.

FULL BIO | WEBSITE | TWITTER | AMAZON

Ken Banks: Freedom from Money

View fullsize

Ken Banks recently launched Means of Exchange to look at how everyday technologies can be used to democratize opportunities for economic self-sufficiency, rebuild local communities and promote a return to local resource use. “I think we need to remember that we are more valuable as individuals than the sum of the notes in our pocket.”

PopTech Ecomaterials Lab

Materials matter. Everything we touch, taste, wear, drive, drink, eat — all of it is connected to the use, re-use, and ultimate disposal of materials. The health of the planet and the prosperity of its inhabitants rest largely on how we extract and use materials.

In July 2010 at Harvard Medical School, the first meeting of the Ecomaterials Lab network brought together 40 of these thought leaders and stakeholders for a facilitated dialogue regarding the drivers, constraints, opportunities, and challenges surrounding next-generation sustainable materials (with a particular emphasis on textiles). The gathering unearthed new insights and areas of disagreement, and helped form a network around sustainable ecomaterials.

Alphachimp Studio Inc. was honored to be onsite for graphic facilitation support and graphic capture of the personal insight, passion and urgency expressed by this stellar group of material scientists.

Fast Company has included the results of this event in there list of 8 of the Most Exciting Developments in Material Sustainability!

Download the full report here:

Ecomaterials Lab Report (PDF