City Voices

In Swedish, the same word is used for vote and voice: "röst". Something to keep in mind when looking at what's being said about my hometown Göteborg. Of course, there's the official websites www.goteborg.com for tourists and www.goteborg.se for citizens. And our best promotion person Håkan Hellström has been very popular with the press lately and he's still famous for his "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (Don't be sorry for me, Göteborg).

During the past months, Göteborg has also been frequently mentioned in the national press, but not for positive reasons. Several scandals regarding misuse of public funding and bribes have shaken the decision-makers into looking deeper into the fabric of the so called Göteborg spirit of collaboration.

One of the organisations figuring in the media is Göteborg Energi. They have now launched a campaign in order to shift the public opinion, contracting the artist Timo Räisänen to do the song for their commercial video.



Another interesting story-telling project has also been presented lately, but by totally different people and for quite another reason: The Gothenburg Shout initiative. Here people for different parts of the city present their story with photos, voices, sound and music guided by students from Kulturverkstaden. An article about the initiative states that they got inspiration from city of Berkeley. Since this is the hometown of the non-profit Center for Digital Storytelling, this makes sense.

Photo Competition 2010

At our Christmas family dinner last week, my sister Maria asked me if I were going to do a Summer Photo Competition this year. I thought back on the summer of 2010 and came to the conclusion that I didn’t have that many great summer pictures. Partly because I didn’t have that much vacation since I worked on planning a new project. So I decided to use photos from the whole year instead.

Please, look at the pictures and vote for the best one by adding a comment to my blog entry no later than January 31 2011. Add your name and you will participate in a lottery where the first and only price is a flower bouquet!

February 1 2011 I will leave my present job at Innovationsbron and start working as an Innovation Advisor at Innovation Office West. My new email address will probably be lena.holmberg @ chalmers.se. You can always reach me at my private address lmholmberg @ gmail.com.

Happy 2011!

Lena



1. Bangkok in March: Together with my ITP friends, I explored the Grand Palace in search of new ideas regarding innovation system development. More…

2. Tel Aviv in March: Got a quick look at Jaffa before my colleagues from Innovationsbron landed on our international benchmarking tour in order to find inspiration to the new incubation programme. More…

3. Cambridge in April: The benchmarking tour continued with a trip to the new science park in Cambridge, a nice combination of old and new buildings and ideas.

4. Madeira in April: Looking back, I can hardly believe we actually climbed all these steps to get to the end of the cape and back again, but my Mother looks unconcerned. Much more…

5. Boston in April: During a free afternoon on our learning journey I passed the Old North Church and the Dog Tag Memorial for the fallen American soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. More…

6. Leksand in June: During one of the breaks during the Tällberg conference, I went out and took some pictures of Hildasholm because it had such a tranquil air. More…

7. Båstad in June: On our way to pick up my aunt at Kastrup, we stopped for lunch at Norrviken’s Gardens where the garden design students demonstrated their creativity. More…

8. Lyse in June: We celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and it became a time for reflection in many ways. More…

9. Gunnebo in October: No matter time of the year, this castle with its wonderful park always makes me feel good. More…

10. Jordan in November: On our way back to Aqaba from Petra, this stunning sunset over the Jordan Rift Valley provided a great finale to a wonderful day. More…and more...

11. Mölnlycke – December: First Sunday in Advent I always decorate my home with all the Christmas stuff I have, and I have a lot...

12. Upplid in December: Family gathering at my parents’ home and I failed miserably at the Harry Potter game, but my sister managed to avoid the green ghost. More…

Nobel Thoughts 2010

Andre Geim's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“Human progress has always been driven by a sense of adventure and unconventional thinking. But amidst calls for "bread and circuses", these virtues are often forgotten for the sake of cautiousness and political correctness that now rule the world. And we sink deeper and deeper from democracy into a state of mediocrity and even idiocracy. If you need an example, look no further than at research funding by the European Commission.”

Ei-ichi Negishi's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“The final reward for any researcher is to see his or her lifetime of work extend beyond academia and laboratories, into the mainstream of our global society where it can breathe hope into the world.”

Dale T. Mortensen's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“The three of us are honored to be singled out. However, I am reminded of Isaac Newton’s great quote, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." This sentiment better than any other underscores the fact that science is a collaborative endeavour. Every great achievement is but a small peak in the mountain range of contributions. With this thought in mind, I close by thanking our teachers who played an essential role in our intellectual development, our colleagues who collaborated with us along the way, and our families who supported our adventures.”

Mario Vargas Llosa's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“Dear friends, now I can propose the toast I had promised. Let us toast to Sweden, that strange kingdom that seems to have performed, for a privileged few, the miracle of turning life into literature and literature into life.”

Go 50-50 With Branson?

If you have read tone of the earlier editions of Richard Branson’s autobiography “Losing My Virginity”, I strongly recommend picking up the latest version. Although demonstrating an early flare for social entrepreneurship through the start of student councelling service in the late 1960ies, Branson has later developed a sense for combining business and environmental issues. This is manifested not only in the non-profit foundation Virgin Unite and The Elders, but also as a part of the business strategies in many of the Virgin companies as can be seen in the sustainable development report.

I hope all schools of entrepreneurship, including Branson’s own, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, put this book on their curriculum reading list. It has it all: stories of how to design and develop businesses, its impact on friends and family, daring adventures and tragic accidents, intricate intrigues, global peace work, fighting AIDS, TB and malaria, and so on. Although the book is, of course, only one side of the story it nevertheless made me understand better why Branson was awarded a knighthood in 1999.

I’m also very fond of the Virgin website with its cheeky approach to everybody wanting to discuss business prospects. A recent opportunity for keen and innovative bloggers was recently launched: become a guest blogger av Virgin.com! As I haven’t yeat found out how to compete with all these talented young people who know how to make full use of all the nifty technology available, I make a point of declaring that the deal is not fair and not in line with Virgin policy. If I’m to be a guest blogger at Virgin.com, I think it’s only fair that Sir Richard contribute to lenamholmberg.blogger.com!




We Want Peace official video supported by Virgin Unite and The Elders.

Furnish Stories

Last month an article in my daily newspaper caught my eye. It was about a newly formed design company called Design by Leftovers. Together with other artist they give life to old furniture, but the refurbishment does not stop there. To each chair, wardrobe and sideboard they make up a story to go along with it. Meet Lola, the jazz singer from New York, or Charlotte, the shy rider, or Tiffany or Vera or… They call their furniture pre-loved, a term I like a lot!

I wish they had been around when I had my armchairs restored a couple of years ago, because then the design might have become a little more daring than the chocolate brown cloth they are wrapped in now. However, with respect to stories they are full of them since one was bought by me for my first own real home and the other was purchased by my parents for my Grandmother’s last residence, a room at a nursing home.

Not only furniture is remade in this fashion. The song “All by Myself” is for many people associated with the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diaries” (and many think Celine Dion is singing, when in fact it’s Jamie O'Neal). However, for me it brings back memories of my early years when I borrowed my sister’s Eric Carmen record and sang along this tune. My favourite though, was and is Everything. Come to think of it, I don’t think she got it back. And lucky me I can still play it, because I bought an excellent NAD stereo back in the 1980ies when the CD technology was quite new but hadn’t replaced the gramophone record yet. Still going strong. Still loved.

Acting Entrepreneurs

Last night one of the TV channels showed an old interview from 2004 with Hugh Jackman. It was from the show “Inside the Actor’s Studio” and James Lipton asked the questions.

I didn’t know Jackman had a background in musicals, but there was also many other new things I learned. I vagely knew about the Alexander Technique as a way of becoming more relaxed in your movements, but I had not put it in the context of English upper-class behaviour as Jackman did. When doing the “Kate and Leopold” movie, he had to take classes in how to act as a gentleman. He pointed out that the manners require you be not stiff at all but as a way of being very agile but also polite and really listen to others. To be present and aware. Mindfulness.

In schools in Sweden today it’s really popular to talk about entrepreneurial learning and teaching where you focus on what you need to learn to become an entrepreneur. To me, the pedagogics is very similar to problem-based learning (check out this teacher’s approach to entrepreneurial maths). However, maybe this needs to be combined with more theatre lessons where all the entrepreneurs-to-be learn how to better observe other people (and perhaps also animals) in order to really get to know them, and also become better listeners. Very good competencies for successful entrepreneurs wanting to co-produce products with customers and to be really good managers.

So You Think You Can?

My absolute favourite competition is “So You Think You Can Dance”. With millions of American teenagers calling in to vote each time and with spin-offs in more than 15 countries, I’m sure it’s a huge commercial success although it has fierce competition from shows like America’s Got Talent. It has a number of nifty features such as the young ambitious dancers from all over the US and with a background in all kinds of dance, the talented choreographers and the competent jury and a very tall and brainy hostess. And it is often breathtaking beautiful. But it has many other qualities:

• Selecting the contestants based on both talent and coachability, and making them dance solo, in pairs and in ensambles.
• A passionate jury focusing on constructive feedback and not afraid to show their emotions.
• Clever combination of jury and audience voting.
• Good mix of music, where new talents are introduced (for example SYTYCD 4 featured Lady Gaga’s first televised U.S. performance.
• Good use of social media with a website as its hub but with a presence all over the place.
• Interesting combination of competition and foundation, demonstrating a higher purpose (developing dance throughout the US/world) for example through announcing a national dance day.
• Excellent scenography with lovely costumes, make-up, lights, camera, editing… and an enthusiastic audience.
• A very good start for the contestants’ careers not only through the TV show but with the following tour together with former stars.

It would be so cool if I could find a way to implement just a tiny tiny bit of all this in “competitions” I’m involved in! What if for example research funding could be distributed not only according to an expert panel’s opinon but in combination with votes from the research community?