4.9.12
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Patrick Tucker
Senior Editor, THE FUTURIST magazine
Director of Communications
World Future Society
ptucker@wfs.org
(443) 756-4205
Futurist Inventors Flock to Toronto
The World Future Society has announced the winners of the second annual Futurists: BetaLaunch (F:BL), a technology and innovation showcase. Engineers, designers, and other future-makers will present their inventions to the 1,000 futurists expected to gather for WorldFuture 2012, the Society’s annual conference. The winners receive a complimentary pass to the conference, to take place July 27-29 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where a Best In Show will be chosen.
“We had a hard time selecting only a handful of entries from the large number of quality submissions this year. We're extremely excited to bring these future-changing inventions to the public," says World Future Society President Timothy Mack.
Senstore
…is bringing Star Trek's medical tricorder to life with intuitive interaction and diagnosis.
Sensory Acumen
…offers a new take on “smell-o-vision,” giving your gaming and entertainment experience that extra level of realism.
BiDi Screen
…will revolutionize how we interact with electronics, using hand gestures instead of clicking or tapping a screen.
Kids Talk Radio
…trains student backpack journalists internationally with a focus on science and technology reporting.
The Mission Business
…creates immersive, cross-platform theater events to thrill audiences with educational entertainment about near-future technology.
Filabot”
…helps bring 3-D printing home with its personal filament maker, which uses recyclable plastic to create filament.
ComposeTheFuture
…is a free social network that allows futurists to predict, plan, and promote a better future.
Play2thefuture
…will use games to educate players about serious world issues while challenging inventors to develop real solutions and compete for crowd-sourced funding. Gameplay will give people the opportunity to select the best solution to be funded.
OCAD University – Strategic Foresight & Innovation program
…trains students to address complex, socially important issues through designing for creative social futures.
Life Technologies
…offers affordable whole-human-genome sequencing in just hours instead of days or weeks.
Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D
…has created the Cyberhero League, a social platform that will enable children to actively impact the welfare of people, animals, and the environment through everyday activities.
I3 BioDesigns
…has developed a life-saving garment that treats jaundice in newborns and allows babies and parents to bond in those first few days of life.
B-TEMIA
…gets people on their feet with wearable dermoskeletons.
The Futurists: BetaLaunch showcase will be held in conjunction with WorldFuture 2012: Dream. Design. Develop. Deliver, the annual conference of the World Future Society, to take place at the Sheraton Centre Toronto hotel.
Additional speakers at this year’s event include Intel's top futurist Brian David Johnson; Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project; and Geordie Rose, inventor of the world's first commercial quantum computer, alongside more than fifty other presenters from across the globe discussing health care, technology, governance, education, and more.
Founded in 1966 as a nonprofit educational and scientific organization in Washington, D.C., the World Future Society has members in more than 80 countries around the world. Individuals and groups from all nations are eligible to join the Society and participate in its programs and activities.
The Society holds a two-day international conference once a year where participants discuss foresight techniques and global trends that are influencing the future. Previous conference attendees have included future U.S. President Gerald Ford (1974), Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1975), behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner (1984), age-wave expert Ken Dychtwald (2005), U.S. comptroller general David M. Walker (2006), and inventor Ray Kurzweil (2010). Others in attendance typically include business leaders, government officials, scientists, corporate planners, and forecasters from across the globe.
You can learn more about the conference by visiting www.wfs.org.
Learn more about Futurists: BetaLaunch at www.wfsbetalaunch.com or contact Patrick Tucker at ptucker@wfs.org or call (443) 756-4205.
For journalists in Toronto, Patrick Tucker will be available to meet in person to discuss F:BL and the conference during the last week of April. Contact him to schedule an interview at 443-756-4205 or ptucker(at)wfs.org