IdeaSquare Progress report 2019-2020
The IdeaSquare Progress Report 2019-2020, astutely combined with the Strategic Outline 2021-2025 has been published and is available to all. Designed as a flippable reading experience, it is a colourful window into the recent achievements and mid-term goals of the innovation space at CERN.
IdeaSquare (i2) was born in 2014 to make a positive impact on the world. Originally designed as a place to exclusively launch and host the ATTRACT project, i2 has grown in users, scope and intent in an unprecedented, yet unstoppable way. Today, almost seven years later, IdeaSquare hosts and supports more than 250 students, 120 lecturers and 700 external participants every year, and runs 22 exceptional annual student programmes.
2019 was a record year in terms of the number of students in residence, 25% more than in 2018. Despite the pandemic hit, we were able to continue working with our partners remotely, and in 2020 we had the same number of students as in the previous year. Although things went really well, the feedback from our students was crystal clear: “We really want to get back soon to IdeaSquare!”
In light of these results, the time has come to redefine the role of i2 within CERN, to devise a new strategy for a new magnitude. This report challenges you to read IdeaSquare’s achievements in two different directions: a report on 2019-2020 activities, and the new propositions for the future: become the global reference for how science and society collaborate, with special emphasis on young innovators and multidisciplinary teams to create innovative solutions for the future of humankind.
Included in the report are outlines of the six interlinked areas around which IdeaSquare activities revolve. These are:
- to host and support R&D&I/KT projects linked to CERN,
- to coordinate and participate in selected EU projects,
- to co-design and run rapid prototype and design thinking workshops,
- to co-design and run innovation educational programmes,
- to host and support special innovation events, and
- to harvest and share experimental innovation knowledge.
The report is also the first opportunity to showcase IdeaSquare’s new visual identity, as designed by wonnd agency from Barcelona, and was led and directed by Luciana Leveratto.
>> Read the Progress Report here <<