FreedomLab’s “Penny For Your Thoughts” program, or PFYT as we refer to it, is our way of tapping into the thoughts of our Board of Inspiration on a regular basis. The idea is that we have a short talk with one of the people that inspires us much. Based on a conference call we do with them we edit a video of the thought that is used as the starting point for a conversation with many of the members of our Board of Inspiration. The program allows members to share their new idea’s and get some feedback on them from fellow scholars, visonaries, scientists, lecturers and business authors within the FreedomLab platform. People that have participated so far in the PFYT program include: Alan Moore, Dave Bujinowksi, Pip Coburn, Gary Carter, John Petersen, Grant McCracken, Neil Howe, Goos Geursen, Richard Hames, Josephine Green, Joseph Pine, Umair Haque, Don Tapscott, Polly LaBarre, Arnold Heertje, Venkat Ramaswamy and Sir Ken Robinson. 

Provoke a live-discussion yourself by ordering your own PFYT T-shirts,  visit our charity-shop.

Arjan triggered this thought. He showed me an article about Akzo Nobel and their aim to grow their revenue coming from eco-premium products from 18% now to 30% by 2015. Alongside the article various products of the company were displayed. A paint that reflects the ultraviolet light 2 times more than regular paint, so you need lees lights in your living room. Or a paint the reflects the heat of sunlight more, so you have to use your airco less often. All sustainable products, but wasn’t this ‘just’ about doing things more efficiently? Using the light energy more efficient? Isn’t sustainability really about efficiency?

The Dutch government, in cooperation with the Dutch research institute TNO, has recently conducted a survey into the economic effects of file sharing on the music industry. The results are quite surprising as they’ve concluded that illegally downloading music (which is allowed in Holland) has a positive effect on the music industry. If it would no longer be possible to download music, the sales of CD’s would further decrease. Quite the perspective change, or not?

I came across this article a couple of days ago because a friend pointed me to it. It’s an interview with Vaclav Smil, professor at a Canadian University and an active researcher in environmental issues. His argument is that energy transitions (from oil to renewable for instance) take decades not years. Combine that with an increasing demand for energy on a global scale and you’d have to conclude that ‘a green world’ is a scenario for the far future and not a roadmap for the short term. That’s why we rather talk of ‘The Road to Sustainability’…

This week, Sarah McBride of the Wallstreet Journal published an article on the future of the way we’ll watch movies. Although there are quite a few remarkable new technological advancements to be expected in the coming years, the article proves yet again, that the industry is still caught in a tech fetish kind of mode. Picture quality gets better, screens get bigger, access content anytime, anyplace, but what does that do for me…the movie fan? That question is left unanswered. Nice example of ‘enhancing the traditional process’ but not ‘innovating on the new definition of media’… (video included)

The Financial Times has recently suggested that the publicly launched video website Hulu in March of this year, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, might overtake the popular YouTube next year in regards to advertising revenues. This year Hulu, the site that only shows professional TV shows and movies, will make some $70 million in ad revenue whereas YouTube will make $100 million that same year. But, as YouTube is attracting a worldwide audience of 83 million viewers each month, Hulu only attracts 6 million in the US. Recipe for success?

Last Saturday the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam was officially opened with the screening of Episode 3, Renzo Martens ‘piece of art’ about poverty in Africa; Congo to be precise. The screening left no one untouched I guess. People were mad, astound, nauseated, sad, or felt powerless. For a documentary to do that, is quite an achievement I think. Afterwards the creator commented on his documentary, and one remark caught it all to my opinion. On a question about his intentions with the film, Martens replied: “well, there’s no real difference between there and here, it’s just different lifestyles.”

As we were visiting the Leaders in Dubai conference this week, Tom Peters, one of the keynote speakers mentioned a famous quote made by legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca: “as goes General Motors, so goes the nation“. He had made the remark years before the current crisis, but with the dooming bankruptcy of the automobile giant, the quote seems to cast a dark shadow on the United States. Will GM indeed go bankrupt and what will that do to the States? Obama feels GM needs to be saved, helping the company with additional funds to survive. And as it so happens, that was the topic of a recent discussion we had with our friends at Coburn Ventures…