A new year has started, a fitting moment for predictions. Which themes will change the image of 2015? As Waag works with the latest technologies for societal impact, we do have some ideas about this. Here are ten of the initiatives that will emerge this year.
Smart Citizens Lab will start
After our experiment with self-measuring citizens this year the Smart Citizens Lab will start, in which citizens will use the latest techniques to measure air pollution, noise and the quality of (swimming) water in their environment and act upon the results.
Brainhacking to change education
Hack the Brain will get a follow-up in 2015, aimed at education. In May, (brain)hackers, artists and scientists will engage in enhancing education with the aid of brain-computer interfaces and stimulation, like with the Open BCI.
Digital Heritage will finally arrive on location
Waag is developing a platform for heritage and location to put digital heritage as Linked Data on the map. It builds on the successful City Service Development Kit that received the EU classification 'excellent' and is used in eight cities now.
Public Policy Labs, also in The Netherlands?
In Denmark, England and the USA one is experimenting with Public Policy Labs. Antropological research and user-centered design are combined by the government to create better services and products. We expect this to have an impact on The Netherlands too.
BioHack Academy
In February, our first BioHack Academy starts. In ten lessons, the participants will build their own open source bioreactor that can be used to make their own ink, alcohol, food and possibly even medicine – a worldwide first. A second series is already in the works.
Transparant Netherlands
Transparant Netherlands aims to facilitate permanent network analyses, by making the administrative power structures in The Netherlands visible, based on (open) data of persons, organisations and relations. Media partners can use the data to create visualisations of power structures for their news items.
Code for NL
The European Code for Europe, in which smart engineers worked for a number of months as fellows at social innovation at local governments will get a Dutch version: Code for NL. They will develop code that can be shared among cities to help solving their social issues.
Fix the Internet
In 2014, it became clear that our Internet is broken. It resulted in many concerns, articles and questions in parliament. Waag and Fast Moving Targets interviewed the top-ten internet gurus in The Netherlands and will publish these interviews under the name Let’s fix the internet.
FabSchool & CryptoKids
Since 2014, groups of children are working on their digital fabrication skills at the Waag. We also experimented with lessons about computer safety and encription. Popular demand made a next series possible in 2015, and we will also train teachers to embed these skills in their lessons.
Trust me I’m an Artist
In 2015, Trust Me I’m an Artist will be further explored in a European context. The main goal is to provide artists, cultural institutions and audiences with the skills to understand the ethical issues that arise in the creation and exhibition of artworks made in collaboration with biotechnology and biomedicine.
