Monday, December 2, 2013

City X melts with Exponential Technology in Budapest

Guest Post by Matthew Straub, Communications Director of City X Project.


Leaders in various fields of exponential technology and executives from over 30 countries came together recently in Budapest, Hungary for the Singularity University Summit Europe, a weekend-long conference focused on innovation and exponential technologies.


The City X Project, sponsored by 3D Systems, was proud to participate in the Summit. Not only were we active in the conference itself, we also took 3D printers, 3D modeling software, and design thinking workshops into a local school in Budapest to run two consecutive, three-day workshops with nearly 50 kids attending the conference.



Budapest became the fifth city in the world to participate in our City X Project, which is a hands-on educational initiative that empowers kids to be change makers by using the design process and exciting 3D modeling and printing technology. We use the powerful possibilities of 3D printing both today and in shaping the future of humanity as a tool to encourage kids to create. In the workshop, every student is paired with a citizen from “City X,” the first human settlement on a new planet. Each citizen has a problem related to large, real-world issue we face today; it’s up to the student to get creative and invent (and eventually prototype on a computer and a 3D printer) an invention that solves that citizen’s problem! With the creative genius of kids, we get inventions like the garbage-eating robo-cat. We put a few of our favorite inventions from Budapest up on our blog.



We also had the opportunity to exhibit 3D prints of inventions made by kids in our workshops around the world during a gallery night hosted in partnership with the Summit. This event allowed adults and kids alike to hold actual models made by our young inventors thousands of miles away, which really speaks to the power of 3D printing as an accessible tool for sharing ideas and connecting people; a point we try to drive home everywhere we travel.


If you’d like to learn more about our time in Budapest, you can read more about our experience on the City X Project blog.




by Roxanne via Cubify