Our post on digital at the G8 today focuses on the Innovation Conference, which brings together entrepreneurs, researchers, creative’s, scientists, and policy makers to discuss global innovation. With high profile speakers, such as Richard Branson and Ron Dennis of McLaren, and government representation from David Willetts and David Cameron, the event has drawn much attention online.
Talking innovation & space at #G8IC in London http://t.co/njVVIaQpxR
— richardbranson (@richardbranson) June 14, 2013
The use of a dedicated hashtag, #G8IC, in the run-up has led to engagement on a broad range of topics, from renewable energy to GM food, climate change and immigration. We have seen over 3,000 tweets using the hashtag in the last 24 hours, being used from the UK to the US, and from Argentina to Australia via Botswana and India. David Cameron has done a good job of using the tag, stimulating debate with his users and encouraging them to join the conversation on Twitter.
PM at #G8IC: What do you think is the greatest challenge of our time? And how can we solve it using innovation? Join the debate using #G8IC
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) June 14, 2013
UKTI had set up a livestream of the event; however it appears that Thomas Heatherwick’s presentation on the Olympics may have raised a few eyebrows, with the video being blocked on copyright grounds.
Along with the big names such as Branson and Cameron, looking at the opinions provided by the many entrepreneurs and others at the Conference provides us with a more critical insight to the topics being discussed. Follow the accounts below to get a better sense of the discussions around the G8 Innovation Conference:
This is the last of our pre-G8 posts; we will be back next week to see what happens when the summit gets underway.