Innovation Archive

CoCo launches “d.school @ CoCo”

April 11, 2012 | By
dball
CoCo launches “d.school @ CoCo”

CoCo is bringing the design-thinking movement to the Midwest with the launch of d.school @ CoCo, an innovation school based on the world-renowned d.school at Stanford University. d.school @ CoCowill offer classes and workshops on design thinking to individuals and larger organizations. The school will be led by Anna Love-Mickelson who is a former Fortune-500 innovation leader and currently teaches design thinking at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). Classes will be taught by Love-Mickelson as well as other coaches certified by the d.school at Stanford. “We’ll be using the same great curriculum that is used on campus in California. However, because we are in Minnesota and operating within the CoCo community, we will also looking to prototype new ways of solving local problems by enabling radical collaboration at the community level,” Love-Mickelson said. Classes and workshops will include:

  • Crash Course – a 2-hour introduction to design thinking methods and mindsets. The first class is on April 20.
  • Design Thinking Workshop – Three half-day, hands-on sessions that explore the design thinking methodology more thoroughly. The first Workshop series will be held May 7-9.
  • Design Thinking Bootcamp – Designed after the Stanford d.school’s flagship course, Bootcamp gives executives hands on experience leading a design-thinking project from start to finish. The first Bootcamp will be held Sept. 26 – 28.

Anna Love-Mickelson, director of d.school @ CoCo

“One of the most exciting things for us at the d.school is hearing how past d.schoolers are spreading design thinking. We are excited to see how this new venture impacts the Minnesota community,” said Evelyn Huang, Lecturer, Executive Education at the d.school at Stanford. The opening of the d.school @ CoCo represents a big step for CoCo and coworking movement in general. “We are building a community of members who are naturally inquisitive and creative.” said CoCo founder Kyle Coolbroth. “the d.school @ CoCo makes our collaborative environment available for leaders in the area to learn design thinking methods and fully experience a collaborative community.” More information about d.school @ CoCo is available at http://dschool.cocomsp.com.

Mobile: Lessons from the Developing World

April 8, 2012 | By
cprins
Mobile: Lessons from the Developing World

A conversation with Ashoka Fellow Josh Nesbit of Medic Mobile
Wed., April 25
8 to 9:30 a.m.
CoCo Minneapolis

>Register

We developed-world types too often focus on how smartphones and apps driving mobile innovation. But what if we had access to neither like in the developing world?

Josh Nesbit is driving mobile innovation in the developing world through smart use of SMS and cheap feature phones.

During a trip to rural Malawi in southeastern Africa, Nesbit saw patients walk 50 miles or more just to see a doctor. He also noticed that his cellphone got better reception in the tiny village of Namitete than it did in California. That realization led to an idea that evolved into a social venture: Medic Mobile.

Since then, Nesbit has been using cheap mobile phones to connect the developing world’s poor with remote medical professionals. He’s transforming the efficacy of decentralized rural public health by reinventing the role of community health workers. Medic Mobile supports a wide range of programs – from infectious disease surveillance in rural Malawi to emergency response after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti – in 15 countries across East and West Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

He drives dramatic innovation and change with the humble feature phone. For his efforts, he was recently named by Forbes as one of the world’s 30 Top Social Entrepreneurs and selected as an Ashoka Fellow.

Join us for an engaging conversation with Josh Nesbitt. Learn more about his innovative work. And see how innovations from the developing world can inspire us in our developed world.

This event is hosted in partnership with Ashoka Twin Cities.

>Register

PopTech 2009 Social Innovation Fellow Josh Nesbit from PopTech on Vimeo.

The power of purple corn

January 5, 2012 | By
dball
The power of purple corn

Wednesday, Jan. 25
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
CoCo Minneapolis

CoCo Member Bill Petrich, CEO of Suntava, (recently featured in the Star Tribune) will talk about his company’s breakthrough product: a natural substitute for Red Dye No. 40, made from Peruvian purple corn.

Bill will talk about the challenges he faces in trying to grow the business and ask for ideas from attendees.

We’ll even serve up some purple corn in the form of homemade “chicha” (a traditional Peruvian soft drink) and purple corn chips. Come learn about an innovative business model and offer your ideas!

This is a members-only event.

Register at Eventbite

Looking for a few good instigators!

September 15, 2011 | By
dball
Looking for a few good instigators!

Like to start fires? Enjoy provoking constructive chaos? Then you just might be an instigator.

As you probably know, CoCo draws all kinds of creative and resourceful folks from across different professions. But, save for a few outliers, we’re fairly well entrenched in the software, startup and marketing/advertising realms.

As our coworking librarian Meg Knodl has been helping us consider what it means to curate our culture, one of our realizations has been that we need to work actively to introduce “outside elements” – catalysts, flies in the ointments, irritants in the oyster, or to use one of my favorite words, instigators. The goal is to make sure that we are actively introducing new strains of thought that keep us all aware of new and different ways of looking at things.

So, we’re going to try a little experiment here. For the foreseeable future, we’re going to be inviting someone into the CoCo community as our “Instigator in Residence.” It’ll be someone who has a point of view, a line of work or a skill set that is not typical and whose presence promises to prompt some interesting conversations and insights.

Here are the rules of the game:

  • As an Instigator in Residence, you’ll have free access to both CoCo locations for three months.
  • We’ll ask you to observe the Woody Allen rule, which is to say that you’ll agree to being a regular presence at CoCo. But while you’re here, you’re certainly free to work on your own stuff.
  • We will actively introduce you to our members and generally talk you up.
  • We will ask you to staff the Smart Bar at least once during your stay.
  • You’ll agree to tell members about your line of work, your POV or whatever it is that makes you an instigator.
  • Finally, you’ll agree to post periodic updates to the CoCo blog about your experience.

So, what do you say?

If you think you’d make a good instigator, please drop us a line and tell us about yourself! We’re open minded and even open to trying some crazy stuff, so don’t be afraid to throw us a curve ball.

Photo by JohnGoode

Meet Meg, our new coworking librarian

June 23, 2011 | By
dball
Meet Meg, our new coworking librarian

Earlier this year marketing guru Seth Godin created a bit of a stir with his post about the future of libraries. This line in particular caught a lot of peoples’ attention:

The next library is a place, still. A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided by a librarian who understands the Mesh, a librarian who can bring domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information to bear.

Across town, Meg Knodl, a Senior Librarian in Communications and Community Engagement at Hennepin County Library, also noticed Godin’s post.

A quick aside: you may know Meg from UnSummit or Social Media Breakfast. What you may not know (and what Meg is too modest to tell you) is that she’s kind of a rockstar in the world of library science. In fact, as I write this, she’s heading to New Orleans to be recognized by the Library Journal as a 2011 Mover and Shaker.

Last month, Meg approached us with a brilliant idea: could she try to create a coworking librarian position at CoCo?

There was only one possible answer: “How soon can you start?”

So, please join us in welcoming Meg Knodl as the world’s first Coworking Librarian (as far as we know!). She will be helping us to develop a philosophy and approach toward programming, which is the professional word for all the social, cultural and educational events and activities that support our coworking community.

Meg will be coworking at both the St. Paul and Minneapolis locations on Wednesdays. (The other days of the week, she’ll still be at Hennepin County Library). If you have ideas about programs you’d like to participate in, attend or offer, please contact Meg at megknodl@gmail.com. Of course, Meg will also available for research and resource questions.

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