Melbourne Knowledge Week to host the world’s best thinkers

Jackie Watts, Jason Schupbach, Knowledge Week 2017, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle

Melbourne Knowledge Week 2017 will bring many of the best thinkers in Melbourne and around the world together to lead conversations with Melburnians that will help shape the way the city evolves.

Launching the program today, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said it will focus on how Melbourne will continue to grow and lead the world in the areas that make Melbourne great: food, sport, health, urban design, technology and business.

“We are bringing people together to drive conversation about how Melbourne is designing spaces, supporting industry and continuing to foster talent that will develop technologies, evolve our industries and build companies that are going to change the world,” the Lord Mayor said.

“That objective is clear in our choices for keynote speakers: Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, is an expert in using technology to bring people together to build knowledge and change the world.

“We will also welcome the director of design and creative placemaking programs for the National Endowment for the Arts, Jason Schupbach, who was part of the team that designed The Highline in New York City.

“Melbourne is a culinary city, and we’re excited to hear from Danny Harris, the founder of Feastly, an online tool that connects people who love to cook with people who love to eat to offer homemade meals at the cook’s home.”

Councillor Jackie Watts, Chair of the Knowledge City portfolio, said one of the main aims of Melbourne Knowledge Week is to identify the jobs of the future and look at how the City of Melbourne can engage with the community to develop strategies that support the growth of the knowledge economy.

“The Economist has identified Melbourne as a Smart city, pointing to our open data platform, our online services for the community, and the information and support we provide for startup businesses,” Dr Watts said.

“Startups are key to Melbourne’s knowledge sector growth. We’re exploring how Council can best support our vibrant, diverse startup ecosystem.”

“Our dedicated Startup team has already convened many workshops, roundtables, and interviews to discuss what might be the opportunities, the challenges and the core needs of new knowledge sector start-up businesses in Melbourne. We now want to work with the community, to start testing the ideas that emerged from these preliminary discussions.”

Program highlights:

Next stop, future Melbourne: What will the future of Melbourne look like when all over the world cities are growing? Have the conversation with Professor Rob Adams on the city circle tram.
Creating well beings − Night Hack at the Museum: Be a part of Australia’s first all-night Melbourne museum hackathon, spend a night at the museum and help create a new exhibition.
Machines that read your mind: Our ever-increasing power to read the human mind will raise new opportunities, new problems. Come along for a lively evening of discussion and demonstration.
Rescue dinner: Join us as some of Melbourne’s most celebrated chefs will use rescued food (safe food about to be discarded) and prepare deliciously sustainable fare.
#STEM classrooms to careers: Our speakers and practical workshops will explore mobile internet, big data, new energy technologies, the internet of things, the sharing economy, advanced robotics, 3D printing, artificial intelligence and more.
Mini make day: Beyond Earth: This year’s Mini Make Day at Library at the Dock will peer deep into our future and inventive imaginations of a world beyond our own.
First Nations creating YIRRAMBOI (tomorrow): Yirramboi Arts Festival, gathering creative visionaries from across Victoria.