Tim Brown, Wednesday Keynote Speaker

So begins Tim Brown's own blog, which he writes as the CEO of famed innovation and design company, IDEO. In his posts, he shares ideas and challenges readers to engage in thoughtful conversation about design for the new book he's writing. As a Mad Men fan, I was especially intrigued by this post on the design of the decanter in the 1960s. As Tim points out, "No doubt design was simpler back then but it is impressive to see the level of craft applied to such transient objects."

In another post, Tim announces the launch of OpenIDEO - a crowd-sourced platform where users can collaborate to solve important issues, such as how to raise awareness of the benefits of fresh food to encourage kids to make healthier choices or how to increase the availability of affordable learning tools and services for students in the developing world.

While some of this work may seem a far cry from local government management, there is a practical application. In Tim's closing session keynote on Wednesday, October 20, he'll examine his concept of design thinking - the collaborative process by which the techniques and strategies of design can be employed to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and strategically viable for an organization. 

We're pretty excited to hear what he has to say--and what you all think about his ideas. In the meantime, we encourage you to take a look around both his blog and IDEO's site to learn more about Tim and his company.