Plenary Session: Rise of Asia
I attended one of the Plenary Sessions – “Rise of Asia”, which I found insightful, moderated by TuneTalk CEO, Jason Lo. Plenty of insight on challenges and opportunities within the Asia region from an esteemed panel – Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz (Former Minister of Ministry Of International Trade And Industry); Teguh Rahadjo (Deputy Minister of Relevance and Productivity of S&T); Rahul Gupta (Regional Managing Director, Business Development & Growth for GE Global Growth & Operations-ASEAN) and Dr Bruno Lanvin (Executive Director of INSEAD’s European Competitiveness Initiative (IECI) and of Global Indices).
School in the Cloud: Helping children learn on their own
Later, I was both in awe and inspired by the brilliance of superstar educator Sugata Mitra, someone familiar at TEDTalks. Mitra is renowned for his extensive research and work in education and won critical acclaim with his “Hole in the Wall” computer in India. He won a USD 1 million TED Prize to build an online “School in the Cloud” in India “where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online.” What a brilliant, brilliant man!
Another highlight of WIF-KL 2013 was the innovative bag for all delegates. Created by social enterprise Biji Biji, the ‘vertical garden bag’ is made from discarded materials – discarded PVC advertising banners and car seat belts. Young adults with learning disabilities from the GOLD Foundation made the bags. This project alone saved 1888m2 of banners from the landfill.
The bag can be converted into a storage display, or a hanging vertical ‘planters box’. The bag also contained a pack of seeds for delegates to experiment with. Seeds are courtesy of Eats, Shoots & Roots – www.eatshootsandroots.org
