Think of all the organisations that try to make the world a better place! Undoubtedly their work contributes to a sensible future for human kind. But often the only product of such initiatives is an idea. And often enough that idea gets forgotten after a couple of weeks. Large sums of money and time get spent on developing something that doesn’t ever have any influence on the way we go about our work and our life.


Furthermore, innovation has been increasingly popularized into becoming a trend and a commodity. There are numerous enterprises, think-tanks, and conferences solely devoted to the mass production of innovation. Unfortunately one can put wings on a shopping cart and sell it as Innovation at a high price. But when it comes to questioning and reforming prevailing paradigms there is too much talk and not enough action. Lot’s of coloured bubbles. Lot’s of profit. No real help.


Palomar5 was established as a non-profit initiative seeking innovation outside of corporate structures. The founders of Palomar5 feel that “innovation” itself is in need of reformation.


As an Initiative, Palomar5 explores new spaces for innovation and new formats for people to cooperate and make real change.


In a first step, Palomar5 has set up a residency program - a six-week Innovation Camp starting October 2009 in Berlin. Using a holistic approach, Palomar5 seeks out the most visionary young people internationally and then assembles them to inspire each other naturally. A highly selective application process aims to bring together a sensible mix of nationalities, genders, and professions to create a diverse and nascent network of movers and shakers from all kinds of backgrounds with a broad variety of skills and interests.


This year the residents of this experimental format are given the objective to design and construct new working environments that satisfy and accommodate the skills and needs of the digital generation.


The big question - in short - is: How will we work in future?


What makes the innovation format of Palomar5 special is, that in order to work out questions, a creative space is created in which a multidisciplinary network actually lives and validates the solutions it’s working on - like in an ongoing field trial.


The age limit for residents has deliberately been set at 30 because the people that will work in future will have grown up with the digital media, they will handle computers and complex software intuitively and they will know the depths of the internet – this generation will have to design it’s working environment by itself. This is the generation we invite to participate in the Innovation Program.


Still the network as a whole has no age limit. The residents should not work in an idealistic bubble. That’s why experts from many fields are called in to join our residents and stand by them, inspire them, criticize them..


During a summit that concludes the camp, the residents work is presented to a selected public. At this stage the residents will get a chance to connect with people that can take on their solutions and introduce them into everyday working life. The network fused during the whole program will be a strong basis for future Innovation Programs by Palomar5.