Next June 29 the third edition of the IMPULSA Forum will be held in the Girona Auditorium. What exactly is the IMPULSA Forum?
IMPULSA is a process initiated in 2010 by the Prince of Girona Foundation to discover what educational, technological, economic, political and social conditions are necessary to convert, in the medium term, thousands of committed, restless, enthusiastic and courageous young people with projects (what we call the IMPULSA YOUTH) into creators of progress through initiatives in all the fields of the Foundation’s activities: science and technology, business, social work, art and culture.
And how can a single Forum achieve these objectives?
The IMPULSA project aims to catalyze the generation of «impulsors». Using an innovative neural network format, the IMPULSA Forum sets up a proactive interaction between speakers and attendees in a way that creates connections that can lead to new projects. Throughout the day the young people listen to the experts, but also participate in activities to promote connections and collaboration between them. INTERACTION is the key word.
Are you saying there is nothing conventional about the IMPULSA Forum?
You said it, the IMPULSA Forum is a process that connects juniors and seniors in pursuit of Progress and social Transformation; it is the opportunity for new ideas and the most restless talent to make contact with the experience and resources of their elders to make these young people’s initiatives become a reality. The IMPULSA Forum is the initiative that connects initiatives, fostering entrepreneurship, the best values and pro-activity among young people… young people with the courage and commitment to face the challenges of today… in short, young people ready to change the world: this is what we call the IMPULSA GENERATION.
And how would you sum all this up in a single phrase?
“IMPULSA is the place and the time where young people lose their fear of Entrepreneurship”
HRH the Prince of Asturias and Girona, Honorary President of the Prince of Girona Foundation, emphasizes in his message that in this edition attention will focus on the role of collaboration. Why collaboration as the centerpiece of young people’s experiences?
Under the Umbrella of the IMPULSA Formula that we introduced in the previous edition (Enthusiasm x Education x Entrepreneurship = Transformation), this year the IMPULSA Forum will be based on COLLABORATION.
Yes, collaboration between disciplines, between companies, between professionals, between research groups, between sectors, between emerging talent and established talent... polyhedral and transversal Collaboration will be in the coming years the greatest catalyst of transformation of society...
So more than just adding up it’s about... multiplying?
Exactly, network collaboration can yield maximum potential for positive social change. The goal of IMPULSA 2012 is to foster collaborative projects as an indispensable social attitude in our youth and our society to promote progress and to resolve the growing complexity of the world.... ultimately it’s about Collaborating, Co-sharing, Co-building, Co-living, Connecting, Cooperating, Contributing... to Transform... it’s about Collaboration instead of Confrontation, because the world will be CO- or it will not be!!!
What issues will be addressed in this third edition?
With an attractive and innovative format centered on the four main pillars of the IMPULSA formula: education, enthusiasm, entrepreneurship and transformation, the concept of collaboration will be incorporated transversely, and in this framework we will have talks by world experts, conversations between juniors and seniors, projects of young people that are already changing the world, as well as a number of performances, some of them designed especially for IMPULSA. We plan to begin IMPULSA affirming that the future is CO- and by the end of the day we will have presented more than enough experiences to prove that the world already is CO-!!
Can IMPULSA contribute to improving our young people´s frame of mind?
Yes, definitely… and especially this coming edition, we believe it is essential that the IMPULSA Forum continue generating CONTAGIOUS ENTHUSIASM not only in young people, but also in those who are older. It’s about getting rid of defeatism and bringing back confidence in our ideas, capabilities, talent and potential so that we can be masters of our own future.
At the Forum the Prince of Girona Foundation’s IMPULSA Awards will be handed out. What is the main recognition of these awards?
The Prince of Girona Foundation’s IMPULSA Awards aim to recognize in our young people those values which, beyond any doubt, are the guarantees of their future: initiative, excellence, humility, simplicity, capacity for Creativation, industriousness, hard work, tenacity, constancy, teamwork, solidarity, etc... values that exemplify a model of life, values of ordinary young people who are doing extraordinary things and who, in some way, are the mirror and model for their friends and peers.
For all those interested in following the Forum, will it be available online?
Yes, of course, the IMPULSA Forum will be streamed (Internet TV) from the portal UNIVERSIA to more than 1200 universities in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese. There will also be streaming broadcasts from the portal INFONOMIA, the Campus Channel of CAMPUS PARTYand also, of course, from IMPULSA’s own website
