GRID 2008

Videos, pictures, keynote speakers and a word from BMU Director Stefan Mehr.

"The first-ever GRID conference was a resounding success! Three hundred participants from 110 companies and 15 countries around the globe gathered to listen to prestigious speakers and network with colleagues.

With breakout sessions, round table discussions, interviews, artists, gourmet food, and even a boat ride, the GRID conference was a great happening from start to finish.

Notable speakers like world-renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and Booker Prize-winning author Kiran Desai shared personal stories of transformation. Wildlife photographer Mattias Klum, design anthropologist Younghee Jung and professor Hans Rosling showed how stories can be told through images, surveys and even statistics. TED director June Cohen, Web pioneer Nova Spivack and passionate Hollywood CEO Jim Berk proved that the world is being changed by global media consciousness. Creative director Pele Cortizo-Burgess demonstrated the power of our own inherited creativity. And since everyone has a story to tell, each participant contributed his or her own six-word memoir.

Why did we get together at Alfred Nobel's old gunpowder factory for two summer days in Stockholm? Because, as Bonnier CEO and GRID host Jonas Bonnier says, "If we want to be the most exciting company in the whole media industry, we need to inspire people in unusual, creative ways and just have great fun. This was great fun!"

Stefan Mehr, Bonnier Media University

Want to get inspired? Watch the viedos below and photos from GRID 2008.

See the participants list here!

Breakout Sessions



Programs and Keynote Speakers

Ten inspiring speakers, nearly 300 people from the whole Bonnier world, two days and one conference. If you were there, relive the moment with these videos. If not— enjoy! This is a small glimpse of what happened at GRID 2008.

Good Vibrations

DAME EVELYN GLENNIE, world-leading percussionist, on how to touch the sound and learn to listen.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is a Scottish world-famous virtuoso percussionist and composer. Although she became deaf at age 12, music is her life. She has performed worldwide with the greatest conductors and orchestras, as well as with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Bjork and Sting.



The Inheritance of Story Telling

KIRAN DESAI, the youngest female author ever to win the Booker price, on the urge and love for writing.

Kiran Desai is an Indian author living in Brooklyn, New York. Her novel, "The Inheritance of Loss" won the 2006 Man Booker Prize. It has been translated into 40 languages. As might be expected from the rich input of her cultural background, Kiran Desai, daughter of author Anita Desai, is a born storyteller.



Consumer Anthropolgy

YOUNGHEE JUNG, innovates by understanding people's everyday lives.

Jung is a senior interaction designer at Nokia, based in London. She specializes in developing future product concepts by combining anthropology with design. Her passion is to learn and understand various cultures of humanity and make contributions to enrich them.



The Semantic Web

NOVA SPIVACK, technology visionary, takes you straight from your brain to the global mind.

Nova Spivack lives in San Francisco and is one of the leading voices of the emerging Semantic Web, often referred to as Web 3.0. As a grandson of management guru Peter F. Drucker, Nova shares his grandfather's interests in the evolution of knowledge work. In 1999, Nova Spivack flew to the edge of space with the Russian space agency.



Lights, Camera , Social Action

JIM BERK, Participant Media, challenges Hollywood with inconvenient truths and entertaining stories to make a difference.

Jim Berk is CEO of Participant Media, Hollywood's leading provider of entertainment designed to inspire social change. A lifelong commitment to entertainment, education, social change and business leadership has guided Jim Berk throughout his career. Participant Media has produced films such as The Kite Runner, An Inconvenient Truth, Darfur Now, and newly released The Visitor.



New Technology, Ancient Instincts

JUNE COHEN, on story-telling in a wired world.

June Cohen, Executive Producer of TED Media, is responsible for bringing the legendary TED Conference online. As a result, TED talks have been watched more than 50 million times worldwide, and have created a thoughtful new genre in online video. She has written books on the Web and was part of the editorial team that launched HotWired.com, the pioneering website from Wired Magazine in San Francisco.



The World is Becoming a Better Place

HANS ROSLING, professor at Karolinska Institute, has a fact-based worldview and amazing statistics to share.

Hans Rosling is Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. In 1980, he discovered an outbreak of a formerly unknown paralytic disease. His research led to links between economic development, agriculture, poverty and health. He is invited to speak all over the world and is highly rated for his jaw-dropping lecturing style.



Change the Way You Work, Change the Way You Think

PELE CORTIZO-BURGESS, head of Imagine, the creative lab of British ITV, on how to find ideas that can change the world.

Pele Cortizo-Burgess has a background in advertising and has worked for many of the most well-known consumer brands in the world. He started ITV Imagine one and a half years ago. Imagine investigates current culture and media platforms, creates television formats, and tries to find inspiring paths to creativity. ITV is the biggest commercial television network in the UK.



Being There

MATTIAS KLUM, world life photographer, on willpower and environmental consciousness.

Mattias Klum is a full time freelance photographer specializing in natural history and cultural subjects. His photographs have appeared in many publications worldwide, including National Geographic, Wildlife Conservation, GEO, and other magazines.

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