EDIT — Expo for Design, Innovation, and Technology

Our design culture are the disruptors, with bold ideas and wide visions.

This past weekend I attended Toronto’s EDIT expo for design, innovation, and technology. Like other expos, it’s purpose is to bring people together with the aim of educating the public, share ideas, promote progress, and foster innovations.

Prosperity For All Gallery — Created by Magnum Photographer Paolo Pellegrin, his photos document global conflicts that serve as a reminder to the human aftermath of disasters worldwide. Complimenting these photos are inventions throughout the gallery, helping to solve problems while these disasters occur.

Specifically, EDIT centralizes on great innovators who use design thinking to solve complex problems. With a human-centered approach to problem thinking, these great innovators have used design to systematically approach problem solving in many aspects of our lives.

A carrara marble bear stands in a pool of oil — representing climate change and it’s affect on both the environment and wildlife.

When design is done properly, it reflects inspiration and passion and links that to execution and delivery. When we apply design thinking with technology, we can address and solve a wide range of challenges that exist in our world today.

This installation was created by a Montreal based architecture agency to provide a way to provide fresh and clean air into potential living spaces. Large transparent sacks hang at eye level and are lit by florescent tubing. The sacks contain an algae based compound that converts carbon dioxide into oxygen. The tubing below releases the oxygen into the space.

While many of us understand how convenient technology is, it’s important to remember how revolutionizing technology has been and will continue to be as we see breakthroughs in the space.

Drone Zone — This exhibit highlights Global Medic’s drones which deliver medical supplies and blood to patients in remote communities such as Rwanda.

As seen at EDIT, there are no limits to what leveraging technology can do. We see 3D printed medical supplies, drones responsible for delivering medical supplies, and shipping containers transformed into housing. We take a look at these things and understand how tech disruptors are redesigning the future and working towards providing solutions for large scale problems.

The Victoria Hand Project provides low-cost 3D printed prosthetics to amputees worldwide. Local medical staff are trained on how to use the technology, and the company provides workshops and services in several countries. This project links design innovation and medical intellect to serve communities often left without solutions in this health category.

Our design culture does not sit back and wait to be disrupted. Our design culture are the disruptors, with bold ideas and wide visions.

This event has allowed many, like myself, to explore thoughts, creations, and new possibilities. It inspires us to focus on the array of solutions in an era of continuous problems. With an experience like this, produced by innovators across the world — it allows us to think about contributions and how technology has solved some of our most complex issues worldwide.

This virtual reality exhibit surpasses the traditional VR experience — allowing you to experience the life of someone living in a third world country. This display gives true perspective to many. “VR is quickly being understood as it’s power to ignite empathy by immersing us in the experiences of other people. The technology transports us to refugee camps, northern communities, into the eyes of persons suffering illness and disability, and into the worlds of the most vulnerable among us”

This expo is full of promising breakthroughs the world is looking for!
Let’s work together to foster these innovations and contribute bold ideas, because we all have the potential to be innovators.

The Great Gulf installation — helping us rethink how we build our homes and bringing it back to the basics. 5000 test tubes hang from the ceiling, each one containing a seedling to highlight the sustainability and renewability of wood as a building material. Great Gulf plants four trees for every one tree used in production.