Celebrating creativity and the innovation of youth at the Youth Art & Innovation Fair
By Ye! Team
To keep the momentum going in celebrating International Youth Day 2022, The International Trade Centre (ITC) in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted a Youth Art and Innovation fair on the 4th October. The event guided participants through an exhibition space showcasing some of the mind opening and innovative concepts, creation and inventions the Youth are building.
The event brought together over 180 participants from Geneva including young professionals, students, youth engagement practitioners and the general public. This was the third and final event of a series of three events celebrating International Youth Day 2022.
In the opening remarks, Matthew Wilson Chief, Special Projects at International Trade Centre highlighted that “ Our hope is that you will walk away from the event with a renewed interest in science, technology, art and innovation and a drive to create and a drive to fail. Embrace the concept of experimental failure. Use design thinking to gauge improvements from failures- and keep building on small successes to build a large impactful solution”.
The event combined an exhibition of global innovations, art and products produced by young people around the world. The fair so featured innovation workshops and fires side chats. The day started with a design-thinking workshop which sparked the participants creativity. The interactive exhibition showcased wide range of pieces ranging from innovative products such as a 3D printed game to promote tourism in the Gambia, to virtual reality experiences, to crafts produced by Somalian refugees in Kenya. The art installations exhibit in collaboration with addict lab, highlighted the wide range of creativity, coming from each age range and from all over the world.
In four fireside chats with young innovators and entrepreneurs, participants had the chance to exchange and ask detailed questions to WIPO experts, local innovators, and ecosystem enablers. One key learning was the importance of networking and peer to peer exchange, getting exposure to the ecosystem and to build a supporting network. All fireside chats, highlighted again that youth are extremely creative and innovative and valuable in creating a great future. WIPO and ITC are continuing to support the young innovators through their respective Youth teams.
The event successfully brought together the geneva ecosystem to bring awareness to the innovative potential of youth when they receive support, and connected, and given credit and recognition for their work.
ITC and WIPO will continue to build on this collaboration to deepen their support to youth in the creative sectors in specific contexts. Next steps include collaborating to support youth u der the AfCFTA and provide capacities building on IP and business for youth entrepreneurs.
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