Barna Málnay invited me to a workshop which was organised by by Kitchen Budapest andEcowizer. The event was hosted in Biblia street at Kibu’s headquarters, having 20 people with different background. We worked together in small groups in English to develop project concepts.

In the first morning we had short presentations. I talked about our Airpoll project, and got smart comments and questions afterwards. Ben Streenstra from Ecowizer showed us how we can turn hard situations into possibilities using the creative side of our mind.

The goal of the two days was to work out concepts which can be sustainable in an economical and ecological manner as well. Ben guided us using his own methodology to reach this goal fast and in a funny way. We used uncommon tools – like word association games – to reach ideas and solutions beyond the border of our imagination.

At the end of the second day we had two concepts in our hands, polished by two-two groups. The first is greenstein, an intelligent mobile application, helping its user to get greener in the everyday life. The second is named Farmsquare, a web and mobile-based solution supporting the urban gardening movement. It’s not clear yet if somebody from the group has the time and will to build a product based on these concepts. Even if the speed of the workshop convinced me, my sceptical part says that a good idea or concept is nothing without full execution.

Anyway, we learned how to open a simple idea, tailor it to target groups and present it to a mixed audience.

It was interesting for me to go back to Kibu, where I had had a chance to meet the founders some years ago before the opening ceremony (Szabi and HP from prezi.com worked there back than). I still have that impression that they haven’t reached their biggest goal: to introduce to the market the new products, started in this creative environment, . Beside this, they are really good in their field, having a strong international network and experience in fast small projects. I just miss the longer, more finished projects closer to the market needs. The space for this is not surprising, knowing how addictive the fast prototyping process in small groups is.

There are strong signs of the effect of their work in the city. You can find young talents who started their career there and co-founded exciting places like hackerspace– or FabLabBudapest. Teaching this generation of innovators is a big act in itself, but I’d work more on product development to exceed the Media-Lab role. Go Kibu Go :)