The 13th to 20th October will see the 3rd Annual Chelmsford Ideas Festival. This year the theme "Innovative City" has sparked a week of innovative ideas through talks, workshops, debates and a whole range of participative activities.
Anglia Ruskin University will be hosting 16 of the Ideas Festival events.
Highlights include a talk by Lucy Hawking, Professor Stephen Hawking's daughter. Lucy has co-authored science- based children's books with her father and will be talking about her latest book George and the Big Bang!
There is also a lunchtime videoconference with Eben Upton the founder of the Raspberry Pi foundation. This £25 computer has been designed to teach young people programming and has taken the technology world by storm.
New this year is the "Ideas Hub", a place for community events and workshops. Hosted in the High Chelmer Kiosk opposite Chelmsford market just along Bellmead from Primark's back entrance, the Ideas Hub is holding a series of interactive events. If you've wondered what a 3D printer is and how it works, if you'd like to try your hand with the Raspberry Pi and .NET Gadgeteer, if you'd like a place to sit and sew or knit or edit a movie on the iPad, the Ideas Hub has activities for you. There are also a range of talks and workshops including one for Black History month.
For people interested to debate civic issues there are events focused on what it means to be a new city, how we might make the best of our heritage buildings and whether we need a community council. The Changing Chelmsford Town Commons event will wrap up the festival by mapping and connecting individuals and networks with the aim to inspire and influence transformative change.
The festival programme is available at http://www.changingchelmsford.org/if2012/
