Gastronomic Co-creation: A playful-gastronomic offer to break the ice

After the morning presentations and the lunch, it was time for Co-creation and some interaction. The promised playful-gastronomic offer was served as dessert. Three colors, three flavors, three textures. Three drinks to combine with different compliments: fruit, spices, jellies,…The objective: to come up with the new cocktail of the season. Some preferred to try everything first. Others followed their instincts. Some chose to go for an aesthetic result. Others to find the correct flavor combination. Some went minimalist, other exotic. We all laughed and broke the ice. To add it to the cocktails, to prepare ourselves for the next interaction.

Voluntary Matching: A light matrix for voluntary meetings

The morning presentations allowed all the members of Co-Society to get familiar with the Know How, experience and projects of different businesses and organizations from SECPhO (Southern European Cluster in Photonics and Optics). A projected matrix in one of the walls of the room served as an instrument to show the interest in learning more about other organizations. On one of the axes, the experts on photonics; on the other, the Co-Society businesses. And on the intersection points, some post-its to point out interest in having a more personal conversation, a greater  knowledge of the projects and exploration of collaborative possibilities.

Random Matching: Looking for an unexpected conversation in the dark

But you can’t leave everything to willfulness – to conscious, deliberate, sought, interaction; to the meetings that, because of our prejudices, are limited only to those that we see or intuit as closest to us. At Co-Society we value serendipity and that is why in this Co-Session we dedicated a time and an activity to interactions created from chance meetings. The light (or its absence), once again, was a protagonist and cause of the meetings. Three different colored lights, distributed according to the type of organization each participant came from. Darkness, the lack of light, like a veil that keeps people from opening up to new connections. And in the middle of the blackness, just one rule: look for a flash of a different light to start a conversation.

Forced Matching: One last turn of the screw for the opportunity to interact unexpectedly

But it is possible that even after the voluntary and chance meetings, a convenient interaction may not have presented itself. That is why we gave it one last turn of the screw for the opportunity to have an unexpected conversation. It was time for the “forced” meetings. A halo of light beamed down on all the participants together in a dark room. Its progressive and rapid diminution forced everyone to get closer and closer or be left in the dark. Participants had to follow one mandatory rule: take someone by the hand or stay beneath the halo. This sense of urgency obligated participants to choose a partner without previous planning or consideration.  The pairs formed in this activity ended up having the last conversations of the afternoon. And perhaps, why not, from this “forced” partnering someone ended up having the most interesting chat or the most potentially fruitful meeting.

Co-Session #17 Photonics: The Power of Light (I)