Sarasota’s International Design Summit gave me hope for our economy—and future.

By Carol Tisch

Bravo Ringling College! For the past three days you have transformed Sarasota into a world-class epicenter of global design. Wow! This was not design limited to the obvious disciplines: graphic design, product or fashion design. This was an introduction to a new world of design that is reshaping every aspect of our businesses and our lives.  The third Sarasota International Design Summit produced by Ringling College of Art and Design explored new interactions between humans and machines: communication with social, visual and mobile media. Sounds esoteric, technical, and futuristic – until you hear what is actually being done ( www.sarasotadesignsummit.com ). 

As an admitted no-technophile, most of this stuff was way over my head. But it was uplifting nonetheless.  I left with a sense that this new order of design is a growing movement that will eventually replace big numbers of jobs lost to global competitors.  I also left with a tinge of regret because the work and ideas presented need more public exposure.  Imagine the caliber of speakers we get at Ringling School Library Association’s Town Hall program: All provocative, inspirational, brilliant, big-name individuals who are so well known their ideas are common knowledge. 

The Ringling Summit offered up the same brilliance; but to most of us, the forward-thinking visionaries on stage were unknown. How thrilling to learn what they’re doing behind the scenes – everything from i-phone application development to gaming technology – innovations that give me hope in the future of our economy. If only Ringling College had the financial wherewithal to repackage these presentations to targeted professionals and businesses. People who might not be interested in attending the entire conference, but willing to pay for insights into specific topics—like Building Information Modeling (BIM), a process of generating and managing building data in 3-D and in real time.