IdeaJams

FutureBoston features three "IdeaJams," designed to harvest solutions to the critical challenges facing Boston in three key areas of urban life: health, design, and environmental sustainability. Each is an experiment to see how far collaborators can go in a four-week period framing concepts, generating business models, and arguing impacts.

There are two parts to each IdeaJam: an online collaboration and a face-to-face event where the best ideas are discussed and voted on.

Each IdeaJamexplores one of the major challenge areas:

• Health: How can Boston become a national test-bed for delivering better health care to its citizens based on new services over high-speed wireless in the "post-Internet" era?
  
  
• Design: What innovative development patterns can give new form to Boston's landscape and skyline to promote economic development, and make Boston one of the most livable and affordable cities in the nation for families and singles alike?
  
  
• Sustainability: How can metropolitan Boston serve as a national laboratory for new energy policies, promoting affordable transportation and housing that enhances the region's quality of life?