GLOBALFOUNDRIES edging towards 20nm

Dresden, 2012-03-13 #DATE12

Mojy Chian, Senior Vice President Design Enablement at GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and Antun Domic, Senior Vice President and General Manager of synopsys gave a short press conference on the sideline of the ongoing DATE12 (Design, Automation & Test in Europe) this evening for a multinational press audience.

The main topic was the past and ongoing cooperation between the two companies, especially the  implementation of the forthcoming 20nm-technology, to be expected roughly coming to mass production around 2014, as Mr. Chian mentioned. He also mentioned, that cycles of new technologies roughly being in a 4-year-frame, with CPU producers being the earliest and most demanding customers, next to following mobile application producers. In order to get the ramp up smooth and in accelerated pace, once the technology is set for mass production the cooperation with chip designers, and testing facilities such as synopsys are essential. From the technology information given by the customer the design phase (including testing) is the most relevant part in the value chain, before manufacturing in large scale can begin.

Presently roughly 500 engineers work at GLOBALFOUNDRIES -scattered all around the three plants in Malta, USA, Dresden, Germany, to Singapore, and other facilities around the Globe- using remote work environments using the virtual collaboration tools the Web provides (and in which often chips from GLOBALFOUNDRIES can be found). The aim is, as Mr. Chian and Mr. Domic stressed to work on more and more standardized information technology formats, in order to make automated design, and testing easier. "As there are 1.001, no 1 Mio + 1 things to be in place", Mojy Chian mentioned, and almost made the room laugh, "it is crucial to work to together early on in the process."

EUVL tool, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
(Wikipedia)

During the hour there came up the question on whether the EUV (Extreme ultraviolet lithography), which opens future chances, yet brings along quite some challenges that are not easy to overcome in short time, so it will not be applied for the forthcoming 20nm-technology, as Mr. Chian pointed out. He also stressed, that in context of the ongoing collaboration with synopsys "the amount of creativity what has been applied has been incredible", and there will be routes to be found that will tackle the upcoming challenges.

What we all could take from that hour is that chip design & manufacturing clearly define a next level in collaborative iterative learning, as ramping up of new production nears, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES and synopsys could very well be new role models in the context of "Lean Thinking".

Ein William Forsythe Ballettabend

by Angela Incampo & Ralf Lippold

The Premiere, and so just one performance, of 'Ein William Forsythe Ballettabend' at Semperoper was not enough. A new attendance as a follow-up performance was needed to understand and appreciate the choreografies created by the great choreogrepher Forsythe, and brought on stage by an always incredible ballet company, such as the Semperoper Ballet truly is. Everybody probably knows that Aaron S. Watkin is a former Forsythe dancer, and therefore more than every other ballet director can understand the difficulties, the efforts, and the great concentration these pieces require.

In a completely full theater (so full has been the Premiere as well) the music starts and the curtain rises. On stage the whole company starts with "Artifact Suite" a piece already performed to Semperoper's audience last spring in 2011 within a variation rich, and not thematic programme. Last spring the ballet company was asked to dance a classical piece (George Balanchine - 'Emeralds'), and two modern pieces (Mats Ek - 'She was black', and William Forsythe - 'Artifact Suite'). In this occation, the Ballett Company proved again their ability to switch from a classical piece to a modern piece and the dancing maturity they are capable to put on stage (for more information, here the relevant links to the articles). Not many companies are able to perfectly combine the movements typical of classical dance with those required by modern dance.

Photographer: Costin Radu

"Artifact Suite" on music by Eva Crossman-Hecht and Johann Sebastian Bach, is an extremely beautiful piece. The green-coloured costumes of all the dancers are interrupted by the white-coloured suit of one single dancer, Vanja Vitman. She is the guide, she controls all movements of the Corps de Ballet and sometimes also the two dancing couples performing the pas-de-deux (Elena Vostrotina with Oleg Klymyuk, and Yumiko Takeshima with Raphäel Coumes-Marquet). She is the master who "leads the puppets", helped by a big lightspot. She decides when they have to move, and when they have to stand moveless. Homogeneity and heterogenity are both performed. The whole ballet company is involved in this huge choreography. The lack of coordination among the dances in some scenes and the strong coordination in other scenes are wildly interrupted by the curtain falling continuosly down. Is what we see performed on stage, the lack of co-ordination we experience in our daily life as personal individuals, and as members of the society? Is it a clear sign of the difficulties we always meet? A smooth life, with the different seasons coming quietly one after the other finds no room in today's human life. Also the movements, sometimes so slow and sometime so fast, mirror the current times.

Photographer: Costin Radu

William Forsythe has created and new arranged, expressly for the Semperoper Ballet, the second piece "New Suite". On music by Georg Friedrich Händel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Luciano Berio, Gavin  Bryars, Thom Willems are brought on stage, one after the other, seven couples (Chantelle Kerr* with Claudio Cangilosi*, Elena Vostrotina with Oleg Klymyuk, Julia Weiss and István Simon, Anna Merkulova and Jiří Bubeníček, Duosi Zhu and Pavel Moskito, Yumiko Takeshima with Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, Anna Merkulova and Jón Vallejo). The costumes, for this second piece are plain and perfectly co-ordinated between the dancing couples. No curtain falls down to interrupt the scene. The stage is completely free. They can perform in an open-space, in movements of pure harmony and disharmony, shaping the relationship between the sexes, expecially on Berio's music.

The third and last piece is "Enemy in the figure". The whole choreography is illuminated by a big spotlight free to be moved around on stage (a main figure on stage, as it gives more or less emphasis to the scene). The spotlight is continuously moved around by the dancers according to their internal needs. A rope cuts the stage in two and so does also a wavelike wooden wall, that "hides" the sight on what's happening behind it. Depending on the position in the audience, one gets a totally different picture of the scene, and what is visible from one side, appears invisible from another position. Very much in flow with reality, that can differ vastly from your own position, and perspective - seeing reality is not what one sees on the surface.

Photographer: Costin Radu

The dancers (Chantelle Kerr*, Raquel Martinez, Anna Merkulova*,  Ana Presta, Elena Vostrotina, Julia Weiss, Jiří Bubeníček*, Claudio Cangialosi, Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, Maximilian Genov*, Fabien Voranger) wear totally white, totally black or white and black (pierrot-like) costumes. Looking at the dancers moving on stage and hearing the rough music, the viewer can physically feel the dichotomy on stage. The dancers movements are strong. They cut through the air like sharp knives, they seem forced to move by some unseen force, acting like under fever. They restlessly try to free themselves from a force that is hosted inside themselves, deep in their bodies, and in their souls. Their fast movements show the need to re-create the lost balance, the harmony between all parts. The elements on stage (rope and wooden wall) are a clear further sign of the dichotomy the dancers are living in. All metallic and rough sounds, the dissonances are created ad hoc - very strongly in need!

Also in this piece the difficulty to live a quiet life can be seen; the forces that move our souls and our bodies, and that keep us away from acting in free-will. The desperate search for peace in all different moments of life, private and public, is strongly threatened by the difficulty to find the right balance between being our true selves, and play our roles according to the "outer world". The dancers are merely a mirror of our own experiences, so strong that sometimes people in the audience are overwhelmed, like the couple sitting beside us, leaving the house after 'Artifact Suite'.

Yet the creative process overwhelms the conformity every time. People like conformity in the sense of stability, which makes life easier, and yet everyone of us has experienced the moment when we move out to the edges, performing different due to our own thinking, and will to express thoughts.

A great power can be seen in the modern dance and especially in William Forsythe's choreographies. In opposite to classical dance and choreographers, a major pillar in dance history and dance movements, modern dance empowers each single viewer to discover in the pieces a meaning, an idea that in classical ballet is not possible to see (being the audience guided step by step through the execution of the piece).
In modern ballet, the audience is free to give pace to the own ideas, reflections and comparison with personal and social situation. Modern pieces are not fairy tales made to let people dream, they are a door opened into the inner soul and into the society soul.

A performance that really deserve to be seen!

* - Dancers on the picture beside; more pictures to be seen on Semperoper.
To explain the role of art and artist we recommend the following article by Edgar Schein.

William Forsythe - Synonym of Modern Ballet in Dresden

Last Saturday 'Ein William Forsythe Abend' premiered at Semperoper Dresden with the extraordinary team of a company, its artistic director, Aaron S. Watkin, can be more than proud:

Semperoper Ballett

Two of its dancers, Istvan Simon and Ian Whalen, can not only be seen on stage bringing the emotions, they are also the video outreach (check out the Semperoper YouTube Channel) and photographs (currently all around the city of Dresden - please indicate the positions where to see in this interactive map [posters have been taken down, so this will be the blank space for the next run]).


"Ein William Forsythe Abend" - Plakate in Dresden auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

In case you missed the performance on Saturday there more to come, next one on (look here).

A very short (and very personal) review in the PresencingStatus format (4 short questions):

Good? A most amazing evening; Getting the last two tickets available; enjoying 2.5 hrs of joy and fun; learning more about William Forsythe's work; enjoying modern ballet once again (after 'Nutcracker' before Christmas);

Tricky? Separated from girlfriend who was seated on ground floor (myself on 4th floor);

Learned? A ballet performance is always unique (going several times to the same only enriches your view on seeing, and experiencing different emotions); modern performances are in Dresden as much appreciated as traditional performances;

Action? Planning to go (at least) once more

.... will we see you at next performances? [On TWITTER follow #Semperoper to get latest, and globally spanne]

The Future Better Than we Could Even Imagine

We live in a world overwhelmed by myriads of news, which are mostly related to the scarcity of resources, either money, workforce or raw materials effecting our existence, worldwide. Lots of our time, attention and energy are absorbed by these news, and by the idea of an uncertain future.

What does the current reality tell us? Is it merely a mirror of the current mental models used by the world's leaders, policy makers, bankers, and citizens? What might be the underlying root causes?

In Peter Diamandis' and Steven Kotler's forthcoming new book "Abundance - THE FUTURE IS BETTER THAN YOU THINK" (release will be 21st, February 2012) the first chapter (which is free to download for the interested minds) starts with a most interesting story about Gaius Plinius Cecilius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder. "In one of his later volumes, Earth, book XXXV, Pliny tells the story of a goldsmith who brought an unusual dinner plate to the court of Emperor Tiberius. The plate was a stunner, made from a new metal, very light, shiny, almost bright as silver." - It turned out that this was aluminum. Only the goldsmith was ordered to be cut a head shorter, as Emperor Tiberius feared the decline of his gold treasures, once this new metal would be out on the market. The knowledge about the metal, and the production process was then forgotten for almost two millennia.

What appears like a pretty distant connection between today, and the above story about the goldsmith however brings up similar patterns of behavior: once new technologies make the scarcity of resources become more abundant then in the present, the ruling class clings to the old behaviors.

Yet, times have changed dramatically. Millions of "Pliniuses" in the coat of bloggers, tweeters or boundary spanners spread the knowledge of new technologies, and disruptive innovations to any corner of the world in almost split of a second. The information technology era which had been mainly fueled by the work of Jay W. Forrester (inventor of the RAM, Patent US2736880) working at Lincoln Labs, MIT, Cambridge, on the Whirlwind Project, has enabled the "information age" of the past decades. This is now evolving into a "connected knowledge age", which most of us have not really been exposed yet.

"Abundance" tells the story of unleashing people's creative potential around the globe, despite their social status, age, education, and other boundaries in the knowledge flows into reality. Exponentially accelerating information technology (1) supports the possibilities of Do-it-yourself (DIY) (2) especially as 3D-printing becomes widely available, biotech labs in the living room, and social network tools are connecting the already connected people on the WorldWideWeb. Emerging generations of tech philantropists (3), like Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others who earn a fortune in their early life, using it then to play out their inner visions, making the world a better place.

Yet what really makes the difference is that billions of new users of the internet ("The Rising Billion") (4) will come into the global "innovation game". Someone who never before had a chance to connect to the global knowledge now is able to connect to like-minded ones not just across the street, rather across the planet. Mobile computing, and the downsizing of devices, power consumption ("Cool Silicon" a Dresden-based cluster researching the decrease of energy consumption) as well as increasing the calculating power, and data storage facility.

Coming back to my first lines, I strongly believe that we are just on the edge of huge transformational change which impacts all aspects of life in a way, not many have experienced yet. And best of all we have all the tools, concepts, theories that may help us all together making this dream become reality. It will include a much broader basis of people around the globe, including the ones who are not yet part of globally connected society as Tiffany Shlain has so beautifully made a movie "A Declaration of Interdependence" - The future is better than we think :)

'Lulu' - Der Zirkus des Lebens

... noch ganz frisch sind die Eindrücke der Premiere von 'Lulu' (hier auch die Handlung in aller Kürze nachzulesen) von Alban Berg in der Inszenierung von Stefan Herheim (er hatte bereits die Inszenierung der 'Rusalka' in der vergangenen Spielzeit in farbenprächtiger Weise vorgenommen) - das Abendprogramm des letzten Samstag in der Semperoper.

Sonntags zuvor waren an Semper 2 bei der Einführungsmatinee zu 'Lulu' von Regisseur Stefan Herheim und Cornelius Meister, der die musikalische Leitung inne hatte, einige erklärende Hintergründe zum Stück, der Musik und der Geschichte dargelegt worden. (Persönlicher Tip für den Opernneuling und auch den "alten Hasen" - Einführungsmatineen lohnen den Besuch stets, denn erstens erfährt man Infos zum Stück aus erster Hand und die Gelegenheit des persönlichen Gesprächs mit den Machern besteht, um eigene Fragen loszuwerden).

Foto: Matthias Creutziger

Bei komplexen und auch teilweise "schockierend" anmutenden Inszenierungen wie 'Lulu' ist es stets bereichernd, den kurzen Artikel 'The Role of Art and the Artist' von Edgar Schein, emeritierter Professor am Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) für Organisationspsychologie, mit seinen fünf Grundaussagen als Grundlage über die Rolle der Künstler bzw. Kunst für die persönliche Reflexion heran zu ziehen.

• First, art and artists stimulate us to see more, hear more, and experience more of what is going on within us and around us.
• Second, art does and should disturb, provoke, shock, and inspire.
• Third, the artist can stimulate us to broaden our skills, our behavioral repertory, and our flexibility of response
• Fourth, the role of the arts and artists is to stimulate and legitimize our own aesthetic sense.
• Fifth, analysis of how the artist is trained and works can produce important insights into what is needed to perform and what it means to lead and manage.

"Verehrtes Publikum - Hereinspaziert!" - so beginnt mit den Worten des Tierbändigers der Prolog, und einer vielschichtigen, psychologisch komplexen Geschichte, deren Dreh- und Angelpunkt Lulu ist. Sie ist -wie sich erst während der kommenden vier (kurzweiligen) Stunden herausstellen sollte- eine Frau, die die Männer sich zum Spielball macht und selbst am Ende "gekickt" wird.

Foto: Matthias Creutziger

Gisela Stille, schwedische Sopranistin und perfekte Besetzung für die Rolle der Lulu, verkörpert das "blonde Gift". Ihre Stimme und Spiel zog von Anfang an das Premierenpublikum in ihren Bann - spielerisch balancierend zwischen Ernsthaftigkeit und frivolem Freilufttheater. Eine Sängerin von der man noch öfters in Deutschland hören wird, dies ist sicher.

Stefan Herheim lädt das Publikum zu einer aufregenden Reise ein, und sie hat es in sich. Seine Inszenierungen zeigen stets eine überbordende Vielfalt von Handlungsstränge und -ebenen, so wie es in unserem Leben auch passiert. Mehr als sich in einem Artikel darstellen lässt und auch der Besuch des Stückes in seiner zeitlichen Begrenztheit ermöglicht. Je länger das Geschehen vor dem geistigen Auge und den ergänzenden Informationen durch das Textbuch und das Internet Gestalt annimmt, desto eindringlicher werden die Verbindungsstränge von der Zirkusmanege in die uns umgebende Realität.

Die Sächsische Staatskapelle und Cornelius Meister als musikalischer Leiter setzten ein perfektes "Stück Arbeit" um, dieser Oper die richtige Intensität zu geben. Es war nicht so einfach, das Orchester sowie die Sänger auf Grundlage der (unüblichen) Zwölftontechnik zu dirigieren, wie Cornelius Meister bei der Einführungsmatinee betont hatte. Alles hat wunderbar geklappt.

Ein kaleidoskopisches Leben - voll von Erfahrungen, Emotionen, Personen, unerwarteten Aktionen, zu viel, um es auf einmal zu verarbeiten und gleichzeitig genau so, was das Leben jeden Tag für uns bietet. Oft benötigen wir Aufmerksamkeit (Mindfulness), um die dynamischen Zusammenhänge innerhalb der vor uns geschehenden Handlung zu erkennen, die einzeln scheinenden Ereignisse zusammenfügen. Das Leben scheint schrill, voller Überraschungen (so stirbt im 1. Akt Lulus Ehemann Medizinalrat Dr. Goll an einem Herzinfarkt als dieser Lulu und den Maler Walter Schwarz nach seinem eigenen Einbruch ins Atelier überrascht), und schon öffnen sich durch solche unmöglich geglaubten Ereignisse plötzlich "Türen" ganz neuer Möglichkeiten. Doch ist Lulu erst einmal dem  Glauben, dass es immer weiter nach oben geht erlegen. Nicht nur sie auch die übrigens Protagonisten heischen dem Hype der Jungfrauaktien und des eigenen Erfolgs hinterher, höher, schneller, reicher - auch dass der Absturz umso heftiger erfolgt. Es erinnert schon ein wenig an die seit 2008 eklatant präsente Finanzkrise, die Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft noch immer stärker in ihren Fängen hat, als wir dies persönlich wahr haben möchten. Ganz ähnlich wie die zahlreichen Männer, die durch Lulus Hände gelaufen sind, und die nicht merkten, wie sie lediglich benutzt worden sind und den Blick für die Realität verloren. Zu sehr beruht unser Handeln auf kurzfristig und sichtbar getriggerten Mentalen Modelen, d.h. Mustern, wie wir das Leben um uns herum wahrnehmen, und die oft komplexen dynamischen Verbindungen "ausblenden".

Im Textheft heißt es an einer Stelle: "Die Welt als Zirkus". Man erwartet, zum Lachen gebracht zu werden (wie immer beim Zirkus). Es scheint aber nicht wirklich so zu sein, eher ein surreales Vexierbild des realen Lebens, das uns als Publikum auf der Bühne vorgehalten wird. Der Zirkus ist wie eine Maske, die man anzieht, genau wie bei Pierrot. Hinter der verstecken sich viele schmerzliche Tränen. Diese Idee kommt immer wieder in 'Lulu' vor. Die Clowns (Lulus verblichene Liebhaber) spielen eine Rolle, die man von ihnen nicht erwarten würde.

Abschließend in aller Kürze :

Was war gut? Eine komplexe und vielschichtige Operninszenierung, die an Fragen und Anknüpfungspunkten an die tatsächlich real vom Publikum erlebten Geschehnisse nichts zu wünschen übrig lässt; Gisela Stille, die die Vielschichtigkeit der Lulu in besonderer Weise spielerisch, singend und sprechend in eindrucksvoll verkörperte; diese Oper verspricht das gesellschaftliche Gespräch über die unausgesprochenen Themen in der Gesellschaft (Lulus finden sich an den unterschiedlichsten Ebenen und Ecken der Gesellschaft, nicht nur als sexhungrig, sondern auch machthungrig); das Produktionsteam, das einen wundervollen traumhaften Job getan hat, dieses Stück auf die Bühne zu zaubern;

Was war tricky? Der verarbeitete Stoff dieser vielschichtigen Oper, die nicht nur die oft ungewöhnlich klingende "Zwölftonmusik" nutzte, sondern auch die Komplexität gesellschaftlicher Umbruchzeiten in den 20er und 30er Jahren gekonnt darstellte (ein Besuch ist bei Weitem nicht ausreichend); blutrünstige und frivole Szene, die definitiv so manchen Besucher irritiert haben mögen (doch Oper ist oft mit Mord und Totschlag verbunden, nur dass wir es selten so deutlich vor Augen geführt bekommen, wie in dieser Inszenierung -

Was war zu lernen? Lulu weiß nicht, welche Rolle sie im Leben spielt, für sie sind alle Männer lediglich große Spielzeuge, die man wegwirft, wenn man sie nicht mehr braucht; Emotionen aushalten, auch wenn man wie im 2. Akt nicht sofort die komplette Handlung in allen Einzelheiten entschlüsselt (wie auch durch zahlreiche Gespräche mit Gästen in der Pause zu erfahren war), und sich in Ruhe und entspannter Aufmerksamkeit vor dem geistigen Auge die Ereignisse auf der Bühne Revue passieren lassen; sich stets fragen, "Was ist der Kontext gewesen, aus welchem der Komponist diese Oper geschrieben hat?"; neues Lernen entsteht wenn man Emotionen positiv nutzt (auch wenn es auf der Bühne frivol und blutrünstig vor sich geht); in bestehenden Gesellschaften spielen Masken bislang (noch immer) eine größere Rolle als die Authentizität und Verletzbarkeit der Personen; Hilfe muss erfragt und auch angenommen werden können (insbesondere in heutigen multivernetzten Gesellschaften und der Beschleunigung von Veränderungen im gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Umfeld ist das eine künftige notwendige Fähigkeit von Entscheidern, Managern, Künstlern und allgemein Bürgern) - ansonsten kann es zum Komplettabsturz kommen;

Next Action? Ein weiterer Besuch dieser aufrührenden Oper mit weiteren entstandenen Fragen, deren Beantwortung eine aufmerksame Beobachtung möglicherweise in erhellendes Licht getaucht werden kann; lassen wir uns überraschen; mehr zu Alban Berg erfahren (insbesondere den Zusammenhang zu Karl Amadeus Hartmann 'Simplicius Simplicissimus' erhellen, der im Herbst 2011 mit Valda Wilson in der Hauptrolle an der Semperoper zu erleben war).

Weitere Rezensionen im Web:

Boris Michael Gruhl, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten
Heiko Schon, Kultura-Extra
Maria Romo, A little bit of opera
Dr. Jürgen Helfricht, Bildzeitung Dresden
Nicole Laube, Elbmargarita

... sun over the Baltic Sea is arising

... and so the thoughts on what will happen in Dresden in the coming months, years. Back in 1993 when I first visited Dresden-Hellerau, a real innovation pillar close to  Dresden, though not really recognized for its entrepreneurial spirit for decades, the idea was set on fire in my head.

"Couldn't that be possible to reignite such drive as the godfathers of Hellerau and the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau had done a century ago?"

Listening to RichardFlorida in an interview with JimGoodnight, CEO of SAS, a couple of years ago on his topic of research "The Creative Class", further fueled my imagined vision of Hellerau 2.0.

Staying up here (writing these lines in the days of June 2010 right after the 4th Dresdner Future Forum) in the North of Germany, just a couple of miles from the coast of the Baltic Sea, my brain gets a chance to reset. The quietness of the day and vastness of view outside the porch windows makes me think about what it needs to make the "fire of ideas" go into a broad and sustainable one.

Perhaps we don't really have to reinvent new things rather combine current and already put down research and innovate the future of work and living.

Wouldn't that be cool? I have seen my fellow friends up in Jyväskylä, Finland, who have set up a network around MonkeyBusiness and their folks of TeamAcademy and stayed myself twice up there to entrench the feeling personally. Telling stories is one thing, experiencing it yourself is by far the much cooler way.

So, the question stays, "What to do next? Who are the other stakeholders, who are needed to make the change happen?"

Professor Richard Florida has identified five tactics.

1. Pay up. "People want work that's challenging, but money matters. Even college graduates won't take a differential to live in a cheaper place."
2. Outdo the competition. "Make your space the hippest one around. Your building and your environment show off who you are."
3. Take the guy with the tattoos seriously. " Top talent -- especially young recruits -- revel in their differentness. That new hire with full-on metal in his ears may be the best thing that ever happened to you. He's a visual cue that you've got an open house for talent, no matter what form it comes in."
4. Hire his boyfriend. (Or help him get a job down the street.) "Our research shows that same-sex partner benefits are intrinsically related to your company's success. It's the number-one indicator that your culture is inclusive."
5. Invade the backwaters. "Top talent isn't just found at Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford. There are plenty of great people hidden away in the backwaters."

Guess what? This place can be Dresden in the far Eastern part (not quite the ultimate Eastern part) of Germany. Quite a challenge to reach by train (2.5 hours from Berlin), by plane (not too many regular flights into the foreign world, other than charter) and yet this makes a really cool place. Not easy to reach and an awesome setting (on the river Elbe, with the Saxonian Swiss nearby and cool people all around - ask them and they will tell you more :-)).

Where do you see the future of work and life (in your own context)?

Bold Minds Change the World

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.

- Charles van der Haegen

The Maya Code is here!

I have always been fascinated by the history of the Maya civilization, by their huge baggage of knowledge in so many different fields and by all concerns their existence. Today, for the first time in my life I saw with my own eyes the better preserved Maya code. I had no idea that such an important treasure is hosted here in Europe and exactly in the beautiful city of Dresden (Germany).

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dresden_Codex_p09.jpg

Of the three existing Maya codes (the Madrid Code, the Dresden Code and the Paris Code), the Dresden Code is not only the better preserved but it is also the most elaborated and a highly important work of art. The code, written in a long sheet of paper, in total 39 leaves written on both sides, was probably written before the Spanish conquest.

This code, shows many half-human and half-animal figures in different moments of their daily life. They have in their hands tools and wear jewels and ornaments. Some of these figures are showed in colored panels. All around the figures it is to be seen the Maya hieroglyphic script, tons of small images about rituals (almanacs) and astrology, especially the Venus Cycle, (the full Venus Cycle is clearly shown in the Dresden Code). Venus has been the most observed planet, as the Maya believed it to be associated with wars and started their wars according to the Venus cycles.

Great importance was, however, given also to the observation of other planets such as Jupiter, Mars and Saturn and to the moon. The Maya elaborated a carefully moon calendar and a lunar reckoning. Their lunar knowledge was so impressive that the Maya were able to make eclipse predictions. An almanac for predicting eclipses can be seen in the Dresden Code too, together with detailed information on the planet Mars. The Maya tracked the movements of Mars across the zodiac and the relation between its movements and the terrestrial seasons. This lead them delineate a clear map of naked eye sky watching.

It has been an exciting voyage into a past civilization that is still present in our everyday life.

..... on the edge to 2012

The last couple of years - moving back to Dresden, due to the pull off hidden entrepreneurial power - have been quite a roller coaster for me, and personal life.

While starting to write these lines, as a reflection on the happenings in 2011, and an outlook into 2012, I think, "Should I really write in English? What about my German friends, especially here in Dresden, who are not as exposed as me to English speaking folks?". Doubts come up only for a split second, as 90% of my personal network is based outside the city where I live. The Web has enabled the connections, and so will the tools for people to translate into their own language - so it will be English in the first place.

I'd like to start off with a question by my dear friend, mentor, inspirator (out of the blue at a Scottish campfire in summer 2008 to be quite honest) Ville from MonkeyBusiness.

Copyright: http://antjelippold.com

"What do you want to achieve?"

The answer is quite spontaneous, and on a slip of paper that I keep since the leadership workshop IGNITION 2009 at TeamAcademy. It says, "Provide a learning place for people to play to their strengths." (currently "sitting" in Edgar Schein's "HELPING - HOW TO OFFER, GIVE, AND RECEIVE HELP - Understanding Effective Dynamics in One-to-One, Group, and Organizational Relationships"

On 14th of January, 2009 I wrote down these words, and confirmed them via a phone call from Finland to a dear friend, and former colleague at BMW - ever since I am working on the vision, even though it is not always easy to stay on track getting feedback in the most diminishing form from friends, potential employers, or institutions like my former university HTW Dresden, to which I own a great deal of my bold stepping forward into unknown, unconquered territory of learning, and working collaboratively.

I'd like to use the five questions from the new "MonkeyBook" created by MonkeyBusiness to frame the past, and the look out to the future:

Where have I been?

Early in 2011 I learned that Semperoper Ballett resonated in many ways of what my dreams are made of, interaction of people from a multi-diverse cultural background, working on a shared vision, in a given place, to bring up new forms of expressing current reality (society, research, human dynamics, leadership, craftsmanship, interplay, collective learning, open education, ..). After "losing" Dresden's 1st CoWorking space to a web agency late in 2010, I learned that using existing models of practice, and observing, writing about it can create a quite different "Power of Pull". Going to ballet and opera performances (mostly at last-minute) is for me like a workshop investment - I never know what I take from it. I let myself always get surprised what emerges, and how my emotions, memories, and connections in real-life come up.

In spring I had to quite my journey as an entrepreneur, offering process consultation, and lean thinking for all kinds of organizationally troubled processes (where one doesn't want or have extra financial, manpower, or time resources). For me, that was like a shock that I -at first- couldn't get really over. Only after many (non-helpful) tries to involve people with marketing, and selling capabilities I decided to "quit" this form of earning money, looking for a paid job.

A sunny morning in June brought a phone call in, which I thought would be from somewhere around Darmstadt, only to learn after seconds into the conversation that it was Annalie, AKA maverickwoman, from Sydney, which turned out to be a one-week trip to Australia (Sydney & Melbourne). This week was one of the most intense times ever in my life - 60 hours of flight, 2 conferences, 2 cities, 7 days in Australia, uncountable learning experiences - especially the two days in Melbourne have shaken my life since then.

Coming back from Australia friends in my network told me over and over, "You have to move to the Valley! You are too fast for Dresden!". So one day I took Alex Lightman's ideas to heart, phoned the German-Californian Chamber of Commerce, and asked about what to do in order to get a work permit for the Valley. Only turned out that I was rerouted to Germany to discuss matters in detail. Oh, that was not what I intended to hear. The idea popped up of doing a three-week promotion tour for Saxony and Dresden on my own, visiting all my contacts in the Valley, and write about it. Only write? No pictures, video, would be better! A friend, Daniel Scholz, just online on Facebook - a photographer. So I asked him, whether he would be interested in joining. Yes! In minutes the idea was laid out, some further ideas, and advice by Alex, and off it went the adventure: InnoBay.

August in Dresden, hot, lots of tourists - and having no internet at home. Where to go? Starbucks, where free WiFi and a decent cup of coffee makes it an enjoyable place to be. What I learned there: the WORLD is pouring through the doors, as the day goes by. Many cultures, languages, known foreign faces from the Semperoper, friends to meet - sometimes by serendipity. Should that be the time to reboot something that had a legacy already? The OpenCoffeeClubDresden, now also http://twitter.com/occDD

Where am I now?

To be quite frank - deaccelerated a bit, focusing on OpenCoffeeClubDresden, and what emerges from it. It seems to create the place where people are drawn into -even though there is no agenda. The PresencingStatus with its four short questions (1. Good? 2. Tricky? 3. Learned? 4. Next action?) after each gathering seems to work to understand more about each other's thinking during the two-hour meetings.

Another eight hours to go until 2012 - looking forward relaxed, and open minded on what will happen in the days to come.

Where would I like to go?

Here the space for my next goals of 2012 (and the updates by 2013-01-01; updates by 2016-12-26)

1. Becoming a respected tech scout and blogger in residence for forthcoming conferences around the globe, connecting Saxony/ Dresden with the world + got invited as keynote speaker end of November at the Symposium Change to Kaizen with the talk "Sächsische Staatsoper Semperoper - Lean at Its Finest Art"; not much progress as potential clients and with it a viable business model (based on digital communication) could not be scaled or encountered as originally expected
2. Develop OpenCoffeeClubDresden as an international incubator for social change in Dresden, self-sustained by sponsors, and having a place of its own (Café DUESENBERG up on Königsbrücker Straße would be very suitable for the start; pictures were from a presentation back in 2010 when café was still in operation; presently abandoned) now currently once a month with rising attendance, and new members from Mannheim; OpenCoffeeClubDresden has been abandoned in 2013 due to low attendance rates
3. Attend the 5th Dresden Future Forum with a session, and seeing my friends from Monkey Business as facilitators for change, as well + Angela and myself managed to attend, and connected wonderfully via Twitter, and other networks into the world as you can see here (THANK YOU Jennifer !!!); T-Systems MMS did not pursue the concept of the Dresden Future Forum due to (to my knowledge) financial constraints
4. Flying out to Abu Dhabi on building the ties between Saxony and Abu Dhabi around technology, arts, and education on the emerging future (supporting Semperoper Ballett on their spring tour to Abu Dhabi) this did not quite work out as intended, learning from that: even if the idea is clear, and the outcome beneficial on a sustainable long-term basis finding the suitable wording is more than difficult to reach the understanding of the other parties; nothing new here except the fact that interest in combining arts and technology still a matter of my heart, and a lasting passion
5. Attending GSP-12 in the summer at Singularity University no seat this time, reapplied for the third time in a row for #GSP13; applied for #GSP14 and #GSP15 (with no direct success, yet with again lots of learnings), most recently I proposed the #GSP17 to a fellow participant of the MOOC #ulab (around a startup idea around a digitally supported narration platform)
6. Starting off with Dresden Innovation Nights to accelerate startup eco-system in the region to spread across the globe. This still has to built momentum, as social media not yet is in use in the German (especially the East with very different cultures at play, and public funding a major driving force (till 2019/2020)), we are patient on that; at the moment a phase of "letting go & letting come" (it is not clear in which direction the future of the region is leading, and which players will move fast into the future proactively), however still open to take action, attempts to establish XPRIZE Think Tank Dresden, support (Dresden International Business Group) and nurture (DresdenULabHub) 
7. Co-create Mobile Camp Dresden 2012 (and connect with international tech startup community) + this event went very well in summer at my alma mater HTW Dresden (Hashtag #mcdd12); still following the activities of MobileCamp that have now switched over to be run by a formal group (most members working for supporting companies), not actively taking part as in the past years since 2010, this may change when time and interest raise
8. Show Transcendent Man at Technical University's Audimax - despite the fact that TU Dresden now has the status of an Excellence University there turned out to be no person with responsibility to make that happen at the highest ranks despite months of negotiating (perhaps 2013 is the year for showing the movie from 2011); still on the agenda and at LichtjahrDD (the Dresden-based activities as part of the International Year of Light 2015) which Angela Incampo and myself supported as their social media outreach with HTxA - HighTech x Agency) it looked quite promising to get a screening to either the Filmnächte Dresden (2015) or Filmnächte Chemnitz (2016)
9. Creating the HighTech(x)Agency (working title), attracting, supporting and building up the international tech startup, and research community in Dresden with strong ties into the world (Twitter: @HTxA); after participating in the futureSAX Idea Show Case 2016 in 2016 we realized that neither tested business models, nor personal resources and acceptance of potential clients (organizations, institutions and companies in the region connected with technology) made the efforts to scale in a positive way soon, activities largely abandoned and downsized to a hands-on action research project "learning to understand the hidden forces of technology adoption or rejection"
10. LockSchuppenOpening - the official kickstart of LockSchuppen this moment has still to wait to come; current the complete project as originally intended to become a 2nd Kendall-Square - like accelerator in the heart of Dresden (and Silicon Saxony) has put on hold, in 2014 I pitched at Deutsche Bahn AG in Leipzig for purchasing the building together with 17,000 sqm (appr. 150,000 square feet), here the pitch deck
11. Doing a SiliconValley - SiliconSaxony Promotion tour as proto - not this year; did not happen until 2016
12. Working on bringing TEDxDresden into being in summer 2012 (!) - in the midst of Dresden's special year 2012 - Arts and Science in collaboration with stARTcamp Dresden + seems like new drive has arrived since the Global Entrepreneurship Week where LeanStartupMachineDresden (message on the HTW Dresden alumni group at XING) LeanStartupMachineDresden (on the LeanStartupMachine website with the other Lead Evangelists); TEDxDresden took place on September 11, 2016, organized by a team around Christoph Sträter mainly from the science community, we had the pleasure to attend the event 
13. Writing an article at Sinnwirtschaft (on invite by Marc Flint) - interest on both sides moved into different directions, mainly focusing on #abundance
14. Bringing out my blog articles about Semperoper as a small booklet in print (already in talk with publisher and Semperoper) - yet one question crosses my mind, "Does the world need a printed version of such?" [Answering for my own, I'd say, "Yes!"] - still on looking for an easy to use tool to bring the blog posts about opera, and ballet performances here on this blog neatly in a booklet (as book on demand); Do you have any suggestions?; found the right tool/website - and 61 (!) articles transferred, now ready to be put online again (after some editing), expect it early January 2017 
15. Workshop(s) for entrepreneurs/startups emerging into the global community via social tools, scaling at ease the quality of their products (doing more with less) at my former university, HTW Dresden. oI got asked by members of staff to hand over my Alumni group on XING (with roughly 600 members) in order to accelerate the alumni network activities of the university, in due course of this negotiations I gave the proposal to become the university's "Technology Boundary Spanner and Lean Startup Advisor" (this has probably to be fine tuned in 2013, or even beyond when certain conditions have changed that currently are an obstacle); no activities in this direction since 2013
16. Hosting the Dresden screening of "Connected the Film" in close cooperation with director Tiffany Shlain, having translated it with the help of the crowd with German subtitles o this has still to, as interest in showing such a movie has to grow first, this could be the driver for TEDxDresden (see point 12) to get sped up
17. ...... on the sideline, there are much smaller projects in the making
18. ... and a few bold life-long ones!

How do I get there?

One step (or minor project at a time)

How do I know I am there?

When reality hits my shaped over time vision in mind, and the two match.

As a final comment, I'd like to add my PresencingStatus for 2011 with the four short questions

1. Good

Got to know the most amazing woman (also an opera, and ballet lover); quit my consultancy, to start all over from scratch; took the opportunity, and accepted the invitation to Sydney in June; restarted the OpenCoffeeClubDresden which opened new connections in town; showed twice TranscendentMan in small friends circle; two pretty filled-up sessions around TranscendentMan issues at MobileCamp 2011; became Semperoper most active blogger, and almost only social media active guy

2. Tricky

To not find clients to run my beloved business consulting (around lean thinking, and organizational design, which I am both very passionate about); to live from Hartz IV (social welfare one would call it elsewhere); being too fast paced thinking in an environment (currently) dependent on government funding in large part; not bringing InnoBay, Dresden Innovation Nights, and conference blogging/ tweeting into life as I imagine to happen; tweeting/ Facebooking around a lot of different topics which irritates often people

3. Learned

Hold back with ideas (their time will come, and you will be pulled into it); be fast in groups that are not directly connected to local friends, colleagues, potential clients, slow down the communication speed when necessary; OpenCoffeeClubDresden has emerged as a learning opportunity around group communication dynamics (actually to all participants I believe); be mindful and listen, and see what is going on around you, the right people will connect with you sooner, or later

4. Action

Let the new year come up, and work on the points above, as I have been doing before! And focus even stronger on the process of dialogue as learned from my dear friends from Monkey Business.

What are your personal answers to the Four Short Questions (on 2011, or let's say New Year's Day 2012)?

Cultures Accelerate their Uniqueness at Semperoper

Most of the readers of this blog by now have probably noticed that I love to write about the local opera house, Semperoper. Traditionally orchestra performances, operas, and ballets are the repertoire of the house - yet this one is certainly different.

Since the new intendant, Dr. Ulrike Hessler, and certainly already under its former intendant Prof. Gerd Ueker a new wind of change (in German) is weighing through the building that looks older than it truly is (only last year it had its 25th anniversary - bombed in large part in the nights of the 13th and 14th, February, 1945 it took several decades until 1977 to restart the rebuild).

Is it really so different to other opera houses? Not just a opera house in the sense we all would expect? Attracting the "silver locks" and "black suits" night after night?

It certainly is, yet most of it has to be explored personally. Even when you have no clue what the concrete outcome of visiting a performance of "Young Choreographers" (premiering tomorrow, three performances already completely sold out - only chance to get tickets being at the box office of Semper 2 30 min prior to performance start) - I love the challenge to try out new staff, that could eventually lead to further personal learning experience. Dresden is the heart of Europe's most dense multi-disciplinary hotspot of emerging technology fields, with cutting edge research, and a rising entrepreneurship eco-system (even though still in a pre-mature phase compared to other tech centers around the world, taken the acceleration, and open cooptition into account).

Semperoper, as a microcosmos of the world as such in a nutshell (pretty much what August the Strong created back in his ruling days) where arts, science, technology, and foreign cultures "clash" in serendipity constantly. Doing business as everybody in the opera world, playing the "old" operas in traditional style and costumes, would certainly enable the box office to sell ticket for premieres for several thousand EUROS per person. Yet the human mind only would see, hear, and feel what it would naturally expect - where is the NEW then coming from?

In a world of changing priorities, shrinking monetary funds, and reshifting the kind of work the Semperoper is reinventing itself every day - from my past experience in the lean management world, which I had also the privilege to lead as an "early mover" at BMW back in 2003, the house is an amazing role model to see what "lean" is about. Changing daily productions on stage, and starting every night sharply at the preset hour is more than amazing.

Last Sunday another outstanding evening of the almost 20 year-long history of "Jazz in der Semperoper" had been announced in the papers and the website. A jazz trio from Palestine bringing not only unheard sounds to the house, and the city - rather setting another mosaic stone in the multi-cultural tribe of house. Having had a rich past of Jewish artists that had to leave Semperoper when the Nazi-government took power in 1933, inviting the group - in my view - gave room for setting closer emotional bounds across diverse cultures.

"Die Welt des Trio Joubran feat. Yousef Hbeisch" pulled the audience completely in its ban, and created a emotional band, that only music, and ballet can create - as individual language, and words plays no role, only the world universal language that is understood across cultural boundaries and enables the creation of trust. Trust is the essential essence of dialogue, that when nurtured for long enough a time enables unimaginable collaborative action that would not be thinkable.

Dresden is rich of such places where the "unexpected culture clashes" can happen in a relaxing, and most fruitful way - lets await the next "Jazz in der Semperoper" and meet together (even though we have no clue what is the concrete outcome - it may be new friends you'd never have met, learning about a style of music that until yesterday did not even bother your thought, or may it be the emotions that pull your tears out thinking about getting along with friends from Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, England, Italy, Greece, Germany, France, Turkey, Hong Kong, Japan back in 1991).

Everybody will draw something different from attending a performance at Semperoper, and it will be different from the kind of performance, and her or his personal past experience. Looking forward to a fruitful future of "Jazz in der Semperoper" that got very positive feedback by Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten (in German).

As always, a short PresencingStatus on the event:

Good: amazing cultural spanning performance, emotional connection with the audience
Tricky: some sounds my ears are not yet used to
Learned: holding the tension, not knowing what to come - always good for personal learning
Action: finding out what is about the rumors that "Jazz in der Semperoper" will finish