The launch of the cross media partnership with Honda's 'Dream Factory' - in collaboration with Honda's brand experience agency, Amplify - aims to raise the profile of excellence within both the scientific and cultural communities. The Honda Dream Factory Project is all about innovation, good ideas and frontier style discovery. The cultural engineers don't just dream, they do.
Some of the best innovators and thinkers in the UK will be invited to collaborate with technical developers to bring their ideas to life at a Power of Minds Hack weekend. The event, to be held at the Guardian's offices in November, will be live-streamed and will identify the winning prototype which may then go into production with Honda.
Dr Kevin Fong is a cultural engineer working on The Honda Dream Factory Project, and is also co-director of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme environment medicine as well as an honorary senior lecturer in physiology at University College London. Commenting on the project he said: "Some of these guys are doing such interesting work. As far as I'm concerned, anything which tries to build bridges between scientific discovery and other areas is useful. It's all good."
David Fisher, Head of Brand Partnerships at Guardian News & Media, commented: "We're very excited about the opportunity to connect some of the best thinkers from both within the Guardian and outside to the Honda Dream Factory project. This potent mix of developers and thinkers should deliver some exceptionally creative ideas, some of which we'll hopefully build proof of concepts of. The Guardian's unique Developer Network should really help to bring Honda's Dream Factory proposition to life."
Martin Moll, Head of Marketing, Honda, said: "Our collaboration with The Guardian fits perfectly with the ethos of The Dream Factory. We are creating an innovative platform with which to communicate the fantastic work that our Cultural Engineers embark upon and are looking to inspire others to follow the power of dreams. Through working with forward-thinking, inspirational people across disciplines such as science, technology, art and culture, we hope to reach a new audience of consumers and cement the brand as a creative facilitator to help others realise their dreams."
Jonathan Emmins, Managing Partner, Amplify, said: "Amplify saw great success with the creation of the Honda Dream Factory platform last year. Creative communications are at the heart of all we do, so we wanted to develop the idea further, to showcase the developing relationship between Honda and the Cultural Engineers, and to find news ways to communicate 'the power of dreams'. The partnership with The Guardian provides the perfect opportunity to tell this story, but also allows the Cultural Engineers to challenge themselves in new ways, to collaborate and create on projects that are made possible by Honda and The Dream Factory."
