Emad Tahtouh’s Cannes Diary: Day One

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20130616_175230.jpgEmad Tahtouh, Director of Applied Technology from Finch, is Australia’s representative on the Innovation Lions jury. Tahtouh, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is reporting exclusively for CB.

Being asked to judge at Cannes is a rather incredible honour. Being asked to judge a brand new category where you’re surrounded by guys and gals from the likes of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Intel, and being led by David Droga, can be rather daunting.

The uneasiness was quickly dissipated on the first night, after enjoying a lovely dinner on the Carlton Balcony with Terry Savage and the Cannes Lions team and the rest of the judging panel. After discussing Game of Thrones for the majority of the night, it was clear I was amongst like-minded people. 

This is the first year for the Innovation category at Cannes, and it is probably under the spotlight more than any other category. It’s also the only category where the short listed entrants are asked to present their innovation to the jury, and the presentations are open to the public.

Yesterday we saw the first 11 presentations and they were as diverse in content as they were in origin. With presentations coming from the U.K, Ecuador, Japan and Russia ranging from the latest smartphone concept, to a camera integrated soccer ball to a new way to experience Google Streetview. Obviously I can’t discuss my opinion on the work at this stage, but I can say that there are going to be some very tough jury deliberations over the next 2 days.

Today we will see the remaining 14 shortlisted entrants, and if today is anything to go by, it will most likely be a full auditorium. The format is definitely a winner with the crowds, with quite a few people coming up afterwards comenting at how informative and entertatinging it was to not only watch the entrants present their work first hand, but also the insight in to what the jury was looking for by listening to the Q&A afterwards. Not to mention having the opportunity to see some of the innovations demonstrated on stage.

Monday is deliberation day and I’m looking forward to being locked in a room with some of the most tech savvy and opinionated people in Cannes. With a panel made up of Marketers, Technologists, Futurists and Behaviour Psychologists, it should make for some very lively discussions.