Rodrigo Bautista
Senior Sustainability Advisor - Innovation
r.bautista@forumforthefuture.org
+44 (0)20 7324 3665
Sectors : Food, Other sectors, Innovation,
Background
I’m part of the Innovation team at Forum. I work on innovation, creative techniques and future scenarios projects, mainly related to ICT, human centred design and healthcare. My job is all about creating sustainable and innovative long-term solutions. My background as an industrial designer gives me a great footing to use design and creative methods to help us get there.
I’m excited about the process of generating not only one massive answer but a mass of answers that can help us tackle the sustainability challenges of our generation. I use people-centred design and future scenarios to generate concepts for services, products and businesses models that will lead industries and change systems. Recently I’ve been collaborating with Sony, a leading futurologist and a variety of experts on Futurescapes which is a platform to explore how technology can enable sustainable lifestyles in 2025.
In the past I worked in telecommunications, product and service development and advertising, with companies like Telmex/America Movil and Leo Burnett. But I soon realised this wasn’t quite what I wanted for my career. So, I decided to travel by land from Mexico City to Ushuaia (the end of the world in the Southern Argentina) and study sustainability with people in local communities along the way.
After that fantastic odyssey, I came to the UK to do an MA in Sustainability and Design - happily merging all my design experience with my passion for sustainability. In 2011 I co-founded Engage by Design a sustainable design research studio which focusses on the use of design as tool for change. I also helped organise ‘Designers Accord’ town halls here in the UK which helps change the way the creative community does business.
My dream project?
My dream project would involve collaboration between sectors and disciplines to produce system change. It would merge healthcare, telecommunications and technology to help us understand people at different levels; culturally and socially, generating disruptive innovation and providing a healthy economy for all the organisations involved.
What floats your boat outside work?
I really enjoy historic novels especially those by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. I like to watch films, especially sagas, and at the moment I’m really into Woody Allen. Sharing meals with family and shooting the breeze. Last month I started to paint using watercolours again for the first time in years and it’s fantastic!
