Silicon Valley, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, is home to hundreds of start-up and global technology companies, with Google, Apple and Facebook among the most promient. It’s also the site of technology-focused institutions. The Computer History Museum and NASA’s Ames Research Center are in Mountain View, while the Tech Museum is in San Jose.

What
The X-Events Unlimited is a California Corporation located in Silicon Valley US.

Why
The X-Events Unlimited was formed to support the X-Center Network with commercializing the methods and tools and making them accessible to a broader range of decision makers in both government and private industry.

When
X-Events was established in May 2012.

How
The X-Center Network operates in four areas: research, development of tools and methods, applied research and customer engagements. The X-Events Unlimited  makes available senior consultants and project managers to work with researchers from the X-Centers on both large scale applied research projects and commercial projects which use the mature tools and methods proven via the research projects.

Examples of such projects in the past are:

 Game Changers Project by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis/ Exploratory Projects

Project was funded by Scottish (Department of Strategy and Development) and Finnish Governments (Ministry of Economy and the Employment, Innovation Department)

       Outcomes:

• Scenarios for transformation of global economic system
• Scenarios for global forest industry.
• Simulation for the Finnish IT-sector resiliency.
• Innovation dissemination of e-book.
• World trade simulations for game changers.

       Method development:

• Game Changer identification method
• Structural scenario method
• Global trade simulator
• Seven shocks method first pilots

      Implications:

• Need of further understanding of resilience recognized. Immediate request for a Finland specific project. Over 20 presentation requests for corporations and Finnish Government agencies.
• The responsibilities of the Finnish Emergency Supply Agency were redefined so that resilience is one of their three missions.
• New key elements included into the Finnish Government’s Innovation Strategy (ecosystems as structures, fast innovations, combinatory innovations)

Seven Shocks for Finland by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis/ Advanced Systems Analysis Program

Consortium of Prime Minister’s Office (contact person Secretary General of the Economic Council PekkaSinko), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Economy and Employment, Academy of Finland, Tekes, Sitra, National Emergency Supply Agency, Federation of Financial Services, Federation of Commerce, TietoOyj, Strategic Center for Technology Industries.

         Deliverable:  Stress test for the Finnish Society

         Method: Seven Shocks method

        Implications:

• Finnish Government chose to have resilience as one of the cross cutting themes of the Finnish Governments Futures Resolution
• Changes in the education policy and regional economic development policy
• Resilience included into the strategy of the Finnish Innovation and Technology Funding Agency (Tekes)

Resilient Futures of the Finnish Welfare Society 2030by The X-Center Vienna

Foresight and simulation project for the Finnish Parliament’s Futures Committee (Counselor Paula Tiihonen).

Project is in process and scheduled to be completed by October 2013

Resilience assessment for corporations by The X-Center Helsinki

Development of the resilience self-assessment tools for the national emergency network (2000 companies) for National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA).

Project is in process and scheduled to be completed by January 2013

Who

The core founding members of X-events Unlimited are:

Leena Ilmola CEO &Founder X-Center Helsinki:  L. Ilmola, has been contributing to policy making and assessment of Finnish Government (Finnish Government Future Resolution Task Force, responsible for risks and resilience) and Finnish Parliament (Futures Committee) and Ministry of Employment and Economics (Innovation policy, structural change) since 2011. She is a Senior researcher International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna She has worked for many years as an entrepreneur and methods innovator. CEO Fountain Park Ltd, Finland.; CEO Promotiva Ltd., Finland; Department Head Scandinavian Corporate Strategic Planning Corporation.

Brenda Fox COO:  CEO Global Connexus providing CEO coaching and strategy training programs for foreign startup companies launching their business in North America. She worked for many years as an IT Executive and CIO leading teams both domestically and globally for such companies as Read-Rite Systems, Codenomicon, CompuCom Systems, Safeguard Business Systems, and Prime Minister Trudeau’s Privy Council Office. Co-author of book: CIO Wisdom, Publisher: Prentice Hall, Spring 2002,  ISBN:0-13- 141115-2

John Casti Advisor &  Founder X-Center Vienna: One of the pioneers of complexity science and systems theory, John L. Casti, Ph.D., is Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, where he heads an initiative on Extreme Events in Human Society. He worked for many years at the Santa Fe Institute and The RAND Corporation, as well as serving on the faculties of Princeton, the University of Arizona, and New York University. A former editor of the journal Complexity, Casti has published nearly 20 volumes of academic and popular science and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Southern California. He lives in Vienna, Austria.

Markku Wilenius Advisor & Founder X-Center Helsinki: Adj. professor Turku School of Business, Futures Research Center, member of the Club of Rome, previous senior vice president at Insurance Company Allianz