MIAMI — (April 21, 2014) — Media company Nutopia today announced $250,000 in support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to produce an online innovation hub connected to the “How We Got to Now” multiplatform media project. Premiering on PBS in fall 2014, “How We Got to Now” is a six-part broadcast series about the history of innovation and its role in creating revolutionary social change produced by Nutopia. Steven Johnson, a popular American science author and media theorist, will host the series.

Funding from Knight Foundation will allow for the production of a news and community website, which will explore how communities can create places that foster new ideas, advance opportunity and harness talent. While the PBS series will look to learn from the past, this innovation hub will look at ways to nurture innovation in the future.

The “How We Got to Now” innovation hub provides a guide for civic leaders, as well as planners, designers, economic development officials and others looking to build spaces that support collaboration and idea sharing. Topics covered in the innovation hub will include how social gathering places such as coffeehouses have long served as hubs for creativity and advanced patterns of innovation that figure prominently in Johnson’s work—such as “slow hunches,” the idea that big ideas develop over time, and “liquid networks,” involving the mixing of diverse groups with different perspectives.

The aim of the interactive innovation hub is to kick-start conversations and delve deeper into practices that spark innovation and inform city planning. These conversations and lessons on creating innovation-friendly spaces will be deepened and extended using the Web, social media, and live events.

“To meet new economic demands, we must build new kinds of places,” said Carol Coletta, Knight Foundation vice president of community and national initiatives. “The ‘How We Got to Now’ innovation hub will help communities do that by showing how place can spur great ideas and exploring the principles of design, planning and relationship-building that underpin innovation.”

“We are really excited to be able to extend the scope of the ‘How We Got to Now’ project with the grant provided by the Knight Foundation, ” said Jane Root, Nutopia CEO.

“Place has played a pivotal role in innovation through history and is vital to our future development. My books, and now this new television series, have always been about the power of networked collaboration to improve the world. The partnership with Knight on the innovation hub is a great opportunity to put those ideas into action,” said Johnson.

In addition to the innovation hub, PBS will launch a program website this fall featuring videos available for free online streaming, as well as other resources for educators and the general public. Free educational materials for middle and high classrooms will also be available through PBS LearningMedia, an award-winning media on-demand service used by 1.4 million educators nationwide.

“‘How We Got to Now’ with Steven Johnson is a fascinating look at how what seems like the ordinary infrastructure of everyday life is extraordinary in its complexity, history and transformative power,” said Beth Hoppe, chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming for PBS. “This multiplatform initiative, in conjunction with the series, will engage educators and individuals throughout the country by asking them to find the extraordinary in the ordinary parts of their lives and share with us their discoveries.”

The TV series “How We Got to Now” will be produced by Nutopia for PBS  in association with the BBC and will be distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. Oregon Public Broadcasting is the presenting PBS member station. “How We Got to Now is funded by the CPB/PBS Program Challenge Fund grant.

Carol Coletta and Steven Johnson will host a live webinar about “How We Got to Now” and the role of place in fostering innovation on Friday, May 2, from noon to 1 p.m. ET. Register here and follow #knightcities on Twitter for more information.

About Nutopia  

Founded by Jane Root, former president of Discovery U.S. and controller of BBC2, Nutopia is known as the creator of the mega-doc. Shows include the Emmy-winning “America the Story of Us, “Mankind the Story of All of Us,” and “The British.” The “Story of Us” format is now being made throughout the world with “Australia The Story of Us” in production and series planned in Brazil, China and Korea. Other mega-docs include “How We Invented the World” for Discovery and The 80s: The Decade That Made Us” for National Geographic. Nutopia are currently in production on “The 90s: The Last Great Decade?” and new projects for A&E, ITV, Syfy, Travel Channel and Esquire.

About Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson is the host and executive producer of the upcoming series “How We Got to Now” with Steven Johnson.  He’s the author of eight best-selling books, including the recent “Where Good Ideas Come From,” and he writes for many publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Wired.  An early Internet entrepreneur, he is fluent in fields ranging from neurobiology to medicine, sanitation to social media.  His unique blend of complex information and infectious anecdotes has won him 1.5 million Twitter followers and admirers from academia, politics, and Silicon Valley.  

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. www.knightfoundation.org

CONTACTS:

Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, Knight Foundation, 305-908-2677, [email protected]

Helena Tait, Chief Operating Officer, Nutopia Ltd., 44 0 20 7299 3459, [email protected]

Carrie Johnson, Senior Director, Primetime Publicity, PBS, 703-739-5129, [email protected]