The IdeaFestival, launched today and continuing through the 15th in Louisville KY, looks at topics ranging from parallel worlds (Michio Kaku) to robot ‘swarm’ intelligence (James McLurkin), and throws in cutting edge ideas from numerous other disciplines. Breakthrough thinking can emerge from the synergies between science, the arts, technology, film, business and education. Thus the event’s charter, “IF promotes out-of-the-box thinking and cross-fertilization of knowledge as a means toward the development of innovative ideas, products and creative endeavors.”

If you’re anywhere near Louisville, the festival is well worth your time. A regular event since 2000, it’s being live-blogged by Wayne Hall and others (check the IF site for information and the RSS feed). I see that Ray Bradbury wil be ‘beaming in,’ while Steve Wozniak should pepper the event with projections on the future of high tech. Getting ideas energized and publicized is at the core of the concept. The agenda, speaker information and podcasts are available on the IdeaFestival home page.