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Tribeca today announced two new forward-looking events to take place during the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) that will assemble a first-rate collection of thought leaders spanning the worlds of film, media, gaming, technology and society. The Tribeca Film Institute’s Interactive Day will explore the future of storytelling in the digital age, through an all-day conference on April 23, made possible by the Ford Foundation. Tribeca’s long-running Future of Film blog will expand its successful online […]

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), in association with noted Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, announced it will hold the third annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, hosted by NYU Stern School of Business, on April 27. The 11th edition of TFF runs April 18 to 29.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, and John Wood, founder of Room to Read. Wood has opened over 13,500 libraries around the world at a cost of $5,000 per library. The Book of the Year honor will go to Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) will be returning this year with Agency Program Manager Dr. Gill Pratt showcasing the Hummingbird, DARPA’s prototype nano-drone, as well as a new prototype making its debut from DARPA’s M3 program—the Cheetah. The roster of other award winners is a colorful and eclectic group spanning several realms of culture and society, among them pop superstar Justin Bieber and manager Scooter Braun, honored for the historic discovery of Bieber on YouTube and his subsequent social media rise; producer Rick Rubin, for founding Def Jam Records 30 years ago in an NYU dorm room; and oncologist Steven A. Curley for his advances in cancer treatments.

After publishing his best-selling book The Innovators Dilemma in 1997, Christensen moved to center stage as one of the world’s leading experts on innovation; the book presented his startling theory of disruptive innovation. It since has become one of the business world’s most important theories, and explains why great companies fail: They are frequently decimated by “two guys in a garage” who develop a simpler, cheaper, more accessible product or service that is “good enough to get the job done.” Forbes magazine recently hailed Christensen as “one of the world’s most important business theorists of the past 50 years.” This year Thinkers 50 recognized Christensen as the most influential business thinker in the world.

“Last year’s awards shined a spotlight on fascinating exceptions to the original theory,” Christensen said. “Theorists and practitioners alike must vigilantly hunt for anomalies, explanations, and narratives that help keep the theory fresh. I am thrilled to join Tribeca in celebrating this year’s honorees, who are propelling us toward Disruptive Innovation 2.0.”

Honorees receive Disruptor Awards nicknamed Maslow’s Silver Hammer, in honor of psychologist Abe Maslow, who created the famous hierarchy of human needs. One of Maslow’s most famous quotes—“When your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail”—embodies the spirit of the Awards and symbolizes the need for new approaches to old problems.

The Awards Ceremony, moderated by journalist and public health advocate Perri Peltz and Tribeca co-founder Craig Hatkoff and supported by Accenture, aims to showcase applications of and advancements in disruptive innovation theory that have spread far beyond the original technology and industrial realms. It is now being applied to vexing societal problems such as healthcare, education, philanthropy, politics, religion and spirituality. But its impact is nowhere more pronounced than in the fields of media, arts and entertainment. The original theory is undergoing its own evolution, impacted by the Internet and connection technologies, open-source business models, and platforms that democratize content creation and attract new audiences. Christensen will address the new insights and lenses in his opening remarks on Disruptive Innovation 2.0.

“Since its inception, Tribeca has been a living laboratory for disruptive innovation, where technology, business, culture and storytelling collide,” said TFF co-founder Craig Hatkoff. “This event, expanded for 2012, intends to shed light on the chaos of rapidly changing technologies and business models. We are beginning to see how identity-based goods, services and experiences create a powerful, yet predictable, array of resistances that change the dynamics of disruptive innovations.”

“We are delighted to host the third annual Disruptive Innovation Awards at the Paulson Auditorium, at NYU Stern School of Business,” said Peter Henry, Dean of NYU Stern School of Business.  “At NYU Stern, we prize innovation and disruptive thinking for their power to create value.  We are delighted that our students will share in this great learning experience.”

The 2012 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award honorees are as follows: {jathumbnail off}