Ideas - and the forms in which they are expressed - are the new currency. Yet many companies, the media, and even the general population mistakenly see America as an intellectual and cultural wasteland defined by reality television and fast food. RenGen is about the rise of the next "renaissance generation" - an emerging section of the American public who are enlightened, creative, and eager to challenge the status quo.
RenGen draws a new picture of the American consumer as a thinking, expressive person and examines the factors that are giving rise to this renaissance, including:

• a new class of workers dedicated to creating innovation
• a growing desire to express new ideas and concepts aesthetically
• and, a new respect for learning-fueled by the Internet, a medium that links ideas, information, and visuals and connects people aross communities

Patricia Martin (Chicgo. IL) is president of LitLamp Communications Group and one of the nation's formost authorities on the rising marketplace created by the convergence of art, entertainment, education, and business. Her clients include Discovery Channel, BankNorth, Unisys, MCI, Sun Microsystems, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the New York Philharmonic. In 1994, she partnered with the Microsoft Corporation to build the blueprint for what is now the Gates Library Foundation.