The Economist, the newsweekly based in London with a uniquely global reach, is hosting its major annual ideas summit, the Open Future Festival, on Saturday October 5th in Manchester, with parallel events taking place in Hong Kong and Chicago.
The day-long festival is a forum for fresh ideas on free speech, free trade and individual freedom, at a time when these values are under attack and populism and authoritarianism are on the rise. More than 500 people are registered to attend the event at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester, home of Lancashire Cricket Club.
Created in 2018, Open Future uses digital journalism, social media and live events to foster a global conversation on the challenges of the 21st century. It is focused on promoting a dialogue across the ideological spectrum and is aimed at a young audience in particular.
Kenneth Cukier, a senior editor at The Economist overseeing the Open Future initiative, explained: “There is a barbarism creeping into our politics around the world: where facts don’t matter, divergent views are shot down, and the restraints on concentrations of power, be it political or economic, are weakened. Open Future is a way to fight back against these dark forces by giving voice to big ideas on urgent issues from young leaders with a positive vision of the future.”
The Manchester event presents prominent speakers with a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints. The agenda includes:
- A panel debate on the state of British politics featuring MPs Sam Gyimah, Lisa Nandy and Tom Tugendhat and hosted by The Economist senior editor Anne McElvoy
- A discussion on how social activism is shaping the political agenda, featuring the Hong Kong-based pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, the British social-activist Nimco Ali, and Richard Ratcliffe (the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity-worker arbitrarily imprisoned in Iran);
- A debate on the “weaponisation” of the data economy by companies, and “algorithmic authoritarianism” by governments.
- A conversation on Britain’s place in the world with Lord Jim O’Neill, economist, former Treasury Minister and proud Mancunion;
- A fireside chat with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning Nigerian author who is one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine.
- A discussion on how to address climate change with Dr Hoesung Lee, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC);
- A video message from Bill Gates on the importance of international cooperation to solve the world’s toughest development challenges.
Other speakers secured for the event include:
- Patrick Collison, the chief executive of Stripe, a major online payment platform
- Natasha Devon, a youth mental-health campaigner
- Jsky, Mancunion singer, songwriter, fashionista and host of Channel 4 show Naked Beach
- Grace Blakeley, economic commentator at The New Statesman
Guests will be able to participate in lively talks, interactive exhibitions, immersive experiences, debates and networking with festival attendees.
Further information on Open Future Festival Manchester can be found here, and attendees can register for the event here.
Non-attendees can watch the events in all three cities via a livestream at: www.economist.com/openfuturelive
