Background
The Ideas Network 2030 was launched at Rhodes House, Oxford, in September 2018. The mission is to provide an informal framework for individuals of the centre-right of British politics – along with other stakeholders interested in long-term trends and their effects on our economy, politics and society – to meet, discuss, evaluate and assess their relevance and importance to current politics in the United Kingdom.
The Network aims to enable insight into global trends likely to impact the UK and its’ neighbourhood, with a particular focus on geopolitics, migration and demography, digital change, sustainability and trade and economics. It has begun to promote these ideas and innovative thinking about developments, to ensure a constant exchange between the UK and the European Union, allowing both to address these trends in the most effective way possible, engaging a younger generation of thought leaders in the process. This will include proposing possible policy changes where long-term trends are clearly visible, and where they are likely to have significant and sustained impact, in particular for future generations.
The Network is working with local, national and European stakeholders across politics, business, academia and society to drive change and nurture ideas. Its main partners as of today are the Wilfred Martens Centre (WMC), the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), and the Conservative European Forum (CEF).
Developing our programme
To enable the Network to have access to critical thinking and ideas for tackling the long-term trends, the website, www.ideasnetwork2030.com, has been constructed in such a way as to enable stakeholders to use it as a platform for continual interaction on the key topics; to have access reports from our previous discussions; and to tap into the European Strategic Policy and Analysis System (ESPAS), drawing on the high quality source material available through the Open Repository Base on International Strategic Studies, (ORBIS).
Our primary focus has been to build the Network step by step with the Summer University as the principal annual meeting place. In September 2018, we held the event at Rhodes House while in September 2019, we organised it at the Said Business School, both based in Oxford. No event was held in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Then, in late 2020, we reactivated the Network with a virtual conversation with Damian Green MP, now IN2030 President, looking ahead to 2030 in the context of the COVID pandemic. We then ran events online bringing together both UK and Continental speakers on our platform, including an Annual Lecture 2030. This culminated in the 2021 Summer University which was held on a virtual platform. The three-day event provided the opportunity to review results of recent online discussions in the Network, looking long term at issues of strategic interest both in the UK and on the continent. A wide range of differing perspectives including UK, US and European views were reflected in the presentations and debates.
Next steps
During 2022, we continued to organise events, working closely with our partners. Now in 2023 maintained a programme of events including Spring and Autumn seminars in place of the Summer University.
The IN2030 Team
October 2023