I went to my first tweetup the other night, near where I live, and I have to say that after getting past the initial fear of walking into a room full of relative strangers (well, most of us had ‘met’ online previously), I had a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting time.
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The Epoch Blog
Welcome to the Epoch Hothouse blog. What drives the agency is our curiosity about the future. Our Epoch Hothouse initiative is what drives our thinking, our approach and our ideas. It consists of events, research and an expert panel that allows us to question and challenge conventional thinking.
What’s the future for innovation?
Posted by Helen on Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:02pm
Tonight is the night of our co-hosted debate with Spiked and BIG POTATOES, looking at the future of innovation.
2010: the death of command and control politics?
Posted by Chris on Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:15pm
Yesterday, I was interviewed by Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC Newsnight, on why politicians are failing to connect with voters; the impact of social media and whether or not the current volatility in the British political system is a short term blip or will have lasting impact.
It was on the back of Paul's theory that the Blackberry world (that of politicians and those in power) is clashing with the iPhone world (society at large).
Journalists and visitors are still able to leave the office - we have proof
Posted by Niamh on Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:58pm
Are politicians failing to assert influence in today's pluralist society?
Posted by Nick on Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:59am
Last week I attended a Hansard Society event to mark the launch of their annual Audit of Political Engagement. The Hansard Society is a not for profit organisation concerned with promoting understanding of the role of parliament and politics. It was a good line up of speakers including the Right Honourable David Blunkett MP, Lord Rennard MBE, Shailesh Vara MP and Dr Ruth Fox from the Hansard Society.
On Wednesday I attended a Computer Weekly 500 Club event for UK CIOs and IT leaders at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. A lively event looking at the challenges CIOs face in 2010. When I arrived at the hotel I was surprised to see more police officers than you would expect at a derby football game – I hadn’t taken CIOs for the rowdy type.
Net Neutrality is an issue that can sometimes bypass us in Europe and often seems like an argument being held in Washington, with a case study being played out in China. For us this debate should receive a little more airtime as the outcome will set out the fundamental governance rules of the internet.
Free online content - Google, Google, gone?
Posted by Nick on Tue Dec 08, 2009 17:55pm
The decision by Google to restrict access to content through its Google News service is a landmark moment.
Political transparency - can we have too much?
Posted by Chris on Thu Nov 26, 2009 15:39pm
Yesterday, I took part in a lively debate at the Future Democracy 2009 event on the net’s role in boosting transparency in light of the MPs’ expenses scandal. Heather Brooke, the campaigner and journalist responsible for forcing Parliament to disclose MPs’ expenses under the Freedom of Information Act, and James Crabtree, managing editor of Prospect, were both on the panel. With the parliamentary expenses scandal at the heart of the discussion, we examined the issue of transparency, and whether or not ‘naked transparency’, as Professor Lessig refers to it, is a good thing for democracy and the functioning of government.
Future-gazing in Soho: a 20 year view
Posted by Chris on Wed Nov 18, 2009 0:23am
This week we held a future-gazing session in Soho. In addition to our Hothouse expert panel, we welcomed Gary Duncan, economics editor at The Times, as a guest contributor.
It was a broad ranging session. In four short hours, we debated the future of democracy, energy innovation, macroeconomics, global communities and the fusion of nanotech, biotech and artificial intelligence.
40 years after the birth of the Internet: 10 future trends
Posted by Amanda on Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:46am
Never wanting to miss the opportunity for a party, we held a lunch to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Internet. Guest speakers were David Rowan, editor of Wired UK and Nico Macdonald, the creator of the Internet Development Map. The idea was to discuss how the internet has evolved and what we can learn from this about the nature of innovation and also look forward to what might be coming.