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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.
Posted by Nick on Fri Jun 18, 2010 17:53pm
Yesterday evening I attended the presentation of the DigiWorld Year Book which is an initiative run by IDATE the French based telecoms analyst and consultancy house. There were some interesting issues raised and questions posed during a panel session with speakers from OFCOM, AT&T, Telefonica, Cisco and BNP Paribas. According to IDATE internet traffic growth is occurring at a rate of 40-60% each year.
Posted by Nick on Fri Jun 11, 2010 16:02pm
The issue of the UKs broadband infrastructure was raised again this week with the first speech by the new minister for Culture Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt.
Posted by Nick on Wed May 12, 2010 18:12pm
Last week I attended the Science museum for a special evening focused on women in science. I'd recommend a visit to the museum during one of its evenings for adults, no children running around and there’s even a pub quiz.
I had the fortune to listen to a presentation by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astrophysicist that discovered Pulsars (large stars that emit radio signals all the way to earth) age 23.
Posted by Niamh on Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:58pm
Posted by Helen on Thu Mar 11, 2010 17:50pm
Dan Roberts, Guardian business editor, cut a lonely figure on the panel; the sole left-wing voice defiantly open-collared amid a row of immaculate Windsor knots.
Posted by Chris on Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:12am
It has been a big week in the work we have been doing to support the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security. On Wednesday, at the Royal Society, the Taskforce launched their second report - ‘The Oil Crunch – a wake-up call for the UK economy’.
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.
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.
Posted by Chris on Mon Dec 07, 2009 18:51pm
With the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change opening today, there was a stark warning from the Danish Climate Minister, Connie Hedegaard, that the political will ‘will never be stronger’.
I think this is a correct analysis.
With the prospects of a global economy growing much slower than we’ve been used to and with increased public questioning of the science behind climate change it is vital that governments maximise the opportunities presented at Copenhagen. If they don’t, it may well be too late – not just for the planet but politically.
Posted by Chris on Thu Dec 03, 2009 17:39pm
This morning, we launched our Hothouse Foresight 2010 research with a breakfast salon at the Royal Society of Arts, London.
We had a prestigious line-up of speakers including Adam Boulton, political editor, Sky News; Paul Mason, economics editor, BBC Newsnight; Bronwen Maddox, chief correspondent, The Times; and Professor James Woudhuysen. Speakers shared their perspectives on the issues and trends likely to shape the coming twelve months and beyond.
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.
Posted by Helen on Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:01am
A couple of weeks ago the second seminar in the 2008 Hothouse series, hosted by spiked, took place at RIBA. The subject discussed was ‘Nuclear Power: What’s The Alternative?’