Speakers: Damian Whittard, Jessica Lee, Anne Green, Richard Bonner, Jack Newman
Chair: Nick Pearce

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

Launch of the New Futures West Foundation for Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth

Chair: Andrew Kelly
Speakers: Muniya Barua, Diane Coyle, Darren Jones and Henri Murison

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

How Can The Next Government Spur Economic Growth With Constrained Finances?

Speakers: Ahmed Goga, Hannah Hickman, Angus Horner and Dan Thorp
Chair: Peter Foster

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

Does The Next Government Have A Southern Strategy?

Speakers: Andrew Carter, Jane Robinson, Philip Rycroft
Chair: Heather Stewart

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

Where Are We With Devolution And What Can The Next Government Do Better?

Challenge three: Cleo Lake 
Session four speakers: Leyla Boulton, Gabriella Gomez Mont, Sophie Howe

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

How Can We Imagine New Creative Bureaucracies?

Speakers: Tom Burke, Melissa Mean, Cllr Josie Parkhouse, Paul Smith
Host: Andrew Kelly

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

Creative Bureaucracy, Housing, And The Environment

Speakers: Stephen Hilton, Immy Kaur, Idoia Postigo, Nikki Linsell
Host: Geoff Mulgan

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

How Do We Rethink Public Administration?

Challenge one: Poku Osei on creating a better environment for social mobility
Session one speakers: Johanna Sieben, Robyn Bennett, Tom Burke
Host: Charles Landry

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

What Is A Creative Bureaucracy?

What if we could have babies without having to bear children, eat meat without killing animals, have the perfect sexual relationship without compromise or choose the time of our painless death?

To find out, Jenny Kleeman has interviewed a sex robot, eaten a priceless lab-grown chicken nugget, watched foetuses growing in plastic bags and attended members-only meetings where people learn how to kill themselves.

Many of the people Kleeman has met say they are finding solutions to problems that have always defined and constricted humankind. But what truly motivates them? What kind of person devotes their life to building a death machine? What kind of customer is desperate to buy an artificially intelligent sex doll – and why? Who is campaigning against these advances, and how are they trying to stop them? And what about the many unintended consequences such inventions will inevitably unleash?

Sex Robots & Vegan Meat is not science fiction. It's not about what might happen one day - it's about what is happening right now, and who is making it happen. In the end, it asks a simple question: are we about to change what it means to be human . . . for ever?

Jenny Kleeman 20 July 2020

The audio recordings for all Bristol Ideas work have been grouped into sets by programme and year.  Please note that not all events are recorded. If you notice any gremlins, glitches or other errors in the recordings, please let us know at info@bristolideas.co.uk and we will make the correction, if appropriate or possible.

Jenny Kleeman 20 July 2020

Bristol Ideas

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