Summary

With living standards, wages and productivity flatlining – if not declining – the Summit explored ways to encourage growth and how to reinvigorate faith in progress.

In his opening keynote address Professor Tyler Cowen outlined reasons why Britain should be optimistic about its economic fortunes, pointing to major technology firms such as DeepMind and government agencies such as ARIA, however Professor David Edgerton pushed back, warning against boosterism and calling for modesty on the UK’s position in the world. Economist Sam Bowman argued that elites do not believe in growth as much as they claim and that, rather than viewing ourselves as a world leader, Britain should instead view itself as a developing country in need of catch up growth. Professor Diane Coyle, co-director of event partner the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, argued optimistically that we ignore the impact of everyday innovations which will change people’s lives, and pessimistically that for a long time ‘we’ve been using nature free’ and this had become a binding constraint on growth.

Over the next day and a half, the themes of the summit included effective ways to counter pessimism, fatalism, and conformity, navigating institutional obstacles and vested interests, and how to accelerate supply-side reforms in housing, energy and childcare. Informed debates covered alternative funding structures to promote high-quality research and development, and the best ways to adopt and manage AI.

A two-hour Unconference led by the excellent Ben Yeoh handed the floor to participants, with more than twenty sessions on everything from meritocracy, education and state capacity to how to create a pro-baby and family culture. The summit ended with a historic tour of science and innovation in Cambridge on Saturday 15th July.

Photo Gallery

Convenors

Advisors