Facing the future: Full Circle brings top thinkers to Brussels

An "ideas exchange" for professionals that aims to bring some of the world's brightest minds to Brussels has attracted more than 200 local members through word of mouth, with a lively programme of discussions and debates - including an inspiring talk from a futurologist this week.

Full Circle was founded by expats Bridie Nathanson and Louise Hilditch four years ago as "an inspiring place to be" and brings experts from all around the world to discuss topics such as culture, economics, science, philosophy and history, among others, with a Brussels audience.

"We wanted to create a community of people who were interested in change and ideas," says Hilditch. The gatherings take place in a different venue each time, announced to attendees two days in advance. Over the past four years, events have been hosted in unusual locations from a hardware store to a private bank.

Events range from dinners with speakers, who are mostly brought in from outside Brussels - previous guests have included Mariella Frostrup and Anthony C. Grayling - to lunch workshops on a more professional subject matter. The group's take on life is to be hungry for more, always looking for new ideas.

The invited speakers not only talk to the interested members - they also have a full few days in Brussels meeting with other thinkers, planners and policy makers. There is also a youth programme.

Rebooting the system

This week's guest, on Tuesday 7 February, is the author, futurologist and entrepreneur Mark Stevenson, a leading thinker in innovation, technology and societal change. His second book, We Do Things Differently, is a series of meetings around the world with innovators who have succeeded in challenging the status quo and "rebooting" our old systems and models.

"They're all incredibly patient," he says of the innovators he met. "They're emotionally committed and they're mostly outsiders. They're belligerent, annoying, brilliant people.

"When you go up and challenge an existing system everybody says you’ll never do it, there’s too many vested interests, it’s impossible. And the book is me going: you can’t say it’s impossible, because Jeff’s done it. You can say it’s hard, Jeff will tell you how fucking hard it was and how it nearly killed him, but you can’t tell me it’s impossible."

A dose of down-to-earth optimism is something we could do with at this time: "2016 was only the beginning - there’s probably gong to be another crash in 2018 which will make 2008 look like a storm in a teacup. Trump’s going to be an absolute disaster, Brexit’s going to be an absolute disaster, you’ve got far-right populism coming up.

"The bad news is that all of our systems are pretty much not fit for purpose any more. The good news is that we’ve got all the tools and all the talent we need to rebuild them. And the ugly news is that it’s going to get very messy."

What will members take away from his speech at Full Circle? "The future is up for grabs in a way that they may not have realised. There’s more opportunity out there… there are more tools at their disposal, both intellectual and physical, than they realise," says Stevenson, whose long-term plan "is to spend the next 10 years becoming something of a celebrity and then form a government".

Mark Stevenson, Full Circle, 7 February, venue details on registration
www.fullcircle.eu