The 17th October saw the launch of the Zurich Living Britain Report, a detailed study of Britain today. The Future Laboratory, who researched and developed the report, was established in November 2001 and is recognised for an innovative approach to forecasting, using ethnographic research tools and a creative yet qualitative outlook.
The study itself gauges how we are facing a renaissance in certain sectors (business, culture, media, community and travel and leisure) and examines key drivers and trends happening at different paces and places throughout the UK. These themes will be expanded upon in a series of six podcasts to really bring the report to life.
At the launch, Martin Raymond, Founder of The Future Laboratory presented their findings. Zurich’s Marketing Director, Mark Searles, facilitated a debate on Britain today, with well known figures commentating on behalf of Zurich; including Dylan Jones, Editor GQ, Ekow Eshun, Artistic Director ICA, Michael Portillo, now broadcaster and historian and Meera Syal, author, actress and comedienne.
The report found many fascinating regional variations and we’ll be hosting three regional forums to highlight these differences. The events will be in Glasgow, Cardiff and Leeds from February to April 2008. The findings will be presented by The Future Laboratory, Zurich and a selection of regional spokespeople.
We’ve also set up the Zurich Living Britain Schools Challenge highlighting our commitment to education. 30 schools are involved covering a cross section of independents, academies, state and private, urban versus rural and full UK geographic spread.
The programme will consist of interactive workshops for each participating schools to engage with pupils and get them to think about positive change - past, present and in the future. The pupils will then be presented with the Living Britain Challenge which will ask them to develop a piece of work about change in the future – with entries on video, photography, or written format.
Click here for an executive summary of the report (opens in a new window - pdf 2135 Kb)
