Event Recording:
Professor Ian Goldin, Director of the Oxford Martin School, and fellow author Chris Kutarna preview their forthcoming book about the risks and rewards of a new Renaissance taking place in our modern world. They will show how we can achieve our own golden age, given the will. But many of the factors that undid the first Renaissance are rising once again: warring ideologies, fundamentalism, climate change, pandemics. Can we weather the crises and seize the moment to leave the world a legacy it will still celebrate, 500 years later?
There will be a book signing and drinks reception after the talk, all welcome
About the speakers
Professor Ian Goldin is Director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford; Professor of Globalisation and Development; and Professorial Fellow at Balliol College. Ian was until 2006 Vice President of the World Bank and the Bank Group’s Director of Policy. Prior to 2001 Ian was Chief Executive of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Economic Adviser to President Nelson Mandela. Previously, Ian was Principal Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Head of Programs at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
Professor Goldin has a BA and BSc from the University of Cape Town, an MSc from the London School of Economics, an MA and Doctorate from the University of Oxford and an AMP from INSEAD. The latest of his 20 books are Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of our New Renaissance (Bloomsbury, 2016) and The Pursuit of Development: Economic Growth, Social Change and Ideas (Oxford University Press, 2016).
Ian has been knighted by the French Government and nominated Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. He serves as an advisor to governments and as an independent non-executive director for a number of listed companies. His non-profit engagements include as a Trustee of Comic Relief, the Overseas Development Institute and other charities. His speaking engagements include to the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum for the past 19 years, TED conferences, the Microsoft Annual CEO Forum, Clinton Global Initiative and numerous other leadership, university, literary and other events in over 50 countries.
Chris Kutarna is a fellow of the Oxford Martin School with a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford. A Commonwealth Scholar and two-time Governor General’s Medalist, Chris lived in China for several years, speaks Mandarin and regularly contributes to one of China's top-ranked news magazines.
About the book
The great names of Da Vinci, Galileo, Copernicus, Raphael and Michelangelo were the mark of an age that saw a rush of discovery, the breaking down of barriers of ignorance and a newly connected world both politically and economically. Goldin and Kutarna say that the same forces are at work today. We have better education and resources, the rate of innovation is doubling every year and there are great leaps in science, trade, migration and technology. They argue that the results this time could be greater, but the world faces many of the same dangers as Renaissance man, those of warring ideologies, fundamentalism, climate change and pandemic.