can make a diference and light a spark.
Kennedy declared a Moonshot by setting
an unlikely, bold and audacious goal – “not
because it is easy but because it is hard”
– and a vision became a reality to unite
powers and intellect for a giant step for
mankind. In Barcelona, Telefónica Alpha
opened the frst European moonshot lab to
tackle those big audacious goals.
Moonshots for Europe demand a
leadership suited to the transformations that
will defne the decades ahead; anticipation
of breakthrough technologies; benefts that
are designed for wider society, and for the
environment; and a clear purpose for people
– not a focus merely on consumers and
target groups, but in creating empowered
citizens. We have a lot of the right people
and ideas in Europe that we can connect
and inspire, to build a common house that
creates a bolder vision for a community of
values and progress, characterised by a new
defnition of what a post-growth economy
and open society looks like.
Moonshots for Europe will not be easy.
There is doubt, there is ambiguity, there
is indiference and there are voices that
steer towards the known, the past and the
rejection of diversity.
“Europe is a thought that needs to become
a feeling,” declared Bono shortly before
the opening of the recent concert by U2 in
Berlin. They waved a big European fag to be
thought-provoking, edgy or as a symbol of
hope. But waving a fag does not make Europe
a love-brand … unfortunately, sometime
mid-concert, Bono lost his voice. Any efort
though, to help us support a cultural narrative,
a feeling or a common narrative, can help
make it easier for people to understand and
value the benefts of Europe.
Let us be a voice, take action, and
generate hope, for a fourishing part of the
planet that shares common values, remains
passionately curious and strives to enjoy
growth responsibly, while respecting our
place on this blue marble.
futur.io