Kids 2020

It is not often that a project comes into our lives that inspires and feeds our business, personal and community worlds at the same time. This is the case with Kids 2020, which comes under the banner of the Club of Amsterdam Summit of the Future � Vision & Strategies for 2020. During January 26-28th 2005, The Summit will gather thought leaders from throughout Europe and other parts of the world at the Felix Meritus Institute for Cultural Exchange in Amsterdam to discuss and explore the potential visions and strategies for the year 2020.

Kids 2020 will provide the backdrop and context for The Summit of the Future as a multi-media exhibition. Results of interviews and workshops with children between ages 8 and 11 from different cultures and different countries will shape the exhibition. The top 10 visions and strategies created by these children will run as filmed interviews, hang as framed points of reference, and draw attention to the world illustrated by these children as they envision their role in it. They will represent a reflection of future society for the participants in the Summit. The results of this project will be packaged as a book and DVD, available at the conference and later through online distribution.

Kids 2020 will provoke children to take a look at their future world and ask them to play specific leadership roles in these discussions. Those 3 leadership roles - material, relationship, or conceptual based � will focus their thinking as they engage with questions and processes to guide them in their mini-forums. Their output will be to develop their ideas about the future 16 years from now and determine how to move those ideas into action.

Now our task becomes finding financial partners to underpin the resources to produce and deliver Kids 2020 into exhibition with the book and DVD. These partners may play an extended role because the exhibition could also travel to different countries, augmented by contributions from local children to make the exhibition particularly relevant for each location.

Colby Stuart and Adriaan Wagenaar are the concept developers behind this project. Both consultants on innovation and branding, they decided to partner their talents to build a business model based on the contribution of children to inform business processes. Stuart published Kids Club Magazine for 12 years for her client PBS (Public Broadcasting System) in the USA. Wagenaar has worked with the philosophy of children to build wisdom for brands like Robeco and Centre Parcs in The Netherlands.

Club of Amsterdam develops forums for generating platforms of interest to shape your future in the Knowledge Society, the world we live in today.