According to Muriel Bouchet, the director, IDEA's fundamental role is to stimulate and fuel good quality public debate by making constructive proposals to address major socio-economic challenges. She explains in this interview.

 

Please describe the Fondation IDEA.

 

Fondation IDEA asbl was launched by the Chamber of Commerce at the end of 2013, in the wake of the 2030.lu project. Since then, IDEA has grown in strength, as shown by its media success and its impact on "influencers", and this has increased IDEA's ability to lead and fuel a range of debates. IDEA has acquired a certain degree of autonomy, both conceptually and in terms of the format of its publications and events, which now have their own recognised brands. Our messaging has an easily identifiable tone of its own, which is pedagogical in nature without losing the intellectual rigour. This ensures IDEA's credibility, reputation and visibility. In Luxembourg, IDEA has helped to break down the perception that rigour is synonymous with a dull approach. Our ideas are both new (or even unpublished) and perfectly researched and documented, with topics often approached from different angles.

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“IDEA must be a genuine incubator for new analysis and proposals, conducive to in-depth reflection. ” 

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What kind of resources does the Fondation IDEA generate and who are your targets?

 

IDEA's fundamental mission is to stimulate and feed quality public debate with constructive proposals to address major socio-economic challenges. IDEA aims to have its finger on the pulse, working to have insightful perceptions of major changes. It also wants to identify the main challenges facing Luxembourgish society over the medium term, within the framework of a global approach. This is based on the identification of good practices both in Luxembourg and abroad. 

IDEA must be a genuine incubator of new analysis and proposals which will attract the attention of influencers and the general public. This is thanks to us having a great deal of autonomy, which favours in-depth reflections, as opposed to false evidence that requires careful arguments to deconstruct. IDEA must assume the role of an honest broker, fostering debates between different groups of influencers (political, economic, academic and intellectual), the media and the general public, with a particular focus on young people.

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What challenges and opportunities do you see for the Grand Duchy in the next five years?

 

First of all, there are demographic changes, such as ageing and the need for external labour flows. This will have an impact on housing, mobility and cooperation within the Greater Region. Let us also think about the need to maintain social cohesion and the practical implementation of a trajectory leading to carbon neutrality by 2050. These challenges are often accentuated by the health crisis.

Secondly, there are developments linked to digitalisation, which has profoundly changed our way of working during the period of confinement, and this is already affecting consumption, education and training, mobility and entertainment. Technological evolution risks accentuating the "digital divide" in the absence of appropriate policies. 

A third category of changes to be followed closely in the next five years is the evolution of culture in the broadest sense of the term. This relates to the way our contemporaries collect and interpret information. IDEA can play a role in this.

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