The Future is Now

What is East London’s Olympic legacy? It’s the ecosystem of innovation, culture and collaboration that has flourished here over the past decade. But with our growth journey only just beginning – it’s also yet undiscovered. Last week we had the opportunity to explore this further as “The Future is Now” landed at Here East.

A collaborative event from Here East, Lendlease, Stratford Cross, and London Legacy Development Corporation, this event convened innovators, entrepreneurs, creatives and politicians in Plexal on our campus to celebrate the successful transformation of East London and explore how to unlock further growth.

The event opened with welcoming remarks from Here East CEO, Gavin Poole and Lendlease Executive Director of Development, Matthew Steenhoek, where Gavin underscored the dynamism of East London’s growth trajectory.

“Our vision is to deliver a world-leading innovation district that will not only germinate the local economy but also deliver growth and diversity to the wider UK economy – cementing the UK’s status on the global stage.”

Browse the full event agenda here. But for now, here’s a snapshot of the event’s forward-looking panel discussions at the intersection of technology, creativity, enterprise and education

What did we explore at The Future is Now?

How can the UK go for growth? The first panel examined the ingredients needed for businesses to drive innovation and ensure the UK stays ahead of the curve, highlighting the importance of improving education infrastructure and creating an environment that encourages UK-based innovation to stay and grow here.

What skills do the next generation need to navigate AI? We examined the impact of AI in the workplace, highlighting how it’s crucial that we invest in training the current and future generations to become critical thinkers equipped with the skills needed to interrogate how AI is developed, trained, and used – now and in the future.

Is London’s creative talent inherent? This session focused on nurturing London’s creative economy – zooming in on the East Bank as a model example that the wider capital should look to. We explored the development’s thriving culture of partnership, collaboration and innovation, which is grounded in sharing resources and skills, employing local people, offering young people hands-on experience, and bringing international work to Stratford.

The Future is East – but what does that look like? We also shared learnings since the 2012 Olympics and insights on what the future might hold for East London. We discussed how it’s important to build a more inclusive economy, embed young people in the conversations shaping the future, and better incorporate creativity into education.

How can the Olympic Games fuel growth? Against the backdrop of this week’s International Investment Summit and the upcoming Autumn Budget, the final session saw former UK Chancellor, George Osborne discuss how the 2012 Olympics helped turbocharge growth in East London and how the community was deeply involved in this journey. Sharing hopes ahead of the budget, the former Chancellor also explained how he would prioritise rebuilding trade relations with Europe to improve the economy.

We were also thrilled to see Gavin and Matthew pen an opinion article in City AM sharing lessons from East London’s growth story and how we can take it to the next level going forward:

“With the new government setting out bold ambitions to deliver nationwide growth, East London’s success story should be leveraged as a framework for how long-term vision and targeted policies can unlock sustained economic growth. For this model to continue delivering, the Budget must reward the regions and industries that continue to deliver for the economy. East London, with its proven track record of agility and innovation, stands ready to lead.”

The Future is Now was created as a forum to celebrate the success of East London and discuss how its growth trajectory can be extended far into the future. If there’s one thing the community we’ve built here exemplifies, it’s that while the 2012 Olympic torch may have been extinguished over a decade ago – East London’s flame burns brighter than ever.

Thank you to the guests and speakers who joined us at The Future is Now – we look forward to shaping it together.