Young Bled Strategic Forum (Young BSF)
1 – 3 September 2017
The Young BSF has become a unique meeting place for a diverse array of young leaders, entrepreneurs, bloggers, thinkers and socially active individuals, offering them a platform to share their visions, exchange ideas and network with one another throughout the year.
Each year Young BSF gathers young people, who engage in vibrant dialogues on current most pressing issues, address inventive approaches in promoting positive change and finding solutions to the many complex challenges.
The Young BSF model is growing and changing annually. The topics have varied and ideas evolved, but the main objective remained clear: to bring together bold, brave and action-oriented individuals from different walks of life, both foreigners and Slovenians, and offer them a collaborative, creative, and inspiring environment for discussion and networking.
The (Dis)connected Reality
We live in interesting and turbulent times. A prominent Slovenian novelist Bartol would say that nothing is real and everything is allowed. The realities of our physical world seem to be completely disconnected with the reality that we are trying to live, the virtual reality where all our wishes seem to be possible.
For the first time in human history we are facing the phenomenon of ‘mixed reality’, where actual and abstract are so intertwined that we are in the brink of immersion. Are we losing touch with our material reality at the expense of actually living in a virtual one? Is life without virtual ‘connectedness’ even possible in our post-modern world? Can we exist without (dis)connected realities in the realms of electronics, environment and economics (the 3Es)? Is there any reality even possible without ‘connected’ reality?
The 2017 Young BSF will give visionary young leaders an opportunity to form real, connected or virtual partnerships and networks. This goal-oriented forum will seek to prompt discussions and create synergies of different ideas, turning them into connected or disconnected realities of and for everyone.
Panel 1: Electronics: the future of people in the land of robots?
We are living in a world of electronics. It seems we cannot live without gadgets, smart phones, computers, robots and other electronic devices any longer. On one hand the world of electronics has made our lives significantly better and our societal technological advancements are without precedence. Our realities have become intertwined with realities of the electronic realm. But the hyper-dynamism in the sphere of electronics has led to a decrease in human touch, human dignity and human rights. How does this mixed reality of electronics, particularly in digital electronics, affect our physical reality? Do applications, devices and robots make our lives more independent or dependent? How do simple mobile applications change our daily lives? Are robots really taking over our jobs and downgrading basic labor standards?
Panel 2: Environment: No flow, no go?
Our physical and social environments are getting increasingly contaminated. Earth might be on the brink of survival and the mental state of societies is in the worst state in modern history. Our postmodern societies rely on applications to enjoy the ‘great outdoors’ and to take care of our planet, counting our footprints everywhere we go. Why do we need smart phone applications to connect us with real material world? Why do we need to search application-made creatures outside our homes in order to socialize in the physical world? Can different applications and devices contribute and force us to take care of our surroundings better? Can they actually make us ‘more green’?
Panel 3: The Virtual Reality of Economy and the Real Sector
Economy represents the quintessence, the source of security and stability for each individual, society and country. It would appear that economy and the real sector are the last bulwarks of material reality. A closer look discloses the virtuality of the economic sphere as well. Can the digital world significantly revitalize economy with its artificial internet-based currencies? Can home-based work drastically reduce labor-related costs? How will societies without the internet, the grand door to virtual reality compete with the societies that have the access to it? Does digital warfare include the access to economy of the ‘Net’? And will it create even greater divisions in the world?
Young BSF Partners
Strategic Partner
*The project is partly financed by Triglav Group.
Institutional Partners
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