A two-day festival of high-level, thought-provoking debate, organised by the Institute of Ideas and hosted by the Royal College of Art, from October 27th to the 28th. This year, the Battle of Ideas Festival celebrates its third anniversary. Launched in 2005, the first two editions have been an enormous success with high-profile speakers, cutting edge topics and packed out rooms. This year’s programme is very rich. All the events, debates and workshops aim “to showcase new arguments about the core issues of the day, while avoiding getting bogged down in the minutiae of everyday policy, and to initiate open-ended discussions regardless of the demands for immediate practical outcomes, which too frequently act as a brake on innovative thinking”

“The Battle of Ideas is like a huge intellectual fair where a bewildering number of thinkers set out their stalls.” Julian Baggini, editor, The Philosophers’ Magazine

The festival’s flexible format allows attendees either to follow particular strands through one day, or mix and match discussions. The wide variety of partners from the arts, academia, business, science and media both new and old, and the 200 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints, means a potent mix of perspectives, and should result in debates that give us all plenty to think and talk about.