1. British Council purpose statement:
To build mutually beneficial relationships and
gaining recognition for the UK’s creativity and
achievements
We work in three programme areas:
- Intercultural dialogue
- Creative and knowledge economy
- Climate change

3. What is Active Citizens?
Active Citizens is a British Council programme in
the area of intercultural dialogue and global
citizenship.
The vision is a world in which people recognise
their potential and exercise their responsibility to
engage with others in the development of their
communities at local and international level

4. What will the programme achieve?
• The programme will move participants to improved
understanding of their local community, to motivation
to act in their community, and to understanding
where their community sits in the world and how
their local actions have global resonance.
• By the end of this experience they will have made a
significant contribution to social change within their
community and to global sustainable development.
• They will also have made new professional and
personal relationships with people within their
community and across the world.

5. How will this happen?
The programme will bring diverse groups of people together on a
voluntary basis within their community. It will be delivered in three
phases:
• Local training workshops will focus on global citizenship,
working effectively with difference and agenda setting in order
to achieve better understanding of the local community and
global interdependency.
• Social Action Projects will be planned and delivered by the
participants based on what they learned and where they feel
they can make a positive impact in their own community.
• International exchanges and networking will provide the
participants the opportunity to experience international
practises and learn from other countries.

6. Global Innovation Lab
There is a growing need to harness science, technology and
innovation to tackle numerous social challenges facing the
world today. However, barriers still exist that make it difficult
for countries to fully benefit from research and innovation.
These include lack of opportunities for entry-level
researchers to get experience, inadequate exploitation of
cross-sector research opportunities, poor transformation of
research results into actual innovations, and insufficient
engagement with the private sector and the wider public.

7. What Is Global Innovation Lab?
Global Innovation Lab is a project developed and led by the
British Council that aims to catalyse international research
collaboration, link research to innovation and end-users, and
engage researchers with policy-makers and the wider
community.
The focus of the project will be on addressing current global
challenges in four priority areas: sustainable living, digital
world, lifelong health and wellbeing, and global
uncertainties.

8. How Will This Be Achieved?
Global Innovation Lab will engage researchers and innovators in the early
stages of their careers, drawn from academic and non-academic
backgrounds in all disciplines, ranging from natural and social sciences, to
arts and humanities. It will encourage collaborative approaches to
research and innovation across disciplines and sectors, as well as
internationally, and stimulate fresh approaches to problem solving. The
project will include a range of interconnected activities:
• The Global Forum will be a virtual platform to link researchers and
innovators worldwide into a vibrant network
• Global Challenge Labs will allow researchers and innovators to come
together both face-to-face and online to discuss ideas, come up with
solutions and begin to develop approaches to potential projects

9. • Global Challenge Conferences will be international events
fusing the traditional academic conference format with
innovative methods for engaging artists, business leaders, the
public and policy-makers.
• Famelab International is a talent contest for young scientists
(‘Pop Idol for scientists’), often televised, which stimulates
enthusiasm for science and innovation amongst the wider
public.
• Seed Funding - we will establish a Global Innovation Lab
fund, supported by external investors, to allow researchers
and innovators who have made contact through the Global
Innovation Lab project to take their ideas one step further and
turn them into action.

10. The project is currently in a pilot phase.
It will be launched globally in the second half of
2010 in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Find out more:
Gabriel Ivan, Projects Manager Education &
Science
gabriel.ivan@britishcouncil.ro

11. New Work New Audiences
What is it?
The heart of New Work New Audiences
is the presentation of British work
across all art forms in response to
audience demand.
It allows audiences around the world to
experience the transformational effect
of the arts and their power as a catalyst
for developing understanding, trust and
dialogue.

16. EDUCATIO
NAL
SEMINAR
“TOWARDS
EUROPE”
21 June
2008

17. What is Living Together?
• A large-scale British Council project to stimulate dialogue and
collaboration in 34 countries, with a focus on South East Europe
• A contribution to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue