Project Overview

Forum for the Future was commissioned by O2 to look at the opportunities for ICT to support a sustainable society. The resulting report, ‘Connect, Collaborate, Change’, sets out a challenge  to find radical solutions, fast, and looks at the opportunities that ICT presents for the future. It also provides the backdrop to the launch of O2’s Think Big Blueprint – an ambitious sustainability strategy for the next three years which we helped them develop.

Connect, Collaborate, Change
Research thinking to date naturally tends to look at how ICT can help people do existing things more efficiently, especially in large organisations and institutions. As a result, insufficient focus has been placed on the power of ICT to enable individuals to do things completely differently, harness the ingenuity of the connected millions to create change together and encourage systemic shifts in the way society operates.

The report introduces a new method for framing opportunities in ICT, in order to easier establish where ICT can achieve the biggest sustainability gains by enabling entire system change. We hope it serves as a tool for action as well as a stimulus for fresh thinking about where interventions can successfully be made.

We also go into some detail about three areas of activity which serve as examples of when technology applications can change systems for the better – ownership, finance and data – to help highlight some of the most interesting emerging trends.

ICT could be one of the most powerful enablers of transformation we possess, and technology companies have the potential to support just the kind of disruptive change needed – by providing people with the platforms to connect and taking good ideas to a scale that fundamentally alters the way we live.

Click on the link on the left to download 'Connect, Collaborate, Change'.

If you’d like to discuss this research further, and find out how it might apply to your work, please contact James Taplin.

Think Big Blueprint
Forum oversaw a thorough year-long consultation process which led to O2’s drafting of the Think Big Blueprint. It promises to stimulate social and environmental advancement by helping ten million people live in more sustainable ways through O2’s products and services, and deliver carbon benefits to customers that are 10 times the impact of the 02 network.

The plan sets out, through three key goals and 40 individual commitments, how O2 will harness its unique understanding of technology and digital connectivity to build a more sustainable future for its customers, employees, suppliers and the communities they live in.

“This blueprint is not simply a ‘nice to have’. In an era of heightened economic and social concern, it’s an essential part of our long term business strategy that will enable us to unlock sustainable growth and encourage positive environmental change.” O2’s Chief Executive, Ronan Dunne

O2’s strategy is built around three core objectives: Think Big for people, Think Big for customers and Think Big for planet. We are looking forward to working with O2 to monitor, evaluate and report back on progress against each of the 40 commitments contained in the plan.

“Even in such difficult times, with austerity the order of the day, sustainability keeps on delivering real benefits for customers, communities and shareholders – and we very much look forward to pushing on with those initiatives that are already proving themselves to be game-changers.” Founder of Forum for the Future, Jonathon Porritt

Click on the left to the left to download O2's Thing Big Blueprint. 

See David Bent's blog about our journey with O2 here.