This year’s TEDxUniversityofNicosia engaged with developments in the making. Our theme began with an unfinished sentence, “The Future is…”, which was then masterfully completed by 21 local and international speakers and performers, in numerous ways, in the largest TEDx event in Cyprus. We put this theme forward with a goal in mind: to know better, to do better, to be better prepared to face our future; and, by doing so, to enhance our lives, and the lives of those around us, in the present. It has been another turbulent year the world over, and especially so recently, with bombings in Beirut, shootings in Paris, terror strikes in Mali… with economies still stumbling to find their footing, and with an unprecedented refugee crisis underway. Amid such disaster and loss, we choose to shine a light on the future, and on those who will fashion it. TEDxUniversityofNicosia ended on a high note (so to speak), with a choir, comprised of children aged between 6 and 12, singing variations of seasonal carols. Whatever promise or peril it holds, “the future is…” clearly about them, tomorrow’s generation. Today’s children, tomorrow’s young adults. We thus encourage all to enter the New Year with hope and optimism, undeterred and resolute; with a view to safeguard the future; with a call to preserve our greatest resource, our “greatest treasure”.
