A network of innovation to deliver the SDGs

Fast Forward 2030 is a network of the next generation of leaders, who will be key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 will require a concerted effort from everybody on the planet,” says Professor Dame Henrietta Moore (UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, IGP). 

“While governments, large organisations and big business inevitably have key roles to play in this, we believe that the most critical contributions will come from the growing number of small, fast-moving, innovative organisations that are springing up all over the world.” 

To harness and maximise these contributions, in 2015 Professor Moore established Fast Forward 2030, a network of London-based entrepreneurs hosted by UCL IGP.  

“We need to inspire the next generation of leaders who, by 2030, will be the shapers of institutions, directors of businesses, producers of knowledge and inventors of technology,” says Professor Moore. “They will be key to achieving the Goals.” 

““We encourage transformative enterprises that challenge the status quo and deliver sustainability and prosperity for all,” says Professor Moore. 

Professor Moore launched Fast Forward 2030 in partnership with one such entrepreneur, Arthur Kay (Bartlett School 2013), Chief Executive of bio-bean, a biofuel and biochemical company that recycles waste coffee grounds. Arthur co-founded bio-bean in 2013 while a student at UCL, with support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise.  

Through its research, website and workshops, Fast Forward 2030 provides space for policymakers, entrepreneurs and citizens to share and collaborate on new projects and solutions to ecological and social problems. Organisations sharing resources and their innovative, sustainable approaches on Fast Forward 2030’s online hub include the UN, fashion company G-Star and the Ellen McArthur Foundation. 

Following the success of the London hub, Fast Forward has gone on to launch networks in Lebanon and Kenya. 

“We encourage transformative enterprises that challenge the status quo and deliver sustainability and prosperity for all,” says Professor Moore.