30 years of IES-Europe. 30 years of sharing liberty. 30 years of spreading free market ideas to youngsters around the world.
That is what 2019 meant for us.
In 30 years, IES has inspired thousands of young people to learn about classical liberalism, human cooperation and free markets. We know that for some of those people, that one seminar in Gummersbach, Oxford, Aix-en-Provence, Lauenburg, Yundola or Chambon was the turning point that changed their perspective about the world and made them eager to do more and to actively help the cause of freedom. We know that because last year, some of them decided to come back and celebrate 30 Years of IES-Europe at the Summer University in Aix-en-Provence. 45 speakers and 70 participants came together to discuss the achievements of the past 30 years but also the challenges we have to face. From nationalism to economic freedom, taxation, the environment, AI and big data, the Summer University of 2019 was an effort to build upon a network of scholars and practitioners from academia, business, think-tanks, and public administration, whose exchange of knowledge brought out new approaches to potential challenges we, classical liberals, might have to face.
Besides the Summer University, in 2019, IES-Europe has organized its traditional seminars in Gummersbach-Germany and Bansko-Bulgaria and has partnered with other organizations for 2 other seminars that took place in Ureki-Georgia and Bucharest-Romania.
More than 300 students took part in our programmes this last year alone. While educational success is difficult to measure, because it takes time for ideas to come to life, for us, seeing how former IES students went on and did great things for liberty in academia, business or the non-profit world is the proof that shows how important our work is. We hope that 10 years from now, the students who came to Aix this summer to learn about liberty and meet their peers would come back and inspire the next generation. We hope you will be one of them!
Finally, none of our efforts would have been possible without the generous support of people and organisations who believe in our work. We would like to thank the Vernon Krieble Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Atlas Netwok, the Fraser Institute, the Montreal Economic Institute, the City Hall of Aix-en-Provence, the Aix-Marseille University, Students for Liberty, the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues, ALEPS, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the IES alumni who donated, and all other friends of IES and private sponsors for supporting us and our cause.
