AT THE HEART OF (R)EVOLUTION - REASON FOR ESTABLISHING THE YPSILON INSTITUTE

Creative society, filled with constant, rapid change. Hello! We are in the middle of the largest (r)evolution of mankind. The development of new technologies, information technology at the forefront, has led to entirely new operating rules of society. If we look at a few trends that characterize today's society, such as the Internet boom, global integration, open markets, individualization, large surpluses of goods in the market (at least for the western world), the rise of women, glorification of fun, widespread competition, etc., we can see that we are in the middle of a real tsunami of change. In accordance with the laws of the occurrence of singularities, these changes are coming faster and faster. Today's world is quite different from that 20 years ago, and in 5 years we are going to live quite differently as we live today. We shall follow new rules of life, and face new challenges. We are developing from today's information society towards the creative society with lightening speed.

Talented individuals are mobile monopolies with global possports. They conotrol the key to competitivness, the sacrest resource. The first major characteristic of creative society is that each and every individual holds a key to his own success, wealth, power and happiness. In the creative society, the power and resources leverage from the earth, manual work, and capital  to the intellect and brains, i. e. to the level of innovation and creativity which leads to distinguished and successful competitiveness on the market irrespective of the branch or sphere of activity (business, culture, art, sports, etc.). That is why extremely talented and competent individuals are becoming crucial nowadays. We are talking about less than one percent of the society, about the individuals whose names are actually becoming brands. Owing an amazing degree of freedom and ability to influence the development of the world, these individuals are the drivers of change in the creative society.

Generation Y. An increasing share of these talented individuals comes from the so-called Generation Y that makes up a quarter of the world's population. Born between 1980 and 2000 these people are children of the information age, with a vision of international integration and interdependence, religious, racial and cultural diversity - the values of the modern world. Access to technology, and new values backed by an incredible desire for lifelong learning, leads to the development of new exceptional talents with a high degree of competence and knowledge. It can be said that the Generation Y also embodies extreme individualism and the need for freedom, all of which constitutes a completely new profile of people.

Generation Y has disadvantages, too. These are mainly reluctance to take risks and responsibilities, lack of interest in politics and social issues, the problem of maintaining focus, and so on. At the same time, representatives of Generation Y feel uncertain to a high degree due to rapid changes, face difficulties in expressing themselves and in making impact on social structures. Above all, they have to face serious   unemployment problems despite higher and higher education degrees. Increasing individual's freedom also means greater responsibility. Flooded by information and different values, each individual is fully responsible for all areas of his life.

Social responsibility. Greater freedom means greater responsibility, not only for one’s own life but also for the society. The individual's quality of life has become heavily dependant upon the quality of all our lives. In the near future, mankind will face challenges as major as never before. Global warming, aging population, growing gap between rich and poor, long-term unsustainable healthcare and pension systems, recession, energy sources, the number of people living in misery and poverty, and so on. These are only a few modern challenges to which no one has a simple answer, and they should have been solved yesterday. Society as a whole. These are the issues that Generation Y shall face sooner or later; otherwise there is a question whether we and our descendants will still have a place to live.

The level of awareness. Society is increasingly influenced by talented individuals. Among them, there are more and more representatives of Generation Y. The level of awareness of these young individuals, and the degree of cooperation with other generations depends on how will our tomorrow look like, how shall we create new social structures, systems and rules of life and work. On one hand, we can talk about capitalism without a soul, which is characterized by harsh competition; win at any cost, ego, shopping, reproduction, etc. On the other hand, there is the creative capitalism with a soul,  or how ever you want to call it, a fair system with a soul , when we inhale new values to the machine, leading to higher quality of life and of the whole society. Of course we all want to go together in the right direction. At the heart of all this, there is a desire to upgrade individual interests into social ones and to establish active involvement of all generations in solving contemporary challenges.

From competition and exploitation to cooperation. The most important part of raising the level of awareness is the understanding that we are all connected in one way or another. One’s higher standard at one part of the world does not mean any harm to some other man at another end of the planet. All of us are concerned that more than three billion people are living in unimaginable poverty, and whether our children will have a place to live or not depends on the level of awareness of those who create society. Therefore, it is essential that we rise from competition and exploitation of resources to the creation and participation. With the right level of awareness, a positive view, social responsibility and noble goals. This means cooperation among representatives of Generation Y, as well as intergenerational cooperation. The latter is even more important since a joint wisdom and a healthy ambition lead to a better tomorrow. Breaking the ice, the first step, and action are on the shoulders of Generation Y, according to the saying “The world stands on young people."

The YPSILON Institute is the answer to the above facts, trends and challenges.

The Institute brings together young people in the age from 20 to 30 years. With integration, education and cooperation, it contributes to a better level of awareness of every individual and society, and to a closer intergenerational cooperation.

The core functioning of the organization is based on:

• combining the most talented representatives of Generation Y in various fields,
• education, awareness and integration of members at our exciting events,
• striking opinions and active participation in solving contemporary social problems,
• networking Generation Y with other generations,
• implementation of socially useful projects and developing interesting products.