Celebrate the circulation of ideas between countries and cultures, disciplines and generations: every year, the Night of Ideas is an invitation to discover the actuality of knowledges, to listen to those who make ideas of every sphere progress, to exchange on the big challenges of our time.

The 5th edition of the Night of Ideas, managed by the Institut français, will take place on Thursday 30th of January 2020 around the topic “Being alive”. The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation will be the partner of the event. Everywhere in France and on the five continents, big schools and universities, researche institutes, NGO, museums, cultural centers, Instituts français, Alliances françaises, theaters and public libraries are invited to offer privileged moments of meetings: conferences, roundtable meetings, forums, theater, performances, projections, concerts...

From Tokyo to Buenos Aires, from San Francisco to Kinshasa, from Teheran to Bogota, from Bagdad to Madrid, through Sarajevo, Berlin, Marseille, London, Bucarest or Helsinki... More than 150 Nights of Ideas will be organized worldwide. Philosophers, writers, searchers, intellectuals, students, whistleblowers, artists or political personalities will debate with people to remind us about the emergency of collective awareness and citizen mobilization on an international scale for the protection of our planet.

Being alive: this topic puts at the center of the Night of Ideas 2020 the interrogation of ecological balances and the relationship between the human and the world. It is an invitation to discuss about the interrogations that technological transformations and emergence of arti cial intelligence raise. “Being alive” is also to act, commit yourself, give a meaning to your actions and your existence. What is being alive? What is our place in the world of living? How “being alive” moves ourselves into action? These will be the interrogations at the heart of the Night of Ideas this year.

A night to share your cultures, express your concerns, discuss about your vision of the world, warn about the future of the next generations, raise consciousness, exchange about the solutions and challenges of today and tomorrow. A night to be and stay alive.