JFK Moonshot: Reimagining Human Potential and Progress

In a speech at Rice University in 1962, President Kennedy called on Americans to go to the Moon and tackle other challenges “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The Moonshot—President Kennedy’s unprecedented call to action—dramatically reimagined the capacity of individuals, driven by creativity and purpose, to change the world. This program will ask new generations to draw inspiration from President Kennedy’s vision and renew our commitment to solving the greatest issues of our time.

Fireside Chat with Patrick Collison, Co-Founder and CEO of Stripe
In a fireside chat Irish entrepreneur Patrick Collison and Lant Pritchett, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, will discuss whether the rate of economic, scientific, and technological progress that has driven human prosperity for centuries is slowing; and if so, how we can accelerate it.

Panel Discussion
Pioneers in the fields of health, technology, environment, and sustainability will discuss how the Moonshot spirit lives on in the quest to find solutions to the most pressing challenges we face today. Dearbhail McDonald, award-winning Irish journalist, author, broadcaster and motivational speaker, will moderate a conversation with Professor Mary Aiken, Chair of the Department of Cyberpsychology at Capitol Technology University, Dr. Martin Curley, Professor of Innovation at Maynooth University, and Rodrigo García González, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Notpla, winner of the 2022 Earthshot Prize for “Build a Waste-Free World.” This event takes place on June 29, 2023.

Additional speakers include US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy (by video); Trinity College Provost Linda Doyle; US Ambassador Claire D. Cronin; JFK Library Foundation Executive Director Rachel Flor; and Kennedy Summer School Program Director Charles Larkin.

This event takes place on June 29, 2023.