A free community event exploring why curiosity matters in modern life and business is taking place at the Parkway Hotel in Cwmbran on Tuesday 14 July from 5pm.
One of the guests is the CEO of Techniquest, who believes curiosity is one of the most powerful human instincts and essential for problem‑solving, resilience, collaboration and navigating a world shaped by rapid change.
Curious Community, now heading into its fifth gathering, is a meet‑up for people who want to rethink how business, leadership and community life work.
Mark Waite, one of the organisers, said the response has been “blown away”, with over 250 people already joining the movement.
“People from as far west as Swansea, as far east as Bristol, and everywhere in between – Monmouthshire, Torfean, Newport and Cardiff – have gathered to get curious, challenge consensus thinking and connect with like-minded people.”
He said the group is attracting people who want to break away from traditional business thinking.
“The playbooks of the past will not get us to future economic success. In an era of rapid change and AI disruption we need to rethink business. We need business as ‘unusual’, counter consensus thinking, and a big dose of curiosity. I think this has struck a chord.”
Mark stressed that Curious Community is not a networking event.
“If we ever end up with 200 people in a room, we’ll have messed up,” he said. “We don’t want people who follow the crowd, we want people who follow their curiosity…At our next gathering, we’ll explore ‘The Great Curiosity Comeback: From Curiosity to Conformity and Back Again’ with our curious conversationalists – Sue Wardle, CEO of Techniquest, Dr Leshan Uggalla, member of the Wales Space Council and senior lecturer at USW, and Bryon Goodyer, a curiosity-driven serial business founder.
“We’ll look at how we grow out of curiosity as children and into conformity as adults, and what we can do to reverse this to rediscover our inner five-year-old.”
Book your free ticket here.