15th of September 2008 marked the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers. This bankruptcy was not only the cause of a global financial crisis; it also led to the creation of student discussion platform ‘Room for Discussion’ by Maurits Kruithof.In order to bridge the gap between actuality and academia, Room for Discussion has since October 2008 organized weekly economic-related discussions. In the central hall of the University of Amsterdam’s economic faculty building students interview leading entrepreneurs, politicians and other opinion makers to inform their fellow students about current events, economics and entrepreneurship.Through an academic-journalistic approach Room for Discussion aims for the broader view, for the interlinkage of the academic community with the outside world.The lunchtime debates take place in the ‘living room’ of the student project. On its trademark chesterfield sofas, Room for Discussion has so far received guests like Christine Lagarde (managing director of the IMF) Mario Draghi (president of the ECB) Jeroen Dijsselbloem (Minister of Finance & chairman of the Eurogroup) Nout Wellink (former president of the Dutch central bank), Jeroen van der Veer (former CEO of Shell), Thomas Piketty (Author of 'Capital in the 21st Century'), Thomas Pogge (Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale) and Jean-Claude Trichet (Former ECB President)