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News
Foresight Europe Network Reconnects and Welcomes New Members
The Foresight Europe Network (FEN) recently hosted an online “Catch-Up & Welcome” session on September 11, 2025 to reconnect existing members and welcome nearly 40 new participants to the network.
The meeting emphasized FEN’s informal, open, and collaborative spirit, allowing members from across Europe to share updates, exchange foresight practices, and discuss the network’s ongoing initiatives. Highlights included updates on rebranding efforts, including a refreshed website and logo, supported through member crowdfunding, and the launch of a new WhatsApp community to foster continuous engagement.
Participants also engaged in small breakout groups, brainstorming themes for future sessions and exploring what they hope to contribute to—and gain from—the network. Looking ahead, FEN announced a new series of regular online sessions planned to begin toward the end of the year.
The session reflected FEN’s commitment to open-mindedness, curiosity, and forward-thinking collaboration, strengthening its role in energizing Europe’s foresight community within the broader Millennium Project mission.
FEN Catch-Up & Welcome Session Set for September 11th
As summer winds down across Europe, the Foresight Europe Network (FEN) is already looking ahead with energy and anticipation. On September 11th from 15:00 to 16:00 CEST, FEN members are invited to reconnect and kick off the new season with a one-hour online session: “FEN Catch-up & Welcome.”
This informal gathering is open to all network members, especially welcoming the nearly 40 new professionals who have recently joined FEN. The session aims to create space for community connection—bringing together both familiar and fresh faces to share insights, foresight practices, and emerging project ideas.
“We’re keeping it light, friendly, and interactive,” says the FEN leadership team. “There’s no preparation needed—just bring your curiosity and a willingness to connect.”
Held via Zoom, the session will feature casual exchanges and open discussion, providing a unique opportunity to stay in sync with the wider foresight community across Europe.
Pre-registration is required, and all members are encouraged to attend, whether returning from a summer break or already immersed in new initiatives.
Don’t miss this chance to reconnect, recharge, and reimagine the future together—FEN style.
Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe workshop report
On June 5, 2025, Futures Impacts and the Foresight Europe Network coordinated a 1.5-hour online foresight workshop titled “Around the World in 15 Global Challenges: Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe.” This participatory session brought together around 25 engaged participants from across Europe and beyond to examine the future of gender equality in Europe through a feminist and intersectional lens.
Building on the Global Challenge #11: The Status of Women from the Millennium Project’s State of the Future report, the workshop invited participants to co-create a Feminist Futures Constellation Map and explore emerging gender equality issues in Europe by 2050, culminating in breakout sessions focused on concrete actions and responsible actors. 
Out of the four groups, three chose to focus on the future of “AI, digital rights & technology,” identifying it as one of the most disruptive areas for feminist futures, while one group explored issues at the intersection of “Education, care, and migration”.
Participants focusing on AI highlighted the need for gender-sensitive and ethical AI development, expressing concerns about the reproduction of historical gender biases within current systems, particularly via anti-gender movement actors. They also expressed concern about the amplification of anti-feminist content within global digital spaces. Proposed measures included employing diverse and inclusive data sets, ensuring women and gender-diverse individuals occupy decision-making roles in technology, and promoting transparency and accountability throughout AI development processes.
The concept of hijacking AI emerged as a form of feminist digital resistance, encompassing guerrilla tactics such as unions supporting click-workers and deliberate efforts to flood AI systems with more diverse, feminist-informed datasets (e.g., feminist literature, records of women´s history) in order to challenge prevailing statistics and dominant narratives.
Digital violence and online safety were identified as urgent issues, particularly concerning harassment, deepfakes, and child sexual exploitation. Participants called for strong legal frameworks, ethical AI-powered content moderation, and comprehensive educational initiatives to increase awareness of digital safety across all age groups.
The evolving nature of human relationships mediated by AI was another key topic discussed, with concerns that AI may increasingly mediate or even replace interpersonal connections, especially in intimate or emotional contexts. Considering the gender dimension, there is a risk that anti-feminist views in partner relationships may be reinforced. Participants also emphasised the risks associated with AI in mental health settings, particularly for young people seeking psychological support from AI. Discussions pointed to the need to advocate for human oversight, protective safeguards, EU-level ethical guidelines, and educational programmes that foster critical thinking across different age groups.
Participants discussed how AI changes the way values related to gender and equality are taught, especially to children. They underscored the urgent need for new tools and narratives that support more inclusive, relational ways of learning and being together. A prominent proposal was the establishment of a European Gender Cool Storytelling Week, to be held in schools and other settings, aimed at fostering mutual understanding and connection through storytelling.
Participants stressed the importance of strengthening mental health, coping strategies, and resilience, particularly among immigrants, vulnerable groups, and activists, anticipating increased challenges in the face of potential political shifts towards more conservative, populist, or far-right governments in Europe.
Finally, participants highlighted the urgent need to reframe the public discourse around gender equality, noting that it is frequently polarised, emotionalised, and politicised. This environment makes it challenging to engage with factual information or recognise the broader societal benefits of advancing gender justice.
Report of the FEN’s Annual Meeting 2025 in Vienna
On May 16, 2025, the Foresight Europe Network (FEN) held its Annual Meeting during the Futures4Europe Conference in Vienna, Austria. The session, titled “Pasts and Futures of European Foresight Producing Collective Intelligence,” was chaired by FEN President Lena Tünkers and Vice President Thays Prado. The meeting featured contributions from Ibon Zugasti, previous FEN President and Deputy Director of The Millennium Project, and Eva Buchinger, a sociologist specializing in systems theory and complexity.
Central to the meeting was a live constellation exercise facilitated by Eva Buchinger, as illustrated by the report of the meeting now available. This interactive session invited participants to physically represent various foresight approaches—such as Corporate Foresight, Loving Emotional Foresight, Embodied Foresight, and Nature—within a shared space. Through this embodied methodology, attendees explored the dynamic relationships, tensions, and synergies among different foresight paradigms.
Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe
The Germany Node of The Millennium Project and the Foresight Europe Network are organizing an amazing 1.5-hour online workshop on “Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe” on June 5, 2025, 3pm – 4:30pm CEST.
The workshop open to anyone interested in the future of gender equality in Europe, from a feminist and intersectional perspective. Through an interactive format, participants will explore possible and desirable futures for gender equality, fostering dialogue and new perspectives. Following the workshop, participants are also (optionally) invited to an open networking session.
The workshop draws from one of the 15 Global Challenges on this topic, as featured in the State of the Future Report by The Millennium Project, covering current developments as well as future perspectives and regional insights from around the world.
All genders are welcome, and no particular expertise is required.
FEN Meeting 2025: Join Us in Vienna in May!
As the year is getting into motion and our schedules fill up with exciting activities, we would like to announce this year’s in person FEN meeting. We will gather in Vienna, Austria as part of the Futures4Europe Conference 2025, which will take place on 15th – 16th of May.
In line with the conference theme, the FEN meeting on May 16 is titled “Pasts and Futures of European Foresight producing Collective Intelligence.” It will be an exciting opportunity for us to connect with other members of the network, generate new learning and potentially spark ideas for collaboration across our community.
The Futures4Europe conference aims to investigate the concept of future-oriented collective intelligence (FOCI) as a transformative approach to making sense of future challenges that are complex and interconnected.
The workshop will be chaired by Lena Tünkers, FEN President, and Thays Prado, FEN Vice President, and will be featuring Ibon Zugasti, Deputy Director and Spain Node Chair of The Millennium Project, on Collective Intelligence Network Structures in The Millennium Project, and Eva Buchinger on Participatory Constellation Work for Intergenerational Dialogue.
World Futures Day 2025: Join the Global Conversation on Building a Better Tomorrow on March 1
March 1st – The Millennium Project and five other international futurist organizations will host the 12th annual World Futures Day — a unique 24-hour online conversation around the world exploring possibilities for our shared future.
World Futures Day begins at 12 noon in New Zealand. This round-the-world event will move westward hour-by-hour, ending 24 hours later in Hawaii. The public is invited to drop in anytime to listen, share ideas, and discuss how to create a better tomorrow with futurists, thought leaders, and engaged citizens worldwide.
Each year, total strangers discuss ideas in a relaxed, open, no-agenda conversation making new collaborations and friendships. Previous World Futures Days have discussed the transition to Artificial General Intelligence, living in space, inventing the future work, addressing climate change, giving rights to the living planet, fighting transnational organized crime, developing future forms of democracy, countering information warfare, incorporating futures generations and global ethics in decision-making, and identifying and enforcing safety standards for synthetic biology. Who knows what stimulating topics and perspectives will come up this year?
The Millennium Project, a global foresight participatory think tank, will host this conversation on the future in collaboration with the Association of Professional Futurists (APF), Humanity+, theLifeboat Foundation, the World Academy of Art and Science, and the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF). Many members of the Foresight Europe Network will join or facilitate the event.
Read more on The Millennium Project website
Foresight Europe Network Demo Hour in 2025 – Save your spot
After the change in leadership at the beginning of the year, the Foresight Europe Network announces that the successful FEN Demo Hour format will continue in 2025, but in a slightly more nuanced way. There will be four sessions this year – a winter, spring, summer and autumn Demo Hour.
The FEN Demo Hour is a one-hour online space where FEN members and the European foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work. In each Demo Hour, one or more FEN members present a unique method or tool and have the opportunity to receive valuable feedback and discussion from an experienced crowd of foresight practitioners.
Do you have a unique foresight method or approach that you would like to demonstrate to the European foresight and futures community? Sign up now to take the spotlight in one of the four sessions!
Simply write to hi@lenatuenkers.com, FEN President, with your name, method and preferred date(s).
New FEN Presidency
Dear FEN members,
a wonderful new year to all of you! Might this be an inspiring and hopeful one.
As 2025 begins, the tables are turning in the FEN leadership team. Nondas joins the growing circle of Past Presidents, Nick becomes the new Past President and I step into the role of Present President. With that, we are very excited to announce the new Future President, Thays Prado.
Thays is a dear colleague based in Lisbon, Portugal, with an inspiring background in documentary film-making, a huge gift for storytelling and facilitation, and remarkable projects in the field of foresight and futures thinking with her company Feminist Futures (among many others as an NGFP Fellow). Not only that, but she has also brought to life the online conference and community Women Who Future(s) together with Abril Chimal.
Kind regards,
Lena
FEN Demo Hour on AI FUTURIST – October 31, 2024
Join the Future of Foresight with AI! Foresight Europe Network (FEN) invites you to the next Demo Hour on Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 14:00 to 15:30 CEST. Experience AI FUTURIST—the world’s first generative AI chatbot built specifically for foresight.
Futurists Tarian Jenkins, Marianna Mäki-Teeri, and Charlotte Korhonen from Futures Platform will lead an interactive session, demonstrating how AI is transforming the foresight landscape. Discover the current capabilities of the AI FUTURIST and gain insights into the exciting journey of developing AI-driven solutions for strategic foresight. Be prepared to share your views and vision for the future of AI in foresight work.
Watch the recording of the session: https://youtu.be/_e0TVcxZivY
Register for the meeting for free at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvdeqspj0oGdyVGSe1bcZ_lNRrztpNYCOr
If you have a unique approach to foresight, you can share it during a Demo Hour 2024 meeting, discover valuable use cases, find new connections, and get feedback from a knowledgeable audience. Sign-up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AeahZ8GajHtOyqXI_rxBqUQza1X6JTGcUpZj_oIO1YY/edit?usp=sharing
Contact FEN leadership for more information: https://feneu.org/leadership/
FEN at the Millennium Project Planning Committee Meeting in Monterrey
The Millennium Project 2024 Planning Committee meeting took place in Monterrey on September 26-27, 2024, hosted by Tecnológico de Monterrey and sponsored by the Futures Design Lab and the Constellation of Futurists of the School of Architecture, Art, and Design.
Nick Balcom Raleigh, FEN President, gave a presentation on the most recent activities of the network dedicated to advancing foresight practices across Europe and to fostering collaboration among practitioners, researchers, and students.
The network, which originated from the European Millennium Project Nodes Initiative (EuMPI) and the European Regional Foresight College, aims to create a European foresight community through a variety of in-person and virtual meetings. With around 345 members, FEN encourages cooperation on projects of mutual interest in a low-bureaucracy, self-organized environment.
In 2024, FEN has been actively involved in several initiatives, including hosting a panel on “Human Curiosity as a Natural Resource” at the Futures Conference in Turku and further developing the concept for the European Millennium Project Node Tour. This initiative will allow virtual sessions for discussions on diverse foresight topics among FEN members and other nodes.
The network also continues its popular FEN Demo Hours (watch the playlist on youtube), where members present their unique approaches to futures work, with sessions on topics such as speculative design, spatial justice, and teaching futures.
FEN has also participated in international foresight forums, such as the Global Futures Society meetings hosted by Dubai Futures Forum.
As FEN moves into 2025, the network is planning an in-person member meeting to coincide with a futures or foresight conference, such as Anticipation 2025 or the World Futures Studies Federation conference.
Leadership within FEN is also undergoing a transition. Nondas Christophilopoulos, who has served in various leadership roles since 2018, is being honored for his six years of service. Lena Tuenkers will take over as FEN President starting in 2025, following her two years as Vice President. Nicolas Balcom Raleigh will transition to Past President in 2025, and continue as Vice President in 2025-2026. FEN is currently in the process of selecting its next Vice President and welcomes suggestions from its members.
Download the presentation (.pdf file).
Anticipation 24 conference – Sept. 11-14, 2024
Lena Tunkers, FEN Future President, will join the Anticipation 24 conference, taking place at Lancaster University, UK, on September 11-14, 2024. Lena will give a speech entitled “Without words: sensing future” during session 45.
Others from The Millennium Project Nodes from Europe will join the event. The conference will explore how ideas of the future inform action in the present, in terms of new understandings, framings, skills, imaginaries and means of instigating positive change for future generations.
For more information, visit https://www.millennium-project.org/anticipation-24-september-11-14-2024/
Foresight Europe Network meets in-person before Futures Conference 2024 in Turku, Finland
Did you miss the latest Foresight Europe Network Summer Meeting on 12th June in Turku? Read a brief summary about it by FEN President Nick Balcom Raleigh and VP/Future President Lena Tuenkers. The meeting included presentations from Eye of Europe and the Futures4Europe platform, citizen participation in Finnish National Foresight Reports, and the study on AGI Governance by The Millennium Project. The meeting concluded with small group discussions which raising topics of interest to the larger foresight community.
FEN Demo Hour on Dreams and Disruption – July 11, 2024
The next Demo Hour meeting organized by the Foresight Europe Network will take place on Thursday, July 11, 2024, from 15:00 to 16:30 CEST.
During the meeting, Shermon O. Cruz, Chair of the Philippines Node of The Millennium Project and founder of the Center for Engaged Foresight, will demonstrate the Dreams and Disruptions Foresight Game in an interactive session.
Dreams and Disruptions is not just a game; it’s a dynamic foresight and imagination platform designed to stimulate your creativity, challenge your assumptions and encourage you to think beyond the present. Whether you’re a visionary thinker, an advanced or aspiring futurist, a creative problem solver or simply curious about what’s on the horizon, this game offers a unique opportunity to engage with fellow participants in an immersive and intellectually stimulating environment. Get ready to shatter norms and envision radical futures in our Dreams and Disruptions Foresight Game session.
The session is free and open to members and non-members. Please register in advance at: https://rb.gy/yw71yu
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the session.
FEN Demo Hour is a space where FEN members and Europe’s foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work. Share your method or tool in the upcoming FEN Demo Hours! Simply claim your date on this Google Doc & or reach out to the FEN Leadership.
Watch the recording of the session: https://youtu.be/tmmmUm8I_z4
FEN Summer 2024 Meeting in Turku – June 12, 2024
The leadership team of FEN cordially invites you to our upcoming in-person meeting, 2-4pm – Wednesday, 12 June 2024 in Turku, Finland. The FEN Summer 2024 Meeting agenda is available at https://futuresconference2024.com/side-events/120624-fen/.
The meeting is free and open to all who are interested in futures and foresight in Europe. Whether you have signed up as a FEN Member, are wise and experienced in futures or newly starting in this field, professor or student of futures — we welcome you.
The date of this meeting precedes Futures Conference 2024 hosted by Finland Futures Research Centre and LUKE, which happens Thursday-Friday, 13-14 June.
Please note: If you already plan to attend the conference, it would be wonderful to see you at our FEN Summer Meeting too. If you were not previously thinking of attending Futures Conference, we encourage you to consider it – FFRC is known for hosting excellent conferences. You can also, if you choose, attend our FEN meeting without attending Futures Conference.
We are excited for this in-person gathering. It has been too long!
Kind regards,
Nicolas Balcom Raleigh
President, Foresight Europe Network
On behalf of the FEN leadership team.
FEN Demo Hour – playlist & slots available
Demo Hour, a format created by FEN – Foresight Europe Network, regional Network of The Millennium Project, is a space where FEN members and Europe’s foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight.
The first year of the format in 2023 hosted discussions of diverse, kind, and truly valuable, with more than 300 members joining the sessions in 2023.
Some discussions and meetings are available on a youtube playlist we created: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxdcZVRN9bicPeTtv6sBu355UzhV0uV7H&si=ksYEQeIJewyBb2U9
If you have a unique approach to foresight, you can share it during a Demo Hour 2024 meeting, discover valuable use cases, find new connections, and get feedback from a knowledgeable audience.
Sign-up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AeahZ8GajHtOyqXI_rxBqUQza1X6JTGcUpZj_oIO1YY/edit?usp=sharing
Contact our leadership for more information: https://feneu.org/leadership/
Reimagining Futures of Sustainable Cruise Ships – April 8-11, 2024
Nicolas Balcom Raleigh, current President of the Foresight Europe Network, will be one of the guest speakers of Seatrade Cruise Global, one of the World’s Largest Cruise Event taking place in Miami Beach (USA) in April 8-11, 2024.
Nicolas Balcom Raleigh will join the session on “Cruising off the Charts: Reimagining Futures of Sustainable Cruise Ships” on April 11 together with Martyn Richards and Leena Jokinen, Finland Futures Research Center.
For more information, visit https://www.seatradecruiseevents.com/global/en/home.html
Women who futures – March, 2024
Lena Tünkers, Foresight Europe Network Vice President, will be one of the many speakers of the events organized within Women Who Future(s), curated to unfold over 4 days, showcasing 38 amazing women from diverse backgrounds—academics, designers, storytellers, journalists, chefs, artists. In 24 sessions, including workshops, conversations, panels, experiences, and more, you’re invited to reflect, feel, and engage in thought-provoking discussions.
Women Who Future(s) emerged from the desire to create safe spaces that promote and celebrate the work of women engaged in thought-provoking discussions in the future(s) and foresight field. Diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality take center stage. The group will run events on March with to advocates for transforming the field to be more inclusive and supportive while also recognizing how women bring unique perspectives to their practices.
Lena Tünkers will join the session on “Without words – an interactive experience“, together with Abril Chimal on March 22, 1.30 GTM.
For more information about the events, visit the following links:
📆 March 14-15 https://lu.ma/womenwhofuture_s1
📆 March 21-22 https://lu.ma/womenwhofuture_s2
FEN Demo Hour on Processes of Spatial Justice and Political Urbanism – March 21, 2024
The next Demo Hour by FEN will take place on Thursday, 4:00-5:30 PM CET on March 21, 2024. The meeting will be focused on “Processes of spatial justice and political urbanism” and will host our FEN member Ana Povoas, researcher at Université libre de Bruxelles.
Emerging from more than a decade of research in geography and political studies, spatial justice is a toolset that enables to make explicit the divergences that exist among citizens in any given topic related to our habitat. It thus enables the construction of future scenarios and policies where convergence and compromise are built from a place of explicitness and non-violent communication.
The meeting is free and open to non-members. Sign-up here: https://rb.gy/pm72c0
Watch the recording of the meeting at https://youtu.be/JQkEOqRLNr4
Download presentation (.pdf) at https://feneu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Presentation-FEN-shared.pdf
FEN Demo Hour is a space where FEN members and Europe’s foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work.
FEN Demo Hour on Applied Futures – Jan. 25, 2024
The next Demo Hour by FEN will take place on Thursday, 17:00-18:30 CET on Jan. 25th 2024. FEN member Jacob Langvad Nilsson will present his newly developed futures method Applied Futures.
Applied Futures is a framework for integrating strategic foresight into immediate practice. The framework combines the best of futures studies with design thinking. Engage in a workshops to learn how to shape the future of your company, and of our planet.
The registration link to attend the event is https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkcuuvpjIvG9KDCvxrXk0i6K0518tf97hk
For more information on Applied Futures, visit https://appliedfutures.io/
FEN Demo Hour on Experience FuturGov Game – Dec. 7, 2023
The next FEN Demo Hour will be held on December 7, 2023, from 15:00 – 16:30 CET.
The meeting will be focused on Experience FuturGov Game, a speculative policy dialogue tool, developed at the EU Policy Lab. Meet the game authors and explore new government models, power relations and discuss policy proposals in a scenario role play.
To join the session, please pre-register through the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsd-2sqzovEtOHFKUGUmcbGaM8fC2H0sst
Further information at the following links:
FEN Demo Hour on Imagination and Feminist Futures – Nov. 16, 2023
The next FEN Demo Hour will be held on November 16, 2023, from 16:00 – 17:30 CET.
FEN member Thays Prado is professional storyteller, documentary filmmaker, and gender expert and invites the FEN community to expand our imagination beyond what we already know to co-create stories from feminist futures.
To join the session, please pre-register through the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMudemvpz8pGN1gPUqXreTWZmR1C1xuWVPs
FEN Demo Hour on DATTOPIAS – Setp. 14, 2023
On September 14th, 2023, from 16:00 to 17:30 CEST, FEN will be hosting an intriguing Demo Hour.
FEN member Jocelyn Ibarra, founder and design lead at The Time Travel Agency, will take us to DATTOPIAS which are uncommon alternative narratives that are realistic and optimistic; that explore advancements in technology, societal changes, well-being, environmental improvements, and other positive developments. These narratives show us the everyday of the human experience and the ways in which society has adapted to overcome challenges. Come and see how DATTOPIAS are used for organizations that need to adapt to survive.
Same drill as always, please pre-register and share if you wish: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpd-qtqTItGtNAf86ylvBwnT0Ncl_vDvYX#/registration
FEN Demo Hour is a space where FEN members and Europe’s foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work. They are held monthly. Thus, if you would like to demonstrate a method or tool, please claim your date on this Google sheet.
FEN Demo Hour on Scalable Fruit Workshops – August 17, 2023
FEN Demo Hours doesn’t take summer breaks!
For those of you still online, following our monthly rhythm, the next Demo Hour will be held on Thursday, August 17th, 2023, from 16:00 to 17:30 UTC+1. This time the session will take place in collaboration with the network JFS Futures Community.
In the spirit of Demo Hour’s first network collaboration effort, FEN member Amos Taylor, Project Researcher at Finland Futures Research Centre, will share his ideas about cultivating support networks with a method called ‘scalable fruit workshops’. Rather than the continuous strategic extraction of information, he suggests turning to the collective benefit of workshops and utilizing networks, both formal and non-formal.
What does working together mean to you?
Same drill as always, please pre-register and share if you wish: https://forms.gle/RFrEsybKfFnW519C6
Watch the video-recording: https://youtu.be/se6RLhx9aCo
FEN Demo Hour is a space where FEN members and Europe’s foresight community share and learn from each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work. They are held monthly. Thus, if you would like to demonstrate a method or tool, please claim your date on this Google sheet.
FEN Demo Hour on Design Futures – July 20, 2023
FEN Demo Hours, the online monthly series organized by the Foresight Europe Network, is at its 3rd meeting and will present the work of a new FEN member on Thursday 20th July 2023, from 15.00 to 16.30 UTC+1.
Tobias Revell is Design Futures Lead at Arup University‘s Foresight faculty where he leads on innovative and critical design processes and drives and advocates for design across the organization. He will let us peek into Arup Foresight’s design-led approach which goes beyond the application to projects and is used for speculation, knowledge creation, and research purposes amongst others.
Anyone can attend based on their interests but pre-registration is required: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkc-yhqTMpH9Oq2xozPyc6XPfjh8T8W9Qg
Watch the video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se6RLhx9aCo
Foresight Europe Network Meeting – June 16, 2023
Open invitation to Foresight Europe Network (FEN) Meeting on 16 June, 2023, organized as a parallel online session of the upcoming conference on Empowering Futures
Foresight Europe Network brings together foresight practitioners, users, educators, researchers, students, and others doing futures work. Our goal is to know about each other and enable connections.
Setting
This meeting starts 30 minutes after the closing of Futures Conference 2023, hosted by Finland Futures Research Centre at University of Turku.
Who is invited
This meeting is open to all, even if you are not already a member of FEN. If you have an interest in foresight and its development in Europe, you are welcome! Registration at Futures Conference 2023 or membership in FEN is not required to attend.
Location
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81385228216?pwd=R2o4ZG9SSjR0S1haRzlOV2k0Z1AyQT09
Passcode: 080378
Agenda* – 90 minutes
Opening Remarks – Nicolas Balcom Raleigh, FEN President – 5 Minutes
FEN Member Meet and Greet in Small Groups – 15 Minutes
Workshop: The Millennium Project’s Global Challenges and Europe’s perspective on them – 40 Minutes
Self-Selected Groups – One Zoom room will be available per Challenge.
FEN Network and the EC JRC’s Framework Tender – 20 minutes
Closing Remarks – Lena Tuenkers, FEN VP Future President – 10 minutes
* Agenda is subject to minor changes.
Organisers:
FEN Leadership Team:
Nick Balcom Raleigh, FEN President
Lena Tuenkers, FEN VP (Future President)
Christofilopoulos Epaminondas, FEN VP (Past President)
Mara Di Berardo, FEN Communications Officer
FEN Demo Hours on Real Time Spatial Delphi platform – May 18, 2023
FEN Demo Hour – the new online monthly series organized by the Foresight Europe Network, regional Node of the Millennium Project – goes into the second round and will be held on Thursday 18th May 2023 from 15.00 to 16.30 UTC+1.
FEN members Simone Di Zio, Co-Chair of the Italy Node of The Millennium Project, & Yuri Calleo will present and demonstrate their new Real-Time Spatial Delphi digital platform to facilitate spatial consensus for complex scenarios and policy development. Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in foresight, but pre-registration is required to attend this virtual event.
FEN Demo Hours allow FEN members and Europe’s foresight community to share and explore each other’s approaches to foresight and futures work. Each FEN Demo Hour, an individual or small group of FEN members volunteers to present a foresight tool or method they have created or adapted. Anyone can attend based on their interests. The intention is to learn from each other and discuss how our field is developing.
Sign-up to second FEN Demo Hour: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpcOiqqDItG9d-btpceLKFVbhfAgfyEKH1#/registration
Watch the video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifo0IFoCjhMDe
FEN DEMO Hour – April 13, 2023
The idea of Demo Hours is to share methods and approaches within the FEN community and thus broadening our horizons of foresight practices. Demo Hours will run monthly and will be curated by the community. The first FEN Demo Hour will take place online on the 13. of April 2023 from 15:00 to 16:30 UTC+1.
In this first session, we have the honor to learn from Anna & Kacper at 4CF The Futures Literacy Company, Poland Node of The Millennium Project, about the 4CF FLEx gamebooks. It’s a novel foresight tool that allows scenario-users to immerse themselves in an interactive scenario experience. What it is in detail and how we can apply it will be presented during the session. If this sparks your interest, please register in advance through the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucOqpqT8iGNNi-nnz7gjeroXJVcslcIAT
Do you or your organisation have a method or tool you would like to demonstrate? FEN Demo Hours are a great way to show off your latest and greatest with foresight colleagues. Many dates are still available. You can claim your date on this Google sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AeahZ8GajHtOyqXI_rxBqUQza1X6JTGcUpZj_oIO1YY/edit?usp=sharing
For information, please contact Lena Tünkers, FEN Vice President, at hi@lenatuenkers.com.
Letter from the new FEN President
Dear FEN members,
This update message is long overdue in this new year. Several things are happening in FEN.
Leadership Team changes
The leadership of Foresight Europe Network has transitioned into its 2023-2024 term. Anna Sacio-Szymanska has completed her six years of service on the network’s leadership team – for which we are all grateful. Nondas Christophilopoulos has moved from being President for 2021-2022 to being Vice President (Past President), and I have moved from serving as Vice President (Future President) to the role of President. The newest member of the leadership team is Lena Tünkers, who begins her service to the network as Vice President (Future President).
All FEN leaders serve for a total of six years: two years as Vice President (Future President), followed by two years as President, and then two more years as Vice President (Past President).
FEN Leadership Philosophy
The 2023-2024 FEN leadership team recently met with past leaders of FEN to discuss our networks’ history and future potentials. From this, we are assured our leadership philosophy is in line with the original vision of the network: We will continue to be a low-hierarchy, low-bureaucracy, and very open network. The leadership team sees its main function as facilitating contact among the network’s members and providing opportunities to meet. We will also pursue new ideas as we have them. Everything else the network does arises from member interests and member-led initiatives.
New programming under discussion (your feedback is needed!)
The leadership team seeks input about two big ideas for 2023:
– Idea 1: FEN Member Method/Tool Demonstrations: Periodically (e.g., every two weeks) a FEN member or group of members would demonstrate a method or tool they have used, adapted, or created. These sessions would be 60 to 90 minutes. It would be an opportunity for FEN members, as well as anyone who is interested, to learn about each other’s approaches and capacities. This idea comes from the leadership team, but we need your feedback before it can happen: Would you attend this kind of event? How frequently would you attend? Would you be willing to present at one? Please give us your feedback about this idea using this survey: https://forms.gle/DnT5AnRb7ZSpix2x7
– Idea 2: European Foresight Statbook: This idea is more ambitious and would need a team of volunteers to bring it to life. The goal is to raise the visibility of Foresight as a significant sector of the European economy. A statbook team would send a questionnaire to all FEN members asking for specific economically relevant details from 2022 about their foresight work in terms of economic variables such as number of employees, revenues, and sectors served. The results would be published and shared with members and the wider public. If this kind of project interests you, please email Nick Balcom Raleigh at nickspacefire@gmail.com to join the organizing team.
When is our next meeting?
The leadership team is currently discussing this topic. We plan to follow past practices of FEN and hold our next meeting synergistically with key futures conferences. We will announce the membership meetings for 2023 soon – and can already say these will likely be in June and October.
FEN is its members!
We hope you are continuing to find reasons to interact with each other and that many endeavors are in the making. Please write to the Google Group any coordinated activities you are planning or doing, so we can all follow the action, be inspired, and see more potentials for foresight in Europe.
FEN was founded by the European nodes of the Millennium Project, but anyone who is doing foresight, using foresight or even just getting started using foresight in Europe can join. Our members include foresight companies, futures educators, researchers, policymakers, and students. If you know someone who is doing foresight or interested in doing more foresight, please invite them to join. It’s easy, they just need to complete the membership form linked from this page: https://feneu.org/members-competences/
Thanks for reading this update! Into the future we go!
Sincerely,
Nick Balcom Raleigh
President, Foresight Europe Network
(On behalf of the whole FEN leadership team)
UNITED NATIONS FORESIGHT REALTIME DELPHI – DEADLINE JULY 1, 2022
The Millennium Project has launched a new RealTime Delphi to request views on implementation strategies for five foresight elements of the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ report: Our Common Agenda. Participants’ responses will be used for a special report to Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General and in the next State of the Future report.
In order to participate to the the RTD, a first review of the report is requested: https://www.un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/
All those who respond to this questionnaire will receive a summary of the results and will be listed in the appendix of the report to the Director of the Strategic Planning and Monitoring Unit in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, unless you tell us not to. All answers are anonymous – no attributions will be made, unless you want to be quoted by adding your name to your answer. The report will be used by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General help define and implement foresight in the UN.
If you wish to contribute to the study, please write to jglenn@igc.org.
FEN Meeting at Futures Conference – June 15, 2022
We are pleased to announce our next FEN Member Meeting, the first in 2022!
Please, join us on Wednesday, 15th June 2022, from 10-12:30pm EEST (UTC+3), just before Futures Conference 2022 in Turku, Finland begins.
To maximize the possibility for our members across Europe to attend, this meeting will only be held online.
The FEN meeting is free but registration is needed. To attend, please register here: https://forms.gle/ivmjkoPn9aRwRW549
Meeting Agenda
You can expect presentations, small group discussions, and participation in a live research project being implemented by FEN Members at this meeting.
There will be two main sessions:
1. #OurFutures: Images for the future of Europe
2. The Future of towards post-COVID recovery V4 and EU in 2030: Sustainable Innovation Pathways
The meeting will conclude with closing remarks from FEN leadership.
You can download the detailed agenda here: https://futuresconference2022.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/fen-agenda-15062022.pdf
FEN member registration/update proces
Our network is open and voluntary. FEN helps Europe’s foresight people know about each other and be known to each other. Our goals are quite simple: to convene, to discuss, and to enable members to autonomously launch their own collaborations.
After some months of discussion, we are launching a new FEN member registration/update process that aims to:
- provide members and potential members a clear process for joining FEN, updating your info, or leaving the network;
- ensure regular updates to our network member list;
- help us keep our public-facing ‘members & competences’ webpage up-to-date;
- give members clear choices about which communications they wish to receive;
- and ensure compliance with EU GDPR regulations.
Please take a moment today to update your membership info: https://feneu.org/members-competences/become-a-fen-member/
Please note that as we receive registrations, we update accordingly the Members list that is currently outdated: https://feneu.org/members-competences/become-a-fen-member/
Thank you in advance for pitching in to this spring-cleaning task! And, please save the date and watch for an upcoming announcement about our next virtual FEN member meeting 10am-12:30pm (EEST, UTC+3) 15 June 2022.
FEN Management Team
Epaminondas Christophilopoulos , FEN president
Nicolas Balcom Raleigh, FEN Vice-President / Next FEN President
Ania Sacio-Szymańska, FEN Vice-president / Previous FEN President
Mara Di Berardo , Communication Officer
Contribution to Futures v. 2, the World Foresight Encyclopedic Dictionary
We invite you to contribute to the version 2 of FUTURES, the World Foresight Encyclopedic Dictionary, published jointly by The Millennium Project (Jerome Glenn, Theodore Gordon) and its Mexican Node (Concepción Olavarrieta) in 2011. The Futures v. 2 project is co-manged by the Millennium Project and its Mexican Node with the support of the Greek Node.
FUTURES currently has more than 1,000 foresight words and methods. Your participation in this review will help assure that the book has addressed current practices and uses of foresight terms.
If you are interested in contributing to FUTURES Version 2, please write a review of words and/or methods contained in the initial version to epaminondas@PRAXINETWORK.GR according to the following guidelines:
- Words: name, definition, extension 10 lines, sources or references;
- Methods: name, general concepts, steps, extension 30 lines and images.
New proposals of words and methods are welcome as well. Please send your proposals to concepcionolavarrieta@gmail.com.
The deadline for sending your proposals is April 30th, 2022.
#OurFutures by the European Commission
The European Commission has launched a new project called #OurFutures.This project is taking place within the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe and aims at exploring the futures for Europe together. Citizens from all over the EU are invited to share their visions of the future.
These stories, and the connected data, are collected in an open database. Everyone can use this data to understand what, for instance, inspires young people, what themes are hot in different countries, how people in Belgium might have other issues than people in Greece, and more.
Let’s help spread the word and collect these stories, via social media or during your own workshops. If you would like to organise a workshop about the future but don’t know how, you may visit https://www.sitra.fi/en/projects/futures-frequency/.
#OurFuture is a collaborative project, so if you have any ideas, suggestions, inspiration, you are very much invited to reach out.
Strategic Foresight and quantification link for better future-oriented policymakingworkshop – Nov. 23, 2021
Cornelia Daheim, past FEN Vice President (2017-2018), Chair of the Millennium Project Germany Node, and Head of Future Impacts Consulting, is one of the discussants of the upcoming “Strategic Foresight and quantification link for better future-oriented policymaking” taking place on November 23, 2021, 4:30-6:00 PM CET. The workshop is part of the 2021 EU Conference on modelling for policy support, organized by the European Commission Competence Centre on Modelling (CC-MOD) on Nov. 22-26, 2021.
The workshop will share experience and benefits of combining exploratory qualitative and quantitative strategic foresight approaches in policymaking. It will also highlight how policymakers need to be engaged in the process and include science better in policy development
Opening remarks: Hermine Mitter, Senior Scientist, Universität für Bodenkultur (BOKU) Wien
Discussants:
Cornelia Daheim, Head, Future Impacts Consulting
Florence Buchholzer, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Robert M’Barek, DG Joint Research Centre, European Commission
Vicky Pollard, DG Climate Action, European Commission
Fabiana Scapolo, DG Joint Research Centre, European Commission
The registration deadline is Nov. 7, 2021.
More information can be found at https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/event/2021-eu-conference-modelling-policy-support-collaborating-across-disciplines-tackle-key_en
Moderation: Eckhard Stoermer and Tommi Asikainen, DG Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
STRATEGIC FORESIGHT ONLINE COURSE – JAN. 2022
The Instituto de Estudios Internacionales of the University of Chile organizes an online course about “Strategic foresight, multilateralism and international relations: the macro-transition of the 21st century“, taking place in January 17-21,2022, in collaboration with the Consejo Chileno de Prospectiva y Estrategia, the Millennium Project, the Red Iberoamericana de Prospectiva (RIBER), and the Foresight Europe Network (FEN).
Many representatives from the Millennium Project are involved in the academic body, such as Jerome C. Glenn (“Human Extinction Risks and weakness in thinking about the future”), MP CEO, Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez (“Where is the world headed to. The Macro-Transition towards the future”), MP Argentina, Héctor Casanueva (“The 15 global challenges, the 2030 SDGs and the UN Common Agenda”), MP Chile. All the lessons of the course will be in Spanish, apart from Glenn’s one that will be in English.
Course Description: The world is experiencing a macro-transition towards the future: geopolitical, ecological, digital, energetic. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these processes and increased levels of uncertainty. The new society that is going to emerge is not completely defined yet but we must build it on the basis of trends, emerging realities and scenarios of possible futures. Understanding these transitions is key to strategically design national, local or international public policies, and address local and global business developments. We must know the present, anticipate possible future scenarios if we want to reduce uncertainty, and be prepared for multidimensional crises like the current one. An essential task for all actors, public and private, is to generate socially, environmentally and economically sustainable development, as proposed by the 17 SDGs of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, together with the proposal of the UN SG “Our Common Agenda ”And the 15 global challenges of the Millennium Project.
More information and the registration guidelines can be found at: http://iei.uchile.cl/cursos/180778/prospectiva-estrategica-multilateralismo-y-relaciones-internacionales.
FEN Meeting at the WFSF conference – Oct. 29, 2021
A second Foresight Europe Network annual meeting will take place in October 29, 2021, from 4 pm to 5.30 pm (CET) in Berlin, as a side event of the 24th World Futures Studies Federation Conference of which FEN is partner.
Join the meeting to learn about foresight activity in Europe, meeting foresight collegues and sharing ideas for future foresight work.
The agenda of the FEN meeting is the following:
4.00 pm, Welcome, Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, FEN President
4.15 pm, Keynote Speech,
‘Fostering long-termism as a lever for systems change and climate action: Roles of futures literacy and foresight, Marco Carreira Silva, Innovation Coordinator, Long-Terminism Deep Demonstration, EIT Climate-KIC
4.35 pm, Interactive Activity, #OurFutures project (JRC), Wendy Schultz & Epaminondas Christophilopoulos
5.00 pm, Discussion in smaller groups: What foresight actions could we undertake to promote long-termism among leaders and citizens?
5.30 pm, End of Meeting
Register at https://forms.gle/LkJmx4n6a2VA6K3V6
Download the agenda in .pdf: Foresight Europe Network (FEN) Annual Meeting 2021-3
Discover more about the 24th WFSF conference at https://wfsfconferenceberlin2021.org/
“Prospectiva estratégica, multilateralismo y relactiones internationales en la Macrotransición del siglo XXI” – Sept. 28, 2021
Ibon Zugasti (MP Board Member, Foresight Europe Network and RIBER), Conchita Olavarrieta (Millennium Project Mexico), Héctor Casanueva (MP Vice Chair and MP Chile), Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez (CELGYP and MP Argentina), Paola Aceituno (UTEM Chile), Sergio Bitar (Inter-American Dialogue and Chilean Council for Prospective and Strategy), Dorotea López (Institute for International Studies) and Alberto Van Klaveren, former Vice Minister and Ambassador to the EU will be speakers for the “Prospectiva estratégica, multilateralismo y relactiones internationales en la Macrotransición del siglo XXI. Transición geopolítica, digital, medioambiental y energética” seminar.
The event, in Spanish, will take place on September 28, 2021 and is organized by The Millennium Project, Universidad de Chile – Istituto de Estudio Internacionales, Consejo Chileno de Prospectiva y Estrategia e dal Foresight Europe Network.
Registrations to the webinar can be made at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a5iVuMuuQT6Jbj0PTfkJjQ.
Report of the FEN latest meeting – June, 2021
We have just published a full report of our latest Foresight Europe Network meeting! “Foresight Europe Network: bringing futures/foresight people together“, written by Mara Di Berardo, Nicolas A. Balcom Raleigh, and Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, introduces our network leadership and activities and the results of the meeting carried out on June 7, 2021.
The Foresight Europe Network (FEN) is an open network of individuals who are active in futures and foresight research, education, and practice across Europe. Its objective is to foster connections among its members to enable opportunities for cooperation. Several of the members are also active in the The Millennium Project, serving as nodes for this international and independent foresight-oriented think tank. The latest FEN meeting was held on June 7, 2021. It was a free pre-event of the Futures Conference 2021 “Learning Futures – Futures of Learning”, hosted by Finland Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku. This was the fifth time a FEN meeting was held in cooperation with the FFRC’s Futures Conference series. Due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, both the conference and the FEN meeting were held as virtual events. A total of 35 people attended the FEN meeting. This summary report aims to convey the highlights from the meeting as a reminder for the participants and for the benefit of those in the network who were unable to attend. It also includes a summary of a talk given by Jerome Glenn, co-founder and CEO of The Millennium Project at a special session during the conference. The following sections show the meeting agenda, a brief account of the FEN president’s opening remarks, summaries of talks given by invited speakers Jake Sotiriadis and Riyong Kim, plus Jerome Glenn’s talk later during the futures conference, a summary of outcomes from the free-form small group discussions responding to those presentations, and a brief account of closing remarks given by the FEN Vice President (Future President).
Download & quote: Di Berardo M., Balcom Raleigh N. A., Christophilopoulos E. (2021). Foresight Europe Network: Bringing Futures/Foresight People Together. Foresight Europe Network. September 16. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.27648.35849.
We are going to meet again soon during the upcoming 24th World Futures Studies Federation conference in October. More news coming soon!
FORESIGHT EUROPE NETWORK: A PLACE FOR BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER.
A short report about our Foresight Europe Network latest meeting, carried out on June 7, 2021, has been just published on “Human Futures. Insight for the Futurati“ August issue, the World Futures Studies Federation online magazine.
“Foresight Europe Network: A place for Bringing People Together“, written by Mara Di Berardo, Nicolas A. Balcom Raleigh, and Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, illustrates the content of the speeches given during the workshop by the invited speakers, Jake Sotiriadis, Riyong Kim and Jerome Glenn, and the results of the small groups discussion carried out soon after with suggestions to improve foresight and futures studies.
Many other interesting papers can be found on this issue of the magazine. You can read it online at https://issuu.com/wfsf.president/docs/human_futures_magazine_august_2021_final_09-05-21
Direct .pdf Download from Google Drive (external src): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IjYgHXJGHmtcyBI_4ua_6SIMJDaYwVWr/view?usp=sharing
FEN community meets virtually, November 2020
On 26 November 2020 FEN community gathered for the first online meeting in 2020.
Exactly one year passed since our previous meet-up in Italy and thus everybody was eager to share news on their recent foresight undertakings. If you wish to go through all the presentations, you will find them all in this folder. Enjoy!
Thank you all for your active participation and see you at the FFRC ‘Learning Futures – Futures of Learning’ Conference online on 8–9 June 2021.
Agenda
26th November 2020 (10 am – 1:30 pm CET)
1st Session / (60’)
- 10:00-10:05 Welcome
- 10:05-10:15 The history of FEN – Ms Cornelia DAHEIM, Future Impacts
- 10:15-10:25 Recent FEN activities – Ms Anna SACIO-SZYMAŃSKA, 4CF
- 10:25-10:30 What is next – Mr Epaminondas CHRISTOFILOPOULOS, FORTH-PRAXI
- 10:30 – 10:50 Keynote speech on the 2020 Strategic Foresight Report: charting the course towards a more resilient Europe – Mr Dimitri LORENZANI, Team Leader for Strategic Foresight, Secretariat General of the European Commission
2nd Session / (90’)
- 11:00-11:40 Talks by FEN members – part 1 (3’ each)
- Break
- 11:50-12:30 Talks by FEN members – part 2 (3’ each)
- Break
3rd Session (30’)
- 12:35-13:00 Reference scenarios for Europe – session moderated by Ms Erica BOL, Foresight Unit JRC EC
- Introduction – Mr Blaz GOLOB, GoForesight
- Discussion on drivers of change and trends across Member States via Miro Board
4th Session (30’)
- 13:00-13:30 Global outlook – invited speakers’ session moderated by Mr Ibon ZUGASTI, Prospektiker
- 13:00-13:10 Mr José Luis CORDEIRO, TMP, The Death of Death
- 13:10-13:20 Mr Jerome GLENN, TMP, COVID-19 Scenarios and Anticipatory Governance: ANI to AGI
- 13:20-13:30 Mr Héctor CASANUEVA, IELAT, A perspective on the EC Strategic Foresight Report
Wrap-up and farewell
FEN members meet in Italy, November 2019
On 26 November 2019 FEN community met in University of Pisa in conjunction with the beFORE project final conference. Together we were celebrating the release of the protoype online course in foresight and Futures Literacy and we were brainstorming about the next steps of foresight capacity building among stakeholders from academia, business and policy environments.
Agenda 26 November 2019
15:00 – 16:00 Inspiring plenary session
- Welcome and roundtable introduction
- Review of FEN priorities, activities and plans for 2020 (Anna Sacio-Szymańska – Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute for Sustainable Technologies, Poland)
- Piloting a Futures Literacy–Theatre Lab for unaccompanied asylum seeking minors (Irianna – CERTH/PRAXI, Greece);
- Using the nudge theory within the Delphi method: reducing the inconsistency in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Simone di Zio, University “G. d’Annunzio”, Chieti-Pescara, Italy)
- How to communicate and use scenarios (Sirkka Heinonen, FFRC, Finland)
16:00 – 17:00: Hot roundtables
- Roundtable 1: Foresight Europe 2034 (facilitation BlazGolob, GoForesight, Slovenia);
- Roundtable 2: Brainstoming project ideas: participants collectively identify desirable topics for potential project proposals, which would allow for staff/expertise exchange, trainings, methods & tools testing among the members of the network. (facilitation: Anna Sacio-Szymańska, L-ITEE, Poland and Stefanie Ollenburg, Free University Berlin, Germany)
- Sharing results of roundtables in plenary.
- Summary & Next steps
FEN members meet in Poland, May 2019
On 29 – 30 May 2019 Lamberton Conference Centre in Warsaw area welcomed Futures
Studies community ready to actively and wholeheartedly contribute to the Future
Engineering 2019 conference by spreading the virtue of futures thinking among the
conference audience… Meeting overview and photos here.
Agenda
29 May – Keynote session on Global Trends
- The Millennium Project: 15 Global Challenges and State of the Future report – Ibon ZUGASTI (Prospektiker)
- Sustainable Development Goals & New Emerging Technologies – Blaž GOLOB (European Blockchain HUB)
- The Future of Work – Cornelia DAHEIM (Future Impacts)
30 May – Session on Future- and Industry 4.0 readiness
- Using foresight to engineer strategic thinking for success in complex and uncertain environments – Leon D. YOUNG (Huon Strategic)
- Teaching about the Future: is this possible? – Peter BISHOP & Erica BOL (Teach the Future Foundation)
Workshops/ serious games
- 29 May – 4CF Stranger Futures “Making innovations in 2050” (by Norbert Kołos, Kacper Nosarzewski and Maciej Jagaciak; 4CF);
- 30 May – Smart Factory Actors 4.0 (by Andre Winzer, Gina Strecker and Bernhard Albert; Schaltzeit & Foresight Solutions);
- 30 May – Teach the Future (by Erica Bol & Els Dragt; TTF)
Papers/ presentations
29 May – Session on Technology and corporate foresight
- The use of foresight in designing innovation labs in organizations – the case of the Greek navy – Emmanouil KOUKIOS, Nikolaos KOURAKOS, Lazaros KARAOGLANOGLOU, Dimitrios KOULLAS (National Technical University of Athens)
- One step ahead? The use of foresight methods by the Czech non-governmental organizations – Eva Šerá KOMLOSSYOVÁ, Lucie MACKOVÁ, Martin SCHLOSSAREK, Nikola MEDOVÁ (Palacký University Olomouc)
- Agile – a new kind of conversation about the future in organisations?
Christoph KELLER (Aveniture GmbH) - Russian S&T Foresight 2030: Key issues – Yadviga RADOMIROVA, Alexander CHULOK (National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE),
- The road to prototyping an online course in futures literacy for students, academics, and entrepreneurs – Anna SACIO-SZYMAŃSKA , Anna PAJĄK (Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute for Sustainable Technologies), Stefanie OLLENBURG (Free University Berlin, Institut Futur, Germany), Anna KONONIUK (Bialystok University of Technology)
- JRC Competence Center on Foresight – Elizabeth FLORESCU (European Commission, JRC)
30 May FEN meeting and roundtable discussions
- Introduction to FEN and meeting objectives (A. Sacio-Szymanska);
- Update on collaboration with other networks (C. Daheim);
- FEN – TTF Collaboration/ Teach the Future Advocacy (E. Bol);
- Update on regional Horizon Scanning activity (E. Christofilopoulos);
- FEN STRATEGY & OPERATIONS/ facilitated by C. Daheim;
- FEN AGENCY / facilitated by E. Christofilopoulos;
- FEN – TTF collaboration / facilitated by E. Bol.
FEN members meet in Tampere, June 2018
The meeting, with 15 participants from 7 countries, focused especially on topics and projects which are ongoing or of interest within FEN. It was held in conjunction with the conference “Energizing Futures” organized by FFRC, who also acted as our hosts. Starting with presentations (on news from FEN, a project proposal on the future of global governance and news from the Millennium Project), it also featured working sessions on global governance and project proposals as well as urban futures. Furthermore, a team from FEN ran a workshop on city futures and how to work with personas in the respective processes, during the FFRC conference, building on the work by Digipolis Ghent.
The documents below feature the presentations from the meeting as well as meeting and workshop minutes.
For slides from the FEN-workshop on Working with Personas specifically in Urban Futures, by Joris Wauters, Digipolis Ghent, see here.
FEN members meet in Berlin, May 16th 2018
The meeting focussed especially on gaming and experiential foresight approaches – a set of tools, techniques and practices that have recently gained in importance in the field. Here, we have not only discussed, but also experienced a variety of these approaches in interactive working session. Also, the meeting featured presentations e.g. by Laurent Bontoux, EU JRC foresight team and Prof. Dr. Nadezhda Gaponenko, The Institute for the Study of Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as six workshops on a variety of gaming and experiential foresight approaches.
We were hosted by the futures studies programme at Freie Universität Berlin (more info here: http://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/en/v/master-zukunftsforschung/index.html), and glad to have a number of students not only joining the meeting, but also actively contributing to it with their own sessions. Overall, approx. 40 participants from various European countries took part in the meeting.
The documents below feature the presentations from the meeting as well as meeting and workshop minutes.
FEN members meet in Florence, November 9th 2017
On November 9th, approximately 30 foresight practitioners and academics from over 15 European countries met in the coworking space 91C in Florence to discuss European foresight matters and exchange experiences and perspectives. The meeting was opened with a keynote on “The methods adopted by the Tuscany Region for the development of the smart specialization strategy” delivered by Dr. Emanuele Fabbri from the Office of Tuscany Region, and an input on FEN-directions by Cornelia Daheim, Future Impacts and FEN-president.
It continued with an update on the Millennium Project (http://www.millennium-project.org) by Ibon Zugasti, and a presentation by Anna Sacio-Szymańska (Institute for Sustainable Technologies NRI and FEN-vice-president) concerning the “Becoming Future-ORiented Entrepreneurs in universities and companies” – beFORE project, a Knowledge Alliance funded by EACEA.
In addition, three workshops were held concerning:
- Future of Cities & Regions (chaired by Martine Delannoy from Digipolis)
- Foresight Capacity-Building (chaired by Anna Sacio-Szymańska, ITeE-PIB)
- Global Challenges, Global Governance (chaired Norbert Kołos, 4CF).
The next FEN meeting will be held on the day before or the day after the FFRC Futures conference 2018 in Tampere (the conference is on 13th and 14th of June 2018), see https://futuresconference2018.wordpress.com .
The documents below feature the presentations from the meeting as well as meeting and workshop minutes.
FEN members meet in Turku, 13-14 June 2017
In June 2017, the FEN members met in Turku on 13 and 14th of June, in conjunction with the international futures research conference organised by FFRC. About 40 foresight experts discussed new developments in their foresight work, and presentations featured topics from the emerging bioceconomy, a new foresight platform tool, to futures studies in Mexico and the Czech Republic. The meeting centred on key strategic directions for FEN that will focus our next activities:
- The Future of Work
- Creating the Future with the Younger Generation
- Foresight Capacity Building
- Future of Cities
The next FEN meeting will be held in November 2017 in Florence. In Turku, in addition to the FEN meeting, several FEN members also conducted an interactive workshop on „Future of Work – European perspectives“, presenting and discussing developments in trends shaping the future of work in Finland, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic and Germany. The documents below feature the presentations from the Turku meeting as well as meeting and workshop minutes:
FEN members meet in Ljubljana
Autumn 2016 FEN meeting was held in Ljubljana after following Ljubljana forum on Future of Cities. Nodes presented their activities and different projects, followed by election of Vice President FEN 2017-2018. Anna Sacio-Szymańska was elected as Vice President FEN for the 2017 -2018 According to the FEN policy From 1st of January 2017 Cornelia Daheim will become the President of FEN and Blaž Golob Vice President for the time period of 2017-2018.
FEN members meet in Starachowice
On September 29th and 30th, Europa hotel hosted 3rd 2016 Future Engineering conference, which brought together science and business representatives ready to speak about common projects in the broad theme of manufacturing technologies. This year’s edition was exceptional as it broadened the scope of the conference towards foresight through the international Foresight Europe Network (FEN) featured session on the interdependencies between foresight and innovation management. Please find the conference summary below.
FEN members meet San Sebastian
Nodes presented and evaluated their past activities and projects. Since FEN network receives expressions of interest of many different organisations to join the network, current FEN participants agreed that network is open for all members who are active in European foresight. Future collaboration activities and potential project opportunities were defined as well. In 2016, FEN network will be active in European foresight events: TURKU conference in Finland, Zagreb Forum in May in Croatia, Future of Engineering conference in September in Poland, and Ljubljana Forum on Future of cities in October in Slovenia. Meeting participants set the goals for 2016 to provide a concept and curriculum for Foresight training course and the concept of the future of cities.
In the photography: FEN Members from Italy, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Finland, France, Croatia.
FEN members meet in Zagreb
Nodes presented their activities and projects and evaluated current Millennium project challenges. The opportunities for strengthened cooperation among the network members were agreed in connection to the EU calls potentially relevant for FEN. FEN members discussed the challenge of providing FEN with a toolkit for Foresight capacity building and leadership in various levels in partnership with different partners. The plan of activities for the upcoming period was prepared regarding the FEN communication and strengthening FEN European identity by following the vision of FEN ‘’Foresight for better Europe’’ and with concrete projects, foresight capacity building, and items of European interest such as the future of cities. FEN members agreed that the next meeting will take place in San Sebastian, Spain, March 15-16, 2016, alongside the future of cities event with Latin America City mayors.
FEN members meet in Turku, Finland
The second FEN meeting was held in Turku, Finland, 12-13 June 2015. The FEN governing board members presented the FEN vision and mission ”Foresight for Better Europe”, the objectives and goals of FEN as defined in Paris UNESCO meeting. Participants reviewed the new knowledge sharing platform www.feneu.org and agreed that it represents great improvement and lever for public visibility. The FEN strategy was discussed further on with key future development plans and projects.
For the very first time the delegation of the City of Belgrade joined the FEN which demonstrates the leadership of our network in the smart city development in the region. Therefore, the next FEN meeting will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, connected to Ljubljana Forum smart city development event.
New joint initiative Foresight Europe Network (FEN) established
ERFC-EUMPI members gathered at the Anticipatory Governance Workshop at UNESCO, Paris, 24th of October 2014 to renew its vision and mission and establish objectives for the next period.
During 2012-2014, the ERFC-EUMPI Network has been working on a program called Foresight 2.0., in order to initiate the search of innovative and creative components in a new generation of foresight. Three reviews of field experiences have been organised in San Sebastian (Spain) about the Gipuzkoa experience, in Genval (Belgium) about the foresight experience of Wallonia, and in Ljubljana (Slovenia) about the foresight in the Danube region. The outcomes of these field studies were published in a book Regional Foresight 2.0 experiences that was launched during the Warsaw meeting in 2013, and can also be downloaded from the ERFC website :
http://www.foresight-college.eu/spip.php?article83.
The members of the network established new Mission and Vision statements for the new Foresight Europe Network (FEN), together with the working and research priorities for the next period.
The founding president of the network is Blaz Golob for the 2015-2016 period. The Vice presidents are Cornelia Daheim and Ibon Zugasti.