The year 2022, in retrospect, was a year filled with interesting projects and many milestones for us. While the following summary is not exhaustive of our work, we would like to highlight some key projects from this past year.
One of this year’s biggest achievements is a project for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA). We have supported the EMCDDA for a while now in setting up and implementing their foresight process. By now, EMCDDA has published a toolkit for foresight in the drugs field, featuring a set of trend cards and an approach for running a respective trend workshop, available here. A team from Future Impacts has also realised a workshop on scenarios for and with EMCDDA at the Lisbon addictions conference, see here.
Another key highlight of the year was the opportunity to contribute to a world-building exercise in a writer’s room for a feminist science fiction series. The aim was to provide expert opinions on the possibility and plausibility of future imaginations. This is something we have wanted to do for a long time and enjoyed immensely (if you are aware of more opportunities like this, please send them our way).
Moreover, we have supported the R&I Unit of the International Standardization Organization (ISO) in conceptualising and realising their foresight process. Now, ISO has published information on the approach, the “Standardisation Foresight Framework”, as well as a trend report, see here.
Also, for the European Union information agency for occupational safety and health (EU-OSHA), we realised the first phase of the organisation’s scenario exercise on the circular economy and its effects on occupational safety and health. While phase 2, focusing on micro-scenarios and engagement of stakeholders, is ongoing, the report from phase 1 and various other outputs, such as policy briefs, are available here.
In addition, Future Impacts co-authored a paper on the twin transition for and with the non-profit Co:Lab and Bertelsmann Stiftung. It covers the process and insights from a working group “digitally sustainable / sustainably digital”, reflecting on the intersection of digitalisation, new work forms and sustainability. Unfortunately, the paper is available in German only so far, here.
Furthermore, Cornelia Daheim, founder and director of Future Impacts, has contributed as an advising expert to a process by the European Commission Joint Research Centre on “the Future of Customs” – the results including scenarios are now published, see here.
Lastly, Cornelia Daheim, founder and director of Future Impacts, is contributing as the chair to an ongoing process, a Mutual Learning Exercise on R&I Foresight. It is led by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (R&I), bringing together several European countries as well as experts. The aim is to facilitate the exchange of information, experiences and lessons learnt in the practice of R&I foresight across the EU and Associated Countries, and to contribute to the development of an impactful R&I foresight community as an important element of the European Research Area. The results will be shared throughout the project and a first overview is available here.
These highlights (in shorter form) are also published in the Foresight Signals Newsletter “The Futurist Year in a Review”, here.