Through this webinar, we’ll help you to dive into the future headfirst.
It’s said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, and this session will introduce you to four tools to do exactly that. Whether you’re developing a new product, service, program, or policy, we’ll work on ways you can build it better, faster. You’ll learn to create four future things: a map, a story, an object, and a plan.
- Mapping the Futures Space is a way of describing how we imagine possible futures. When we talk about the future, we try to project (not predict) the future. There are different methods of forming projections of the future that we will look at, such as the Future Cone.
- Building Future Worlds involves creating the narrative context for whatever your desired future is. It’s a technique often used in Science Fiction, which gives a story about a particular future more depth and meaning, and explores how the future might evolve, creating strategies and a shared vision.
- Designing Future Artifacts means making things that populate the future scenario you have devised. It’s a technique used by speculative designers and can help add a layer of detail to your future. By building and designing an artifact, it can also help you make decisions that may open up new ideas and possibilities by applying a more hands-on approach.
- Backcasting guides a plan of action in order to get to your desired future, by working backwards in steps to the present day from the future scenario you created.
There are many more methods and tools out there. We have selected these to get started and to give you a good base to build on. Then you’ll be ready to take off and incorporate other tools and methodologies that add more richness to your worlds.
Take-aways:
- An understanding of why it’s important to build better futures faster
- Practical innovation tools that will help you to develop new products, services, programs, or policies
- Insight into the tools and how to use them successfully
Mark researches science-based technologies, aka Deep Tech, ranging from synthetic biology to quantum computing, to help companies develop and deploy them. Over 20 years and across 40 countries, he has worked as a management consultant, technology analyst, lab researcher, and entrepreneur at Accenture, Forrester Research, UCSF, Lux Research, and several startups. He has served as chairman of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce and guest lectures at the University of California Berkeley. Mark brings together his background covering artificial intelligence and works with clients in artistic, engineering, and innovative industries. He curates and co-develops AI-based systems for creating humor, visual and musical arts, and human-machine co-innovation.
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