Future Forward is a 20-lesson program to support (young) people in their exploration of the future.

Futures literacy

In our ever-changing world, parents, caregivers, teachers, and educators are faced with the challenge of preparing children for a future that is difficult to predict.

How can we equip ourselves and younger generations with the necessary tools and skills to navigate the unknown? This is where futures literacy comes into play. While no-one can truly predict the future, by integrating future thinking into education, we acquire the tools to anticipate and navigate the complexities of an uncertain world, fostering innovation, adaptability, and resilience, in line with the goals of the European Year of Skills (May 2023 – May 2024).

Future Forward, a 20-lesson program offers a unique opportunity for parents, teachers, and anyone curious about the exploration of the future. This crash course into foresight provides insights into future thinking, anticipation and foresight, opening doors to a better informed and imaginative future.

The Topics

The lessons resolve around 5 topics:

• Perception of time; How we perceive time is connected to how we understand the future. Explore your perception of time and the future from multiple perspectives to help develop your futures literacy.

• Futures mindset; Learn to see the world as a futurist! By challenging assumptions, developing a critical gaze, and understanding the interconnectedness of the world, you can imagine possible and preferable futures.

• Multiple futures; There is no single future, but a landscape of constantly emerging and evolving possibilities. Contemplate a plurality of scenarios and visions for some of this century’s most pressing issues.

• Investing in imaginations; How do we begin to imagine more than one viable future? When we open our imaginations, the possibilities become endless. We each have the capacity to explore, shape and imagine alternative futures.

• Taking action; Imagine your ideal world 20 years in the future. What does it look like? How can you achieve it? Learn how you can take an active role in creating a better and more positive tomorrow.

UNESCO champions a capability-based approach to using-the-future. Futures Literacy empowers the innate human capacity to imagine, it is a skill that everyone can develop. In becoming futures literate we enhance our agency, developing our abilities to identify novelty, prepare, adapt and invent as changes occur in the complex world we live in. More reading UNESCO

Enjoy your classes at Future Forward!

Co-Curation

Future Forward is a co-development of the European Commission and TED-Ed and has been designed in co-creation with our co-curators from the foresight field.

Theme 1: Perception of Time in co-curation with the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) by Jennifer Gidley

WFSF is a UNESCO and UN consultative partner and global NGO with members in over 60 countries, bringing together academics, researchers, practitioners, students and institutions. WFSF offers a global forum for stimulation, exploration and exchange of ideas, visions, and plans for alternative futures, through long-term, big-picture thinking and radical change.

Jennifer Gidley is the Former President of WFSF (2009-2017). She is Adjunct Professor, UTS Sydney, a leading international scholar on human-centred futures, and author of The Future: VSI (Oxford).

Theme 2: Futures Mindset in co-curation with Teach the Future (TTF) by Lourdes Rodríguez

The Teach the Future community is dedicated to bring futures thinking to schools, educators, and students around the world. By teaching the future you can equip young people to face uncertainty and help them envision and create their preferred future.

Lourdes Rodríguez is global hubs director at Teach the Future. She is a senior foresight consultant, specialized in trends analysis. Recognized as one of the top futurists in Spain by Forbes.

Theme 3: Multiple Futures in co-curation with Next Generation Foresight Practitioners (NGFP) by Ollie Bream McIntosh

NGFP’s mission is to identify, accelerate, amplify, and connect a Global South-anchored network of emerging next-generation foresight practitioners to leverage power for transformation.

Ollie Bream McIntosh is a researcher and designer specialized in sustainable futures. Formerly a director of several social enterprises, including design studio Social Systems Lab, and an Associate at the University of Nottingham, where he led the design and delivery of an award-winning course in Futures Studies. Ollie now leads the development of new transdisciplinary research ecosystems on the theme of social transformation at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Theme 4: Imagine Futures in co-curation with Association of Professional Futurists (APF) by Stuart Candy

APF’s mission is to advance the practice of professional foresight by fostering a dynamic, global, diverse, and collaborative community of professional futurists and those committed to futures thinking who expand the understanding, use, and impact of foresight in service to their stakeholders and the world.

Stuart Candy, PhD is Director of Situation Lab and Associate Professor of Social Foresight at Parsons School of Design in New York, and Advisor to NASA JPL in Los Angeles. His publications include the edited collection Design and Futures, creativity game The Thing From The Future, and public imagination toolkit The Futures Bazaar, winner of the APF’s inaugural award for Inclusive Foresight.

Theme 5: Taking Action in co-curation with UN Global Pulse Finland foresight specialists Tiina Neuvonen, Lucia Soriano Irigaray & Claudia Sáenz Zulueta

UN Global Pulse is the Secretary-General’s Innovation Lab. They work at the intersection of innovation and the human sciences to strengthen the ability of the United Nations and those it serves to respond and adapt to challenges, and anticipate them in future.

Tiina Neuvonen is the Strategic Foresight Lead at UN Global Pulse Finland. She works at the intersection of social sciences, development and innovation. Formerly, she worked on UNESCO’s innovation portfolio, and has a background in strategy consulting and service design.

Lucía Soriano Irigaray is a Strategic Foresight Analyst at UN Global Pulse Finland, and focuses on policy innovation. She has a background working on public affairs, international relations and climate change.

Claudia Saénz Zulueta is a Strategic Foresight Senior Analyst at UN Global Pulse Finland, specializing in participatory futures and anticipatory strategy. She is driving social impact and innovation and her goal is to empower individuals to shape inclusive and transformative visions of their futures.

Design and development by Erica Bol, Co-editor, Maciej Krzysztofowicz, Tanja Schindler (external). Policy Lab, Joint Research Center, European Commission

Outputs

4Growth project - Understanding the Market to Forecast Future Growth

Reference Foresight Scenarios: Scenarios on the global standing of the EU in 2040

Reference Foresight Scenarios.pdf

ANTICIPINNOV: Anticipation and monitoring of emerging technologies and disruptive innovation

Everybody is looking into the future! A literature review of reports on emerging technologies and disruptive innovation.pdf

Scanning deep tech horizons_Participatory Collection and Assessment of Signals and Trends.pdf

Technology foresight for public funding of innovation.pdf

Identifying future critical technologies for space, defence and related civil industries

Identifying future critical technologies for space, defence and related civil industries.pdf

Harvesting change: Harnessing emerging technologies and innovations for agrifood system transformation

Eye of Europe - The Research and Innovation foresight community

RESCHAPE - Reshaping Supply Chains for a positive social impact

Long-Term Implications of the Digital Transition for Farmers and Rural Communities

ESPAS Horizon Scanning

Futures Consciousness Scale

The Five Dimensions of Futures Consciousness.pdf

How will we disgust our descendants?

Chem4EU Foresight for chemicals

Futures Garden

FORGING - Industry-Academia Forum to uncover the potential of emerging enabling technologies

Futures of civic resilience in Europe

FoD_Policy Brief_Civic Resilience.pdf

FORPOL

Actualization of Czech republic 2030 strategy

Foresight for Social Innovation

EUARENAS

Futures of Big Tech

FEDORA

Future-Oriented Science Education manifesto_October_2022.pdf

Futures of innovation and IP regulation

Futures of innovation and intellectual property regulation_EU publication.pdf

Futures of Green Skills and Jobs in Europe 2050

Futures of Green Skills and Jobs in Europe in 2050_Scenario and Policy Implications.pdf

Global Futures of Climate (Online Course)

i-Portunus Houses – Kick-Start a Local Mobility Host Network for Artists & Cultural Professionals in AllCreative Europe Countries

IPH_V1_Conceptual framework of mobility in culture.pdf

IPH_V2_Study on mobility in culture.pdf

IPH_V3_Evaluation of the i-Portunus Houses Grant Scheme.pdf

IPH_V4_Scenario for the future of mobility in culture.pdf

Smart Futures Tunisia – Exploring the digital skills of tomorrow (a foresight journey into the year 2035)

Smart Futures Tunisia_Exploring the Digital Skills of Tomorrow.pdf

The Prospects of Institutionalizing the Values of Openness and Mutual Responsiveness in Science and Democracy

OrganicTargets4EU

Foresight for Intergenerational Decision-Making: Empowering Youth to Shape the Future

MUSAE

FORGING - Industry-Academia Forum to uncover the potential of emerging enabling technologies

GovTech Connect

Road-STEAMer

Futures of interpenetration of criminal and lawful economic activities

Futures of the interpenetration of criminal and lawful economic activities in the EU.pdf

Future Forward

Futures of Science for Policy in Europe

Futures of Science for Policy in Europe_Scenarios and policy implications.pdf

Futures of using nature in rural and marine contexts in Europe

Futures of using nature in rural and marine Europe in 2050.pdf

Deep Dive: Social Confrontations

Futures of Social Confrontations and Effects on European Democracies 2040.pdf

Travelling into the [future]

The Millennium Project

Rapid Exploration: General AI

Artificial General Intelligence_Issues and Opportunities_Rapid exploration.pdf

Rapid Exploration: Rising Social Confrontations And Their Implications For Transitions

Rapid Exploration: The Future of Health Between New Threats And New Opportunities

Rapid Exploration: The Interpenetration of Criminal and Lawful Economic Activity

The interpenetration of criminal and lawful economic activities_Rapid exploration.pdf

Deep Dive: Transhumanist Revolutions

Transhumanist revolutions deep dive.pdf

Deep Dive: The Hydrogen Economy: a radical Alternative

Hydrogen Economy. A Radical Alternative_Final Report.pdf

Hydrogen Economy in Europe 2040_Documentation of the Scenario Process.pdf

Assessment of the raw scenarios_3rd workshop.pdf

Building of future projections_2nd workshop.pdf

Selection of key factors_1st workshop.pdf

Hydrogen Economy in Europe 2040_Key Factor Catalogue.pdf

Deep Dive: The emergence of global commons: A new opportunity for science, business, and governance

Deep Dive Global Commons_Final report.pdf

Deep Dive: Geopolitical Reconfiguration: The EU in a volatile new World: the challenge of global leadership

The EU in a volatile new World-the challenge of global leadership_Report.pdf

Deep Dive: Climate & Geo-Engineering