The Knowledge of our Civilization in 2040

The Knowledge of our Civilization in 2040 — a foresight workshop hosted by the Foresight Team of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI — will take place on 20–21 November 2025 at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

At the heart of the workshop lies the open question of how future civilizations might define, create, harness, value, share, embed and apply knowledge. Our aim is to explore both conceivable and desirable alternative futures for the knowledge of our civilization in Europe by the year 2040.

To foster thought-provoking discussions on future knowledge systems, the workshop will bring together diverse perspectives from across Europe and a wide range of disciplines — including science and technology studies, history of knowledge, neuroscience and cognitive sciences, science communication, pedagogy and educational sciences, sociology of knowledge, logic, data science, social psychology, philosophy of knowledge, as well as art, wisdom traditions, and spirituality.

We invite you to join us for this forward-looking workshop, where we will delve into the evolving landscape of knowledge in our civilization. Together, we will examine the transformative forces reshaping how we understand and engage with the world — from groundbreaking technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and brain-machine interfaces, to the emergence of alternative epistemologies and the growing recognition of indigenous and other non-Western knowledge systems. We will also address pressing challenges such as the spread of misinformation and the erosion of trust in science, while exploring the potential of participatory approaches like citizen science and open science. Through collaborative dialogue and innovative foresight methods, we will co-develop a set of propositions that shed light on possible futures of knowledge.

The workshop thus follows a reflective and exploratory approach, combining cross-disciplinary exchange, structured dialogue, clustering exercises, and disruptive stimuli to encourage participants to imagine and investigate knowledge systems beyond current paradigms and assumptions.