News

The Future of China’s Economy – The Path to 2020

A Survey and Report by Global Futures and Foresight (GFF) and Fast Future  more

A Brief History of the Future

by Oona Strathern  more

Picture Gallery

Pictures of the speakers, audience and overall impressions.  more

Audio Stream and Slides

The speeches of the 2nd EUROPEAN FUTURISTS CONFERENCE LUCERNE are available as audio stream and the slides are ready for download.  more

Future of Social Networks

Blogging and advertising is excellent, as a tool, but to combine these skills with a spirit of community and be available for random connection is by far the most powerful way of using the Internet, says Penny Power, founder of the business network Ecademy. Corporates should not view the internet as a one way street, it must go both ways, Penny is convienced. Nothing can be achieved without first giving connections and sharing your knowledge with others. For the future, Penny would like all the networks to agree a Single User Name and Password.  more

The world’s priorities for tomorrow

If history tells us anything it is that we actually solve more problems than we create, says Bjorn Lomborg, initiator of the Copenhagen Consensus Process. One of the most influential global leaders (according to Time Magazine) has become famous as “Sceptical Environmentalist”. Climate change is one of the big issues, but there are more important ones, but they are not as sexy as the climate, argues Lomborg.  more

How much technology are people willing to take in the future?

How can technology not dominate but enable and improve people’s lives? How can it be part of the solution and not part of the problem? That’s the lead question leading Philips’ innovations strategy. Josephine Green, Director of Trends & Strategy at Philips Design, explains, how Philips has moved from being a technology led company to a people focused company. Because Philips got aware, that technology focused innovation can diminish as much as enhance peoples lives.  more

Opening up the Innovation Process – The example of BBC New Media

As media audiences move to services distributed over IP networks, the barriers to entry for new competitors is reduced to almost zero. Existing media companies have two strategic options – try to artificially protect their existing role in the value chain, or embrace the fluidity of these networks and ‘atomize’ their content, enabling users to remix and recontextualise it in the way they want to, says Matt Locke, Head of Innovation of BBC New Media. BBC chose the second and launched Open Innovations projects. BBC beliefs that it has a much better chance of spotting disruptive innovation, and a better chance of embracing it within its own organisation.  more

Dangerous ideas and the evolution of Meme Machines

Why has a dangerous version of Islam evolved over the past few years? Scientist Susan Blackmore argues that humans are not in control of memes (which are an equivalent of genes in the world of ideas or stories). Islamic extremism is such a meme, which has been copied by a process of imitation. The study of memes helps us to understand how and why new copying machinery, such as the internet, co-evolves with the memes it propagates without regard for its effect on human beings.  more

Swiss Re Risk talk on Artificial Intelligence

Prof. Kevin Warwick at Risk Talk in Rüschlikon, Switzerland.   more

Thought communication and better humans through implants

Linking human brains with computers opens up possibilities of extra senses, improved memory, multidimensional thought and a whole new way to communicate – mind reading, says Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading. Next to short term therapeutic possibilities in overcoming deafness, blindness or counteract illnesses like Parkinson’s disease, the brain-computer connection will have tremendous economical impact.   more

Social events CAN be predicted

Social events don’t just “happen”; there is a structure and pattern to the unfolding of collective human social phenomena. As a mathematician, Professor John L. Casti believes these patterns can be identified, understood, and used to give insight into what might happen next. The best sociometer to measure social moods which turn into social events are financial market averages. John L. Casti is keynote speaker at the 2nd European Futurists Conference Lucerne.  more

India, Malaysia and China will be the growth stars in GDP by 2020

According to a unique foresight tool of Deutsche Bank Research, by 2020 the four largest economies will be the USA, China, India and Japan when using purchasing power parity exchanges rates to convert GDP data into a common currency. The growth stars will be in Asia: India, Malaysia and China are all set to see GDP growth of more than 5% per annum until 2020. Head of this study was Dr. Stefan Bergheim, who is keynote speaker at the 2nd European Futurists Conference Lucerne.  more

Social and economical impact of Web 2.0 will be enormous

Web 2.0 is developing such economical and social impact that nobody can afford to ignore this ‘movement’ – regardless of the all the hype. It is enabling new business models, in particular for small or even very small enterprises, predicts Dr. Walter Hehl and IBM’s Global Outlook 2006. Another trend: Event-driven systems will detect patterns in order to take the appropriate actions. Walter Hehl is keynote speaker at the 2nd European Futurists Conference Lucerne. Read more  more

Focus of the European Futurists Conference 2006

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Future Seminars

Seize the opportunity: create your own seminar under the roof of the European Futurists Conference Lucerne 2006!  more

Josephine Green and Dr. Enric Bas new members of Advisory Board

Josephine Green, Philips Design and Dr. Enric Bas, University of Alicante are designated to be elected as new members of the Advisory Board  more

Futurists see opportunities in an ageing society

Europe's leading futurists and futures experts gathered for the first time in Lucerne for a symposium. At the European Futurists Conference Lucerne, 200 participants from 19 countries discussed new methods of perceiving and seizing the future as well as new findings in futures studies.   more