Mission & Science

MissionScience

Future is a question of perspective

My services help to identify realistic and successful perspectives in the confusing jungle of news and trends.

As a digital native, I see myself as a link between Generation Y and the current power elite in business and politics. As a generalist, I am able to think my way quickly into any topic, any industry, any individual context. As a probabilist, I weigh shrill trends against the realistic status quo.

I pursue three goals with my appointment:

  • Education
  • Systems thinking
  • Encourage

Few people have the opportunity to spend the whole day dealing with science and trends and their impact on the way we live together. This privilege is reserved for future researchers like me. We accumulate mountains of information and see connections that are important for so many people, institutions and companies. My contributions should help as many people as possible to obtain and apply the information relevant to them.

The future is not predictable, but can be shaped. In order to break out of the routine cycle, critical impulses from outside are always needed; thinking out of the box can only succeed if you think in systems. As an outsider, from a bird’s-eye view, elements of your behavior or strategy that fit more or less well into a holistic view of the future always catch my eye. What is important to me is an open, progressive discourse on future issues.

In view of the permanent pressure for change in society and within organizations, many people tend to be resigned. Driven by the attention economy and permanent, almost apocalyptic media reports, the impression can arise that the world is on the verge of ending. The opposite is the case! But for our planet and our society to remain worth living for all of us, a little more than blind (technical) optimism is required. My contributions bubble with energy and anticipation of the positive aspects of the future – I transfer this view to my audience in a motivating way. Of course we have to leave our comfort zone from time to time, but the different starting conditions should never be used as an excuse. For example, the most famous scientist of our epoch was confined to a wheelchair by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most influential climate activist of our time is still in school, and the most inspiring human and women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner for me comes from a crisis-ridden, then Taliban-controlled valley in Pakistan. The list can be expanded at will – why do we worry rather than act?

What is Futures Research?

Future research is the value-free analysis of possible and probable futures using scientific methods and the derivation of design options.

What is Futures Research?

Why Futures Research?

Individual organizations or disciplines are always caught within their own boundaries; futurology combines cross-system and interdisciplinary findings.

Why Futures Research?

Methods of Futures Research

We cannot predict the future, but we can recognize cause-and-effect relationships and anticipate likely projections of the past. The toolbox of futurology helps to do this.

Methods of Futures Research