In this article, the focus is on exploring and shaping the future of Germany through innovative approaches in foresight, anticipation, and futures thinking. The address delves into contrasting methodologies: the analytical, trend-based approach and the visionary, aspirational perspective. It emphasizes the importance of overcoming biases and negative perceptions to envision positive, hopeful futures. Reflecting on Germany's historical and cultural legacy, it urges a revival of bold, creative thinking, advocating for leadership in technological, democratic, and social innovation. It highlights the need for empathy, inclusivity, and narratives that unite society, drawing on personal experiences to underscore Germany's role in global issues. It concludes with a call to action for collective, forward-thinking to address global challenges, aiming to inspire a future that is inclusive, sustainable, and reflective of shared dreams and aspirations.

Futures Thinking is like learning how to dance to unknown music. Instead of being paralysed, a Futures Mindset gives us the skills of how to find a new rhythm until we are comfortable with a considerable amount of uncertainty and yet capable of making future-oriented decisions. In this blog article, I will talk about how we all need to learn how to dance with change and how a crisis can be excellent training for our brains to look for new opportunities instead of solely focusing on the threat. Once we found our rhythm, we can use maps of the future as additional guidance to find our own pathways into the future. In the end, the future is our dance partner, and it is on us to decide who will lead. So shall we dance?

In this article we look at the concept of Participatory Futures, its definition and a novel progressive approach where we combine the power of collective human creativity with AI to imagine diverse futures narratives. Explore how this inclusive approach democratizes Futures Thinking, fosters innovation and offers new opportunities by offering a fresh perspective on shaping collaborative and diverse futures. This synthesis can redefine decision-making processes and shape more vibrant futures for everyone. 

Explore the essential role of a Futurist in Residence for modern organizations. In a rapidly evolving business landscape, discover how futurists provide clarity, drive innovation, and shape preferable futures, ensuring companies remain adaptable and forward-thinking in their strategies.

In times of General AI and Chat GPT, we may soon be redundant. There is a machine that can explore trends and analyse patterns, write scenarios and even create the visuals or futures image in less than two seconds. So what can we do better than most machines? I think it's about asking the right questions….

The Integral Futures concept describes an approach where we not only uncover the system = external world we live and its social, technological, environmental, and political drivers of change but we also analyze our behavior and underlying mental models.

Today, we want to dig a bit deeper and analyze worldviews and metaphors, where most of our biases and mental models are rooted. Understanding different worldviews is important as a wide range of futures thinking is influenced by our cultural, cognitive and social backgrounds. In order to understand pictures of the futures, we need to understand where our current knowledge is based on. Therefore, the analysis of our current worldviews and underlying metaphors is indispensable.

Today this sentence sounds ridiculous, especially as smartphones are already replacing computers. We are carrying more intelligence capacity in our pockets than during the time humans flew to the moon for the very first time. But where are those assumptions based on and why are we sometimes so wrong? How do we know what may come true or not and where do we build our decisions on?