Explore Future

New perspective on population growth

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:58:40 +0000

Once again Hans Rosling gives us new perspectives on Global Population Growth. It is so elegant and easy to understand and he presents it with such an enthusiasm. Rosling takes us from year 1960, through year 2010 to year 2050 and shows how the population will grow and how prosperity will change. This is a 10 minutes video recorded at TED@CANNES.

You may also like this animation of Global Population Growth from ages back until today.

Is design becoming the ultimate thing?

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:00:33 +0000

Futurists have for quite some time been discussing if design will be the only and ultimate thing. Introducing the personal factory, Mr Eric Drexler (Nanorex) envisioned a future where every one of us owns a molecular factory. Back in the 80´s designers started using 3D printing to make prototypes. This technology has also developed masterly, and today you may print fully functional products directly out of a 3D design file. The picture on this page shows how Stratasys made this engine with propellers. Although this is a prototype, it shows how large a product you can make. You may also have a look at this video showing Stratasys FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) Process.

Exponential growth

Helge Hasvold — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:03:19 +0000

The more I work with future studies, the more aware I become of the impact of exponential growth. Have a look at this video clip from YouTube. It gives you an idea of what we are talking about. For the first time ever, we have reached this point of development were things really speed up. To understand exponential development is probably the most important thing we do today. Research show that our intuition is linear which makes it difficult for us to “feel” exponential development. In other words; we have to actively correct our impression of development by use of intellect. In this case; do not follow your hart, follow your brain. Chris Martinson does also address this topic in his Crash Course chapter 3, which I highly recommend. Helge Hasvold

Indications of a paradigm shift

Helge Hasvold — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:47:52 +0000

My good friend and fellow futurist, Bjorn Brunstad has been working on future studies, searching for paradigm shifts lately. He generously shared these indicators of a paradigm shift with me.

Prior to a paradigm shift we will observe the following:

Vested interests protect existing paradigm and deter challenging concepts
Some of the activities that prolong the existing, become absurd
Risk taking entrepreneurs and new technologies enable new solutions
Actors suffering from existing paradigm support new regime
Parent mindset about the new paradigm is not generally understood, and the new is often valued based on old measures

Just prior, or within a paradigm shift we will observe the following:

Solutions supporting the old paradigm create and prolong serious problems and the number of protests increases
The resource base for the old paradigm weakens
Important actors leave the old paradigm

and then…

The new reaches a tipping-point of learning-, scale- and networking effects
Major actors decide to support the new paradigm
Solutions are created, based on their own premises

Now, go ahead and see if you can locate upcoming paradigm shifts

NRK strategy towards 2025

Helge Hasvold — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:32:11 +0000

The Norwegian Boardcasting Coporation is doing a scenario based strategy process facilitated by Foresight Norge AS. The timehorizon is year 2025, and it is the beginning of a continuous strategy process making use of foresight tools. For more information; contact Helge Hasvold.

The Future of Economy, Energy and Environment

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:54:29 +0000

Not often, but sometimes you stumble over articles or videos that really add value. This time I was overwhelmed. For several years now, I’ve been working on issues related to economy, energy and environment. Then I stumbled over Chris Martenson on YouTube. You should not miss it for the world.

Chris gives us an overview of the major issues concerning economic growth, the money system, energy consumption, resources and environmental consequences. Seldom you find people with such insight and ability to present complex content in an easy manner without oversimplifying it. Highly recommended

Escapism: are we increasingly escaping from reality?

Helge Hasvold — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:16:00 +0000

The word escapism has become more and more relevant in our foresight studies. Escapism tells us about how people increasingly escape from the real world. It could be through any media; books, films, role plays… and new technologies enable us to hide faster and deeper. Gaming has become a dominant part of life for many youngsters and so has gambling, pornography and drugs for others. In a troublesome world we hide from what hurts and seek instant satisfaction. As the speed of change increases, adversity becomes more frequent. And the speed of change increases exponentially. Publishing companies adjust their products to it. People want entertainment, reality shows, action, virtual worlds and so forth.

As counter forces we observe more focus on “the meaning of life”, mindfullness, presence, simple living, yoga etc.

Schibsted: Next Generation Newspaper

Helge Hasvold — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:00:57 +0000

Schibsted is a Scandinavian media group that aims to become the most attractive media company in Europe. They have around 9 000 employees and operations in 22 countries. Currently they have a presence in the newspaper, TV, film, online, mobile-phone, book and magazine media. The turnover in 2007 was NOK 13.6 billion.

The newspaper industry has experienced a dramatic return in revenue lately. The question often asked is; is there room for newspapers in the future, or are we moving into a new area with new digital medias only?

Together with ECON Pöyry, we were hired to facilitate a scenario process for the Next Generation Newspaper project. A large number of top level managers in Norway and Sweden were interviewed to extract the common knowledge of the group. Thereafter we facilitated scenario workshops in both Oslo and Stockholm in order to structure the information and create future scenarios.

Akershus Fylkeskommune signes agreement

Helge Hasvold — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:23:53 +0000

Akershus Fylkeskommune assignes Foresight Norge AS to facilitate a foresight process exploring the future of the Akershus region and the Capital city towards 2050. Eirikur Ingolfsson and Helge Hasvold will run the project.

PTL AS and Foresight Norge AS renew agreement

Helge Hasvold — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:18:09 +0000

The consultancy company PTL AS renewed their contract with Foresight Norge AS and senior consultant Eiríkur Ingólfsson becomes now a part of the collegium in Foresight Norge. Eiríkur is working with foresight processes both in Norway and Island. As part of the new agreement, PTL AS and Foresight Norge AS share offices at Værste in the city of Fredrikstad. For more information – please contact Helge Hasvold (+47 91603444) or Eiríkur Ingólfsson (+47 9956 5569)