At Futures Platform, we strive to make foresight work accessible, effortless and engaging for teams. To better accommodate the heterogeneity of teams and enhance the efficiency of teamwork, we’ve made Futures Platform’s Lounge even more personalised and compact.

From data modelling to science-fiction prototyping, futures intelligence utilises a wide range of methodologies, each fit for different purposes. In our webinar, Futures Platform’s Content Director Dr Tuomo Kuosa discusses the four different types of Futures Intelligence, their use cases and the methods to obtain them.

From ageing populations and circular economy to the emergence of new payment methods, tax offices worldwide face multiple disruptive changes re-shaping their future operational environments. The Finnish Tax Administration has successfully integrated continuous foresight practice into its processes to better serve its clients.

When there are no historical analogies to look back to, scenario planning can help us better understand and plan for a multitude of possible futures. In addition to enhancing efficiency, an established scenario planning process will empower organisations to proactively shape the future through strategic decision-making.

Horizon scanning is the phase of gathering future-related knowledge, which is the first stage of the larger foresight process. It is about being vigilant concerning the changes in one’s environment. The main focus in this category of Futures intelligence is on discontinuities, emerging issues, and weak signals of change.

Scenarios help to expand the time horizon, aid in looking beyond the usual extrapolations and improve thinking about the potential unexpected developments. Being descriptions of possible, probable or preferable futures, they help organisations prepare for various contingencies and plan accordingly.

Much of what we can know about the future at the present moment is based on the directions and interactions of megatrends, trends and change drivers.

Futures intelligence is a key component of all successful decision making, strategy work or innovation. It provides its users with analytical knowledge about future changes, trends and their potential impacts. This is the first part of our Futures Intelligence blog series.

What is the right time to go to an emerging market? If you are too early, the markets are not ready, and you end up losing time and money. If you are late, someone else will grasp the lion´s share of the growing market, and you end up to be just a follower. Hence, how to know when the trend is real and the market is ready?

Futures and foresight-oriented discussions have a tendency to focus on specific industries. Having an in-depth understanding of key trends and directions within one’s industry is a must, however, a too heavy focus on industry-specific approaches can also be limiting.

Compared to one-off projects, building internal foresight capacities helps institutions place foresight at the very core of the organizational culture.

Amidst the face of technological advances and evolving business needs, the skills and knowledge students acquire in their education can become rapidly outdated, and even the most hyped skills of today can become obsolete within the next few years. So, how can educators prepare students for a world not yet known?