April 2014

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies has for the German think tank Bertelsmann Stiftung worked on the project Harnessing European Labour Mobility, and the results was  launched in new report in Brussels yesterday.

The free movement of workers, while being one of the EU’s key success stories, remains the topic of heated debates. The project Harnessing European Labour Mobility aims to re-orientate the debate about free movement to the essential question: What can the European Union and individual Member States do in order to facilitate intra-EU labour mobility and maximize its potential for growth and employment?

The Institute has among other things contributed with workshop facilitation and scenarios for the project. The scenario analysis sought to answer the following 3 questions:

• Which uncertainties could have a high impact on labour mobility?
• How could/should labour mobility look in 2025?
• What are the most critical policy recommendations to foster intra-EU labour mobility?

Read the report

A range of fixed patterns in society shape developments and create the future.

This is the message from philosopher Lene Andersen, who has charted no less than 17 megapatterns. In this issue of SCENARIO she tells us about how these patterns combine to shape and evolve our civilisation, which is approaching adulthood, and how the whole world is connected – from micro to macro. Her collected work constitutes a study of civilisation.

Read a sneak peek from the article

CIFS' presence in Latin America is now moving towards its second year - and futurist and Senior Executive Advisor Jeffrey Saunders based in Copenhagen visited the Brazil office in March.

Business newsgroup Brasil Econômico interviewed Jeffrey Saunders following two high-profile presentations in March.

The 6th ABEP Congress gathered Brazil’s market researchers to hear a CIFS keynote presentation on how a growing global middle class is set to radically reshape the consumer market. Jeffrey also joined an impressive line up of speakers from Record, trendwatching.com, Walmart, Exame and Coca Cola at the Meio and Mensagem Next/Now conference, giving the keynote speech on how global megatrends will impact Brazil’s media, marketing and advertising industries.

Read more about CIFS Latam

The topic of the recent members' report 2/2014 is Future Technology and will be the main topic of the seminar.

The seminar will provide you with a comprehensive view of technological advances in Information and communication technology, Robots, Advanced materials and Biotechnology, and how this development will influence six different sectors:

• Production and trade
• Consumption and service
• Health and medicine
• Energy and climate
• Infrastructure
• Security

We will end the seminar with a presentation on how genomics will affect health and medicine in the future, featuring Bogi Elisasen, Associated Futurist, CIFS and Project Director of the FarGen project.

The workshop will be held at the Danish Embassy on Rue d’ Arlon/Aarlenstraat 73 in Brussels. Registration starts at 08.00, and we will round off with lunch and networking at 12.00.

Contact Henrik Persson for more information