A field of LED lights is being used in Netherlands in a bid to improve sustainable agriculture practices. GROW – the company leading this project – claim that UV light…
Welcome to the Futures Centre
Explore, track and share signals of change to help make sense of the world.
Access futures-focused insights and resources to help create a more sustainable future.
Join us in building a global community working together on key challenges to drive positive change.
What is the Futures Centre?
Watch the video to find out more.
Watch the video to find out more.
Signals & Insights Learn more
A mix of Signals of change submitted by users around the world and longer-form Insights - explorations of the emerging systemic change we are seeing, from futurists, academics, business leaders, sustainability experts, that help with sensemaking - literally: making sense of the world.
What is a Signal of Change?
A signal of change is like a seed of a possible future. It can be any development, idea or innovation that points to a future possibility different to today’s norm. We are especially interested in signals that point to the possibility of significant systemic change, or those that illuminate an unexpected aspect of an ongoing change. Not all signals do end up coming to fruition, because the future is inherently uncertain. Signals help us to think in terms of multiple possible futures, to think more widely and creatively about the future and to anticipate unintended consequences.
Following a surge in demand for alternatives to regular meat, Singapore has approved ‘clean meat’ that is slaughter – free in a world first. This decision will allow companies such…
A facial recognition algorithm was applied to images of over 1 million individuals to predict their political orientation. It did so by comparing the similarity to faces of either liberal…
by Ksenia Benifand, Jan 22 2021
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OpenAI has announced a new technological milestone, an artificial intelligence capable of “imagining” almost anything and that could change the illustration, design and photography industry as we know it. Dall…
by Javier Montañés Esquíroz, Jan 20 2021
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Sustainable , environmentally oriented, or ‘green’ bonds have been rising in popularity for decades, but the EU’s recent updating of the Green Bond Standard (GBS) could open markets for an…
A “produce prescription program” sees food used as a medicine to treat diet-related health conditions, like diabetes, with participants receiving vouchers for free or discounted vegetables. COVID-19 has highlighted the…
Alleging that their dues have not been paid, farmers termed the Modi government’s crop insurance scheme a ‘scam’.
Treatment grown on tobacco plants gets US backing for clinical study
On January 6th 2021, Facebook and Twitter disabled US president Donald Trump’s accounts. Citing risk for further incitement of violence, Twitter permanently suspended the president’s account, while Facebook has disabled…
Live Research
What is Live Research
The world around us is changing everyday in a blizzard of transient news headlines. But what are the deeper patterns and signals in the noise? What might they mean for how we live, create, consume, collaborate, and work? How are the deeper systems that we rely on shifting? Where might be the best places to intervene to accelerate change for sustainability?
A Live Research project is an extended (1 month +) digital discussion, designed to focus conversation on a specific challenge or question, engaging the platform's global community and others in sharing thoughts, insights and perspectives on the issues that matter most.
Live now
Trajectories from COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting our fundamental assumptions and values and the way we think about the world. The most profound changes come from shifts at these levels. They allow the shifting…
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