Thèmes

Thoughts in stimulating future idea

The latest @Hamburg Futures Network was great, as we both talked about the role of games in futures thinking, and then played one – “Thing From the Future”. The concept is relatively simple – There are four categories (Archetype, Terrain, Object, Mood). Each category has a pile of cards, and each card has one word […]

vision, wargames

Theatre fiction

I just read this piece on “imagining future public careers via fiction”. https://atelierdesfuturs.org/q264-imaginer-les-metiers-publics-de-demain-via-la-fiction/ It fascinated me particularly having already been part of the creation of the scenario that served as the background for a theatre piece written for the Deutsches Theater in Berlin (thanks to @Jutta Doberstein for that !). In this case, the authors […]

knowledge-sharing, vision

cybersécurité

For mes amis francophones, or those who are prepared to use an automatic translation machine, let me draw your attention to a recent article about the role of gaming in preparing for surprise events, such as a cyber-security attack. The particular interest of this article is it draws on four different individuals an compares and […]

foresight-to-strategy, wargames

A white belt in climate fresk

Just completed training as a white belt (lowest level) facilitator for Climate Fresk. Together with @Rosario, our ambition is to use the game in the local community here to develop a conversation around what becoming more climate friendly and sustainability means for (in our case) a suburb of Hamburg. Just a couple of thoughts around […]

learning journey

If only decarbonising our economies were a game!

Who: 40 CEOs and senior executives from companies across France, participated today at a Shift Forum organised by the Shift Project. What: They played a serious game. The objective was to decarbonise the production of a fictional fertiliser company whilst keeping the firm 1. competitive, 2. resilient and 3. with a good reputation. What outcome: […]

wargames

3rd Humanitarian Energy Conference (HEC)

A fond farewell to Nairobi and the 3rd Humanitarian Energy Conference (HEC). This is one of the few events where you meet both global institutions (UN agencies, INGOs…) and grass roots entrepreneurs (in this case many of whom were also displaced people or refugees who have started up businesses to offer renewable energy). Given that […]

lively event

What do serious games bring to resilience?

Just presented Robert Grayston as an example of a societal resilience game at @Connections (UK) Professional Wargame Practitioners conference in Brunel University. I had great company with presentations from Robert Grayston and Joe Liano in the same slot. As always, I tried to maximised audience interaction, and e.g. asked what the public saw as being […]

wargames

Hamburg Futures Network #5

Hamburg Futures Network #5 Gestern Abend fand die neueste Edition des Hamburg Futures Network bei Port-F statt. Aufgrund der Urlaubszeit war die Gruppe diesmal klein, aber sehr fein. Besonders drei Eindrücke haben mich nachhaltig geprägt: Diesmal hatten wir die Gelegenheit, mit jeder Person zu sprechen, und ich führte wirklich faszinierende Gespräche, die von Methoden zur […]

other

dîner des prospectivistes – Foresight Dinner in Paris

C’était un grand plaisir de revoir une quinzaine d’amis à Paris hier, lors de la quatrième édition du dîner des prospectivistes ! J’ai eu des conversations passionnantes sur l’avenir de la prospective, sur les tendances socioculturelles des jeunes en milieu rural, et même sur les machines qui servent un verre de vin dans des conditions […]

other

The future now ?

Professionally I help others think about how the future may impact decisions they should take today. It is therefore unsurprising that I spend some of my private time doing the same thing. As a member of the “Blankense Future Forum”, we have many projects going, for instance on the future mobility needs of our bit […]

learning journey

Vom Fortschritt im Schneckentempo zum Rückschritt. Welche Zukunft hat Menschenrechtsschutz in Deutschland und der EU?

Wieviel Zeit kostbarer Regierungsarbeit hat das Bundesjustizministerium jetzt zur Verhinderung der EU Lieferketten Richtlinie (EU LK) eingesetzt? Der Presse nach war die FDP in letzter Zeit hoch aktiv dabei, um andere EU Mitglieder mit ihren Bedenken und Ablehnung mitzureißen. Motto, Bürokratiemonster und womöglich juristische Folgen die man der Wirtschaft ersparen wolle. Bedeutet dies, dass soziale […]

other

Politics should not be different…

As any professional facilitator of events knows, the architecture of a conference/seminar/workshop/meeting space determines how conversations will (or will not) take place. E.g. having participants seated at a distance from each other, with tables in between, gives licence to aggression and heated exchanges – it creates an « us » and « them » mindset, and I am separated […]

lively event

News of the Future: Food Populism and Politics, dead end?

In the last decades a number of political movements have won rural voters with promises to defend local farmers against global capitalism, commonly known as « Food Populism and Politics ». This has been easy enough, as farmers perceive agricultural policy to be an existential issue, whereas the (much more numerous) consumers of food products have, until […]

foresight-to-strategy

Three insights on foresight

I very much enjoyed facilitating an on-line conversation of foresight managers from four companies with global reach earlier this week. It would be impossible to do justice to everything that was said, but three new insights for me were: 1.      How we measure success: A. Did we get it right? We will never be able to predict […]

foresight-to-strategy, lively event, multi-stakeholder strategy

Vers quelque chose de nouveau?

J’ai animé un séminaire avec 50 participants super intéressants ce vendredi et samedi passé pour discuter de l’avenir d’une organisation associative en France. La vision propose de créer de la propriété intellectuelle pour le partager avec d’autres (soit en le donnant gratis, soit en établissant des organisations qui le répandissent) est une bouffée d’air fraîche […]

multi-stakeholder strategy

Running hybrid workshops

Hybrid workshops – a mixture of people in a room and on-line – are increasingly common as COVID restrictions are lifted but as travel is still not back to usual. Having now moderated a few such events, for instance, last week with eight people phyiscally in a room in Tunis, and a similar number on-line […]

lively event