General Presentation
Decision-makers require optimal awareness of the effects of their actions. Our aim at Futuribles is to ensure that they are as well-informed as possible about the long-term consequences of their decisions. This means correctly identifying and accurately describing the issues concerned. It also means directly engaging people and organizations in building the future.
Futuribles is a foresight centre that was founded in the 1960s. The name is a portmanteau word, a contraction of the French words for ‘possible’ and ‘futures’.
At the heart of our activities is the idea that the future is never pre-ordained: multiple different futures are possible. By exploring these, we can determine where decision-makers have scope for manoeuvre. And contribute to policies and strategies that fully meet the challenges of tomorrow, recognizing that past nostrums are not always the best guide.
At Futuribles, we have three main missions:
1.
To advocate for foresight thinking as a crucial path to designing appropriate policies and strategies.
2.
To carry out foresight exercises on topics of general interest for the benefit of its partners and citizens in general.
3.
To help organizations to design future-oriented policies and strategies.
In service of our missions, we at Futuribles develop thinking and discussion on the future (through the Futuribles journal and the Futuribles Association’s strategic monitoring and analytical activities), undertake research and innovation, and provide training in foresight methods. We also engage in support for foresight exercises on particular subjects or within particular sectors or bodies.
These activities are delivered through two separate structures. The Futuribles International Association brings together persons and legal entities that wish to pool their foresight thinking. It carries out all those activities on which its members are able to coordinate. The Futuribles company conducts publishing and consultancy activities. It publishes Futuribles journal and distributes the productions of the Futuribles International Association through its futuribles.com online media service. It also provides support for applied foresight exercises as part of consultancy assignments.
We at Futuribles have some 15 permanent staff, around 50 scientific advisers and many associates. This makes for a situation in which varied skills and expertise can be applied to develop cross-disciplinary futures thinking.
