UNEP-ISC Foresight Workshop

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (https://www.unep.org/), Nairobi, in partnership with Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC), the Science Hub of the European Commission (https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/index_de) and the International Science Council (ISC) (https://council.science/), Paris invited 30 European experts and partners from overseas to participate in a two-day workshop at the Revolution Lab at the Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw. Prof. Werlen was the only German university representative in the meeting that took place on 24-25 October 2023.

The Warsaw workshop was the first in the embarking process on the development of a strategic foresight initiative to establish an institutionalised approach to foresight and horizon scanning, and will be followed by workshops for Africa, Asia Pacific, America South, and America North until the end of this year. Working in groups, the participants of the Warsaw meeting explored in a four-round process the expected developments of Europe in specific global contexts from the present to 2050. These little fora were focussing potential developments, from worst case scenarios to the potentially best possible ones, reflecting on already identifiable trends like the present political polarisation. The group results were integrated to an integrated global vision of a potential "Future Europe 2050" in several rounds of general discussion.

The all-over goal of this UNEP and ISC led endeavour is to develop an anticipatory and future-oriented culture, recognising the fact that tackling the global systemic challenges we are collectively facing requires integrating forward-looking knowledge and insights across disciplines, knowledge systems, and sectors of society. The results of all workshops will ultimately culminate in a Global Report to be published in 2024 prior to deliberations at the Summit of the Future (https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-futureExternal link) in September 2024.