a number of threads come together to form a human head

The future is a tool. Fremtenkt teaches you how to use it.

The future is a tool for innovation, involvement, collaboration and education.

Fremtenkt helps you explore, challenge and expand the opportunities you see to create a sustainable future.

We organize workshops, offer courses and give lectures for business, government, education and the voluntary sector.

Our programs give you training in Futures Literacy so that you become more creative in problem solving and more resilient in face of the unexpected.


Curious about what Fremtenkt can offer, but not sure if it's something for you or your organization?

Get in touch for a no-obligation chat and we can figure it out together!

Send us an email or fill out this form and we'll get in touch with you.

Fremtenkt's three-step method

  1. Explore what opportunities you see and what images you have of the future.
  2. Examine the assumptions you make by exploring other possible futures.For this we use "reframing scenarios". A reframing scenario is a description of an imaginary, possible future in which we suspend some of your assumptions. This will affect your understanding of the problem and your proposed solutions.
  3. Expand the scope of opportunities.
Read more about the method here →

More about the method

1: Explore

What opportunities do you see today? How do you see the future?

In the first step, we help you identify the key challenges and opportunities you see, and articulate the assumptions you make about your ability to solve these challenges and seize these opportunities.

(The first step is about finding the "walls" of the "box" you think within.)

2: Examine

What assumptions about the future do you take for granted? What happens when these assumptions change?

In the second step, we tailor one or more reframing scenarios based on their understanding of the situation. A reframing scenario is a description of an imaginary, possible future in which we suspend some of your assumptions. This will affect their understanding of the problem and their proposed solutions.

(We give you an unfamiliar box to think inside.)

3: Expand

What do your challenges look like in light of these alternative futures? What new opportunities do you see to solve them?

In the third step, we return to the present with a wider range of possible futures that we use to sharpen our understanding of what challenges you want to solve and what opportunities you have to solve them.

(You use this experience to constantly expand the box you think within.)

Methodological framework

Fremtenkt's method is based on a combination of different tools and frameworks, including Future Workshop, Futures Literacy Laboratory and Three Horizons.

Future workshop

The Future Workshop was developed by, among others, Robert Jungk, a pioneer in democratic future thinking.

The method is based on the idea that everyone affected by a change should be involved in shaping it.

This is expressed in a simple structure and a set of simple rules for how an organization can extract the most useful information about what is not working today(critique), what the group wants(utopia), and how together they can bring the present situation closer to the desired future(realization).

Futures Literacy Laboratory

The Futures Literacy Laboratory (FLL) was developed by Riel Miller, who led the futures work at UNESCO for decades.

FLL is designed toreveal andreframe habitual thinking, and expand the range of possibilities one is aware of in the present (reflect).

At the same time, you get training in what UNESCO calls Futures Literacy or Futures Literacy: The critical ability to understand how images of the future shape our perception of the present, and the competence to create alternative images of the future as a tool for exploring possibilities.

Three Horizons

Three Horizons is developed by Bill Sharpe.

The method is organized around three "horizons":

  1. Today's dominant system (ex: fossil fuel power generation)
  2. Challengers to the current system (e.g. wind or bioenergy)
  3. Liveable system of the future (ex: sustainable power generation)

Each of these horizons can also be seen as different perspectives on the current situation. The core of the method is to recognize what each of these perspectives can contribute in terms of insight into how we can navigate the transition from a dominant system that is no longer "fit for purpose" to a future, liveable system.


In summary

Fremtenkt's methodology and the frameworks it is based on provide useful tools for organizations to navigate uncertainty and plan for futures where change is the only constant.

The method can be used in a wide variety of contexts, from corporate strategy and organizational change to education, politics and community development.

Fremtenkt is a non-profit limited company. Our main goal is to contribute to a faster transition to a sustainable society. To achieve this, we initiate innovative projects and participate in research.

In addition, we provide targeted contributions to individuals and organizations that want to become more forward-thinking.

Workshops

Management team meeting, project meeting or participation program? The Fremtenkt method will take you further and give you better ideas to work with. Guaranteed.

[We have] gained knowledge on how to plan even further ahead - both for the expected and the unexpected.

- Torstein Skage, Chairman of the Board of Highsoft (LinkedIn)

Our workshops cost from 30k to 100k, depending on the scope and content.

Public or non-profit? We have discounted hourly rates.

Interested?

Send us an email or fill out this form and we'll get in touch with you.

Lecture

Professional refreshment? Curious about future thinking? Fremtenkt gives short, inspiring lectures and engages the audience with demonstrations of methods for future thinking.

Continuing education for teachers and counselors

This is my first time leaving a course and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

- Teacher, Fyllingsdalen vgs

Fremtenkt has developed a course that trains teachers to create interdisciplinary teaching programs inspired by the powerful method of future workshops and creative exercises from futures research.

The new curricula provide a framework for truly interdisciplinary teaching in schools based on the themes of democracy and citizenship, sustainable development and public health and life skills.

To achieve this in practice, new forms of teaching that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries are needed. Future Thinking gives you the framework and tools you need.

The course has been developed in consultation with teachers and students at Fyllingsdalen vgs, but is also suitable for secondary schools.

Fremtenkt Youth: courses for teachers

Citizen involvement

This is one of the most fun things I've been involved in. Finally, a discussion about the future of Åsane without argument. You led the meeting in an excellent way.

Fremtenkt opens a neutral space for citizen participation for sustainable urban development.

We create dialogue with residents early in the planning process, contributing to increased ownership, better solutions and less conflict.

We take care of recruitment, facilitation and compilation of input.

See an example of a protocol from a paritcipatory workshop here: New square and public spaces in Åsane city center.

Interested?

Drop us an email, make an appointment for a no-obligation chat or fill out this form - and we'll get in touch with you.

What's going on?

News

Fremtenkt provides input to the entrepreneurial report

Fremtenkt, represented by Sveinung Sundfør Sivertsen, today spoke to Minister of Industry Jan Christian Vestre about the importance of purpose-driven companies and critical future thinking.

The occasion was an input meeting for the new entrepreneurial report, which was held at VIS - Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap.

Purpose-driven companies as a corporate form are important to highlight entrepreneurship that puts the benefit of nature and society above profit, and to help more people in the humanities and social sciences consider the possibility of taking their knowledge out into society by starting something themselves.

Critical future thinking is essential for these and other entrepreneurs - people who are not just looking for concrete solutions to defined problems, but who are looking critically at the frameworks within which these problems arise, and daring to challenge the assumptions that these systems take for granted.

That's how we get more entrepreneurs for a better society.

1.5 degree city - Bergen in 2050

Today, Fremtenkt held the workshop 1.5-degree city - Bergen in 2050.

There was a full house at Bergen Public Library, and over the course of two hours, we heard what the participants think is likely, what they would like to see and, not least, what challenges and success stories they see the future agencies of Bergen Municipality facing.

We at Fremtenkt challenged each group to think within the framework of one of six different future agencies:

  • The aesthetics chain 🪄
  • Department of Ethics and Logistics 🥾 (responsible for climate refugees and fair distribution)
  • State for Youth and Ageing🦉
  • The Nature and Housing Agency 🏕️
  • Turbulensetaten🌀(with responsibility for foreign affairs and extreme weather)
  • State of sharing and degrowth 🤝📉

And the participants came up with some incredible stories of the future!

For example, the Department of Sharing and Degrowth presented a proposal to the City Council to open up the alternative, sustainable "bekkalokk economy" to the private sector - more on that later.

We have collected all the material from the workshop and will prepare a report. Watch this space to find out when it's published!

The event was a collaboration with the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation and part of the umbrella program under the climate festival Warmer Wetter Wilder, which is now in full swing.

The workshop is also part of the Bergen of the Future series, which has been made possible thanks to support from Bergen Municipality's Climate Agency.

Fremtenkt at HVL

On March 1, Fremtenkt has been invited to HVL in Sogndal to hold a workshop for students in the subject From young to adult.

We will use a version of the method we developed together with the Department of Sociology and students from Sociology and Comparative Politics at UiB last fall. Read more about that pilot here.

13.03: The 1.5 degree city - Bergen in 2050

What will Bergen look like in 2050? What do we eat? How do we travel? What will our surroundings look like? And how are we feeling?

🗓When: March 13 from 13:00 - 15:00
📍Where: Bergen Public Library
👋Who: Anyone who is interested
✍️Påmelding: https://lenke.fremtenkt.no/fb2

On March 13, Fremtenkt and CET (UiB) invite you to a future workshop where we together explore what the 1.5-degree city of Bergen could look like. We will explore and then critically examine how we envision the city of the future, so that we can return to the present with an expanded understanding of what is needed and what opportunities we have to make it happen.

Free registration: https://lenke.fremtenkt.no/fb2

We also recommend all interested parties to attend the CET lunch from 12:00-13:00, also at the library. Read more about this here: CET Lunch: Climate justice and action in cities.

Who is the event suitable for?

Everyone who is interested in sustainable urban development and the opportunities that lie in the goal of a just climate transition is welcome to participate, whether you are a citizen, developer, architect, planner, politician, researcher or anything else! No prior knowledge is required.

The workshop is supported by Klima og miljøtilskudd Bergen kommune and is part of the event series "Fremtidens Bergen".

The workshop will be conducted in Norwegian* and there will be group work.

*There will be live summaries in English and dedicated tables for those who are more comfortable discussing in English.

Climate festival Warmer Wetter Wilder

The event takes place during the Climate Festival Warmer Wetter Wilder and is part of the festival's umbrella program. The Climate Festival stems from the desire to make the climate debate more accessible and engaging, by creating an informal and social arena in which to discuss everything from the global issues to the smaller everyday actions.

The umbrella program for the festival is arranged during the day by a number of different partners. Questions about this event should be directed to us. See more information here: umbrella program.

31.01: Fremtenkt at start-up fair

There was great enthusiasm and commitment in the hall when the participants at the NAV and Entreprenerdy start-up fair on 30.1.24

Participants were able to try their hand at a future workshop (Jungk):

  • Critique: What is not being done well enough in society today? Feel free to talk to the person sitting next to you.
  • Utopia: If you get to decide freely: how will this be done in 2034?
  • Realization: What can you do today to get us there? Can you create a business that does it better? That helps solve one or more of these problems? How?

The Future Workshop is a powerful tool for figuring out what you want - whether it's to start something yourself or contribute to a more sustainable society in other ways.

Read more about our program here: Fremtenkt at the start-up fair.

18.01: Nature in the city, the city in nature

On January 18, Fremtenkt and Arna and Åsane Kulturkontor will host a public discussion on the tension between urban development and nature conservation:

Is it possible to build a green city that is good to live in while leaving more space for untouched nature? Or must nature still give way to more houses and better roads?

We have invited the Bergen City Environment Agency, the Nature Conservation Society of Hordaland and Asplan Viak to give short presentations, before we start the usual conversations around the tables.

To quote a previous participant:

This is one of the most fun things I've been involved in. Finally, a discussion about the future of Åsane without argument. You led the meeting in an excellent way.

- Participant

Anyone who is in Bergen on the day in question is very welcome!

🗓When: January 18 from 18:00 - 20:00
📍Where: Åsane kulturhus, Bergen
👋Who: Anyone who is interested

Read more and sign up on the project website.

Empower Her

Fremtenkt has joined Empower Her, a project led by Polish think tank CASE.

The aim of the project is to build the skills of future female leaders from Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.

Participants receive training in sustainability management, and Fremtenkt provides training in Futures Literacy.

The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Logo Nordic Council of Ministers

The future of Highsoft

On 18-19.10, Fremtenkt conducted a workshop for the management team at Highsoft AS.

Highsoft is behind Highcharts, a global market-leading solution for visualizing all types of data.

We gathered for the occasion at the historic Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand, a short boat ride from Highsoft's headquarters in Vik in Sogn.

Over two half days, we explored, examined and expanded how Highsoft envisions possible futures for the company.

[W]e practiced creating future scenarios. It is difficult. Fortunately, we had very good help from Fremtenkt who guided us. [Now we] have gained knowledge on how to plan even further ahead - both for the expected and the unexpected.
-Torstein Skage, Chairman of the Board in Highsoft (LinkedIn)

Interested in a Fremtenkt workshop at your workplace? Get in touch at post@fremtenkt.no or LinkedIn.

Sociology + futures thinking = increased social sustainability?

That is what we are going to test, together with the Department of Sociology at UiB!

On Monday, September 25, we are testing a teaching method based on the Futures Literacy Laboratory (UNESCO) and Future Workshop (Jungk).

We are bringing a group of committed students to the top of Ulriken. Together we will look out over the landscape to look for opportunities to make society more socially sustainable.

This pilot is the first step in the development of a new course in social sustainability. The aim of the course is to connect students, researchers and public and private actors in a critical and creative examination of what social sustainability really is, and discussion and idea development on how current institutions and arrangements can be rigged to create a socially sustainable society.

Interested in knowing more about the project or contributing to the next step? Please contact Fremtenkt at post@fremtenkt.no or the Department of Sociology at post@sos.uib.no.

A stage for radical innovation

What role does imagination play in the face of major societal challenges?

This is the question we at Fremtenkt will address in our contribution to the conference "A stage for radical innovation" at The Norwegian Theatre on September 14.

The conference is organized by KS's Partnership for Radical Innovation (PRI), which has the subtitle "When things get going in the face of major societal challenges".

Fremtenkt has conducted a first workshop together with KS PRI based on the Futures Literacy Laboratory method, where we addressed the two overarching themes that PRI works with: demographic change and youth exclusion. We look forward to telling you more about this, and about how imagination can help us in the face of major societal challenges.

In addition to us, participants will meet Arvinn E. Gadgil, UN, Gro Herheim, Larvik municipality, Andre Støylen, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, Emma Jensen Stenseth, Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, Gunnar Bovim, Research Council of Norway, Anders Folmer Buhelt, Academy for Social Innovation, Kirsten Viga Skretting, KS, Kristin Weidemann Wieland, KS, Gunn Marit Helgesen, KS, Monica Fossnes Petersson, KS, Morten Wolden, Trondheim municipality and Strategic Council, Ingebjørg Harto, LUP and many more.

🗓When: September 14 from 13:00 - 18:00
📍Where: Det Norske Teateret, Oslo
👋Who: Anyone who is interested

Read more and sign up at KS

Futures Literacy at Arendalsuka

Arendal municipality is celebrating its 300th anniversary and is poised for a green industrial evolution. How can design, architecture and Futures Literacy help us plan for the future?

Together with DOGA and Arendal municipality, Fremtenkt is organizing a seminar and workshop on Thursday during this year's Arendal Week.

During the spring of 2023, DOGA has prepared foresight scenarios for 2040, and pointed out the role that design and architecture can play in achieving them.

We at Fremtenkt invite participants to explore these topics using the Futures Literacy Laboratory methodology and questions such as:

What do we want design and architecture to contribute to the development of Arendal East? What are we likely to achieve? And how can architecture and design contribute to a future that is radically different from what we envision today?

🗓When: August 17 from 14.00 - 15.30
📍Where: Kulturkammeret
👋Who: Anyone who is interested

Read more on the Arendalsuka website.

With futures towards the future

In Morgenbladet on May 19, Dag Mostuen Grytli takes aim at the technology determinists in Silicon Valley who simultaneously say that Artificial Intelligence is inevitable, that it could destroy the world, and that we must hurry up and create it. 🤖💥🌎

Grytli is right to highlight this paradoxical view of life, but the alternative he presents - more emphasis on the damage technology causes here and now, less on hypothetical future scenarios - is too weak a medicine.

Much of the power of the future narratives from Silicon Valley lies precisely in the fact that they are narratives about the future. The only effective way to counter these narratives is to create alternative visions of the future that we can follow instead.

Read why and how in the blog post here:

With futures towards the future - Fremtenkt Blog

Now also in print in Morgenbladet.

Fremtenkt at the 2023 Christie conference

Fremtenkt exhibited at the Christiekonferansen 2023.

Fremtenkt talked about Futures Literacy and invited participants to help create images of Kunnskapsbyen Bergen 2050.

Read more here.

FLL on circular value chain for aquaculture

In collaboration with VIS, Fremtenkt led a Futures Literacy Laboratory on Monday 20.03 about what a circular value chain for aquaculture looks like in 2050.

Participants included entrepreneurial companies in the Future Ocean Incubator.

Read more on LinkedIn

What will public healthcare look like in 2050?

On Thursday 15.12, Fremtenkt was invited to Strategisk IKT Helse Vest to talk about Futures Literacy and demonstrate the Futures Literacy Laboratory method.

After a brief introduction to UNESCO's concept of Futures Literacy - Futures Literacy in Norwegian - we took the participants through a lightning version of an FLL based on the theme Public health services in 2050.

Although we only had 15 minutes for the demonstration, the participants came up with a number of thought-provoking inputs on what they want, what they think is likely, and what public healthcare looks like in 2050 in an imagined reframing scenario that challenges our assumptions about the future.

Best feedback: "I would like to become more future savvy!"

Are you curious about what Futures Literacy is and how you can practice this essential skill?

Read more about Futures Literacy here, get in touch at post@fremtenkt.no or find us on LinkedIn.

Fremtenkt at Arendalsuka

Fremtenkt held a hybrid Future Workshop/Future Literacy Laboratory together with Med Hjerte For Arendal, where we asked:

How do we combine the formal expertise of subject matter experts with the informal, everyday expertise of citizens and others?

Social development today requires advanced scientific and technical expertise. It is easy to think that the experts know best, and to disregard the expertise that citizens and others possess by virtue of their everyday experiences. How can we bring together and translate between these two forms of expertise to provide better, more democratic societal development?

This workshop was also the first time we combined elements from Robert Jungk's original Future Workshop with the UNESCO-developed Futures Literacy Laboratory (FLL) method. The aim is to connect the everyday aspect of the Future Workshop with the critical futures thinking of FLL, in order to both gain useful insights into the topic and practice Futures Literacy.

Read more on the Arendalsuka website.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Experiences with using the future in social innovation

On May 10, Fremtenkt spoke at the SPARK Social Innovation Educational Forum about our experiences with using the future to promote social innovation, and how universities and university colleges can help ensure that knowledge, ideas and commitment among students, PhD students and permanent employees in the humanities (and social sciences) benefit society to a greater extent than today.

Read more here.

Futures Literacy as a key to more engaged employees and more innovative companies

Only 17 percent of Norwegian employees are engaged in their work. We can do something about this. In an article in the latest issue of Forskningspolitikk, Fremtenkt suggests using methods from futures studies to rediscover the workplace as an arena for creating positive change in society.

The article and the rest of the issue can be read in full here.


← back

Projects

Sustainability

Sustainability is the framework for everything we do at Fremtenkt , and features implicitly or explicitly in every talk and workshop we give.

We also have experience with participatory sustainability mapping, such as the one we led for NVL - Nordic Network for Adult Learning(see the report here).

Curious about what the link between sustainability and future thinking can bring to your organization's sustainability work? Contact us at post@fremtenkt.no for a non-binding conversation.

Continuing education for teachers

This is my first time leaving a course and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

- Teacher, Fyllingsdalen vgs

Fremtenkt has developed a course that trains teachers to create interdisciplinary teaching programs inspired by the powerful method of future workshops and creative exercises from futures research.

The new curricula provide a framework for truly interdisciplinary teaching in schools based on the themes of democracy and citizenship, sustainable development and public health and life skills.

To achieve this in practice, new forms of teaching that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries are needed. Future Thinking gives you the framework and tools you need.

The course has been developed in consultation with teachers and students at Fyllingsdalen vgs, but is also suitable for secondary schools.

Fremtenkt Youth: courses for teachers

Participatatory processes

This is one of the most fun things I've been involved in. Finally, a discussion about the future of Åsane without argument. You led the meeting in an excellent way.

Fremtenkt opens a neutral space for citizen participation for sustainable urban development.

We create dialogue with residents early in the planning process, contributing to increased ownership, better solutions and less conflict.

We take care of recruitment, facilitation and compilation of input.

See an example of a protocol from a paritcipatory workshop here: New square and public spaces in Åsane city center.

Fremtenkt establishment

Fremtenkt Startup is a learning module that trains aspiring entrepreneurs to use the future to understand how their business can contribute to a sustainable society.

The module has been tested in two rounds of the KIME entrepreneur program, a program for immigrants who want to create their own workplace.

Fremtenkt can now offer this module to all programs for entrepreneurs.

We thank Vestland County Council for financial support for the development, the participants in KIME and the MIKS Resource Center for good cooperation.

Interested in using the module, or curious to hear more about Fremtenkt Establishment? Get in touch at post@fremtenkt.no

Sustainable urban development

To succeed in the transition to a sustainable society, everyone affected by the development must be given the opportunity to help shape it.

This is especially true in the development of sustainable cities and places, where the measures needed to reduce emissions and improve quality of life are directly relevant to our everyday lives.

In 2020, Fremtenkt, in dialog with Bergen Municipality, established a project to strengthen local democracy by developing new forms of citizen participation.

Read more about the Laboratory for Sustainable and Democratic Futures here.

In 2024, we plan to take the lessons learned from this into a larger research project together with NIFU, NORCE and UiB, with cases from the municipalities of Oslo, Bergen and Arendal. The aim is to investigate how future thinking and participatory urban planning can contribute to a fairer climate transition and a more resilient society.

Future thinking in academia

We believe there is great potential for more of the knowledge and commitment at universities and colleges to benefit society.

Future thinking can be a tool that allows students, researchers and teachers to identify societal challenges and knowledge-based measures that can address them.

As a first step, we have established a collaboration with the Department of Sociology at UiB to test our method in teaching.

See results from the pilot in the protocol, here.

International collaborations

Empower Her

Fremtenkt has joined Empower Her, a project led by Polish think tank CASE.

The aim of the project is to build the skills of future female leaders from Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.

Participants receive training in sustainability management, and Fremtenkt provides training in Futures Literacy.

The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Logo Nordic Council of Ministers

CoLaYoCha

Fremtenkt is participating in the collaborative project CoLaYoCha: Co-creation Lab for Young Changemakers, led by the Austrian research center ifz.

The goal of the project is for students in Bergen and Salzburg to jointly and individually explore sustainability challenges in their local environment, develop ideas for what they themselves can do about these challenges, and try to implement these solutions in practice.

The project is funded by EU Erasmus+.

CoLaYoCha logo
Partly funded by the EU

About

More about Fremtenkt and the people behind it

Why Fremtenkt?

The transition to a sustainable society will involve major changes and affect every aspect of everyone's life.

Fremtenkt works from the idea that these changes also allow us to create a society that is far better to live in.

To get there, we need new, sustainable solutions to a number of problems we face today.

The future is our tool to bring these solutions to life.

Fremtenkt's methodology explores, examines and expands how we understand the future and what opportunities we see to create change in the present.

The method draws on several different frameworks, including Future Workshop (Jungk), Futures Literacy Laboratory (Miller) and Three Horizons (Sharpe).

The method can be used in all contexts, and we are constantly on the lookout for new collaborations and people who can benefit from this tool.

Who is Fremtenkt?

Fremtenkt is a non-profit company based in Bergen. The people behind it are Ragnhild Nabben and Sveinung Sundfør Sivertsen.

portrait of Ragnhild Nabben

Ragnhild has an MA in literature from NTNU and the Sorbonne, and she has studied at the Academy of Writing Arts in Hordaland. She is now co-founder and CEO of Fremtenkt.
ragnhild@fremtenkt.no

portrait of Sveinung Sundfør Sivertsen

Sveinung has a PhD in philosophy. He defended his thesis at the University of Bergen in 2019, and won the Mark Blaug Prize in Philosophy and Economics in 2018/2019. Sveinung also has a BA in Chemistry. He is now co-founder and philosopher at Fremtenkt.
sveinung@fremtenkt.no

Futures Literacy (Futures Literacy) is about using the future to discover new opportunities in the present.

This is a capacity that UNESCO, the EU and international innovation communities consider crucial for navigating an increasingly uncertain world situation and succeeding with the green shift:

Futures Literacy has become an essential skill in the context of the unprecedented crises we are confronting, and where we come to realize that the future of humankind will depend on the kind of decisions we take today. Using Foresight and Futures Literacy, we can question the current way we understand the world, move out from our comfort zone and expand our imagination.

The concept of Futures Literacy - Futures Literacy - was developed by UNESCO.

Being future-savvy means understanding how images of the future shape perceptions of the present, and being able to use alternative images of the future as mirrors or prisms to discover other aspects of what is happening around us today. "The future" doesn't exist, but everyone has ideas about what it might be like. These ideas shape how we perceive the present: They direct our attention towards certain developments and possibilities, and away from others. By putting these ideas into words, we can become aware of how the images we have of the future frame our understanding. What do we take for granted when we think about the future? And what happens if we change these assumptions? By changing our assumptions about the future, we can create new frames of understanding, frames that in turn can allow us to discover other developments and opportunities for action - i.e. sources of innovation. This is how we can gradually build Futures Literacy - Futures Literacy.

UNESCO calls Futures Literacy an essential skill, equating it with digital skills, for example. The EU and others highlight Futures Literacy as important for strengthening democratic citizenship Political participation is about helping to chart a course for the future, both in the coming years and in the longer term. Futures Literacy is an important skill in this respect, both to develop the ability to be critical of others' visions of the future and to be able to create such visions yourself. Read more in the EU report The Future of Government 2030+ and to promote radical innovation for sustainable development. "Based on our experiences in FLxDeep 2020, we see great potential for futures literacy to enable innovators to use futures to innovate the present with greater resilience, creativity, and effectiveness." - Demystifying futures literacy, a key skill for climate innovation

The concept is also beginning to gain a foothold in Norway, where Futures Literacy is mentioned in the white paper on innovation in the public sector. "Looking ahead is a practice that promotes innovation. The OECD argues that those who want to succeed with innovation in the public sector are able to envision and act based on discussions and assessments about the future. Expanding why and how you understand the future provides more choices. Openness and broad collaboration are crucial for good foresight processes [...]. Futures Literacy is a future method used by UNESCO, among others. Being future literate means being more prepared for the future, and thus taking a more long-term and strategic approach. - An innovative public sector - Culture, leadership and competence

You can read more about Futures Literacy and the research behind it in the freely available book Transforming the Future: Anticipation in the 21st Century.

← back to About

Methods

Fremtenkt use a variety of methods and tools when designing processes and facilitating workshops.

Two of our most commonly used methods are the Futures Workshop and the Futures Literacy Laboratory.

The Futures Workshop is a method for, as its creator Robert Jungk put it, awakening the imagination as a counterforce against resignation.

The work in the workshop follows simple rules, creating a miniature democracy where the participants themselves determine the content.

Futures workshops have three phases:

  1. Criticism
    What's wrong or not working as it is today?
  2. Utopia
    What is your dream?
  3. Actualization
    What can you or you do to narrow the gap between how it is and how it should be?

Each of these produces a distinct result:

  1. Unfiltered criticism
    of the current situation.
  2. Imaginative images
    of how good it can be.
  3. Realistic plans
    for how you will realize your visions. Starting Monday.

The workshops also provide practical training in active citizenship, helping to create a more Futures Literate population that can collaborate on the green shift.

Futures Literacy Laboratory (FLL) is a method developed by Riel Miller (UNESCO).

The method is about challenging habitual thinking and expanding the range of possibilities you are aware of in the present.

At the same time, you get training in what UNESCO calls Futures Literacy: the critical ability to understand how images of the future shape our perception of the present, and the competence to create alternative images of the future as a tool for exploring possibilities.

A typical FLL consists of three phases:

  1. Reveal: Participants are asked to articulate how they envision the topic of the workshop at a given point in the future, with an emphasis on what is desired and what they think is realistic.
  2. Examine: By presenting participants with a description of a possible future that challenges some of their basic assumptions about what the future will be like (a "reframing scenario"), we help you to ciritcally examine how assumptions guide your thinking.
  3. Reflect: Participants use the results of the previous two phases to think about how different images of the future shape how they perceive the theme of the workshop, with an emphasis on identifying new opportunities for action.

The workshop can optionally include a fourth phase or follow-up work where strategies or plans are created based on the results of the workshop:

  1. Actualize: Participants identify some particularly important insights and plan how these will be followed up in further work.

A crucial part of Fremtenkt's work when designing and facilitating workshops based on FLL is the design of a "reframing scenario" that challenges participants' assumptions about the future.

The reframing scenario is a description of an imagined, possible future that is neither desirable nor likely, but where some of the things we usually take for granted when we think about the future have been removed or altered.

This provides you training in challenging old and making new assumptions about what the future will be like for the things you care about – even if the future turns out radically different to our expectations.

To use a well-known metaphor: explore is about finding the walls of the box we think within when we usually think about the future, examine provides you with a box to think within slightly to the side of your usual box, and expand uses the experiences from these two phases to, well, expand the walls of the box within which you think.

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What we can do for you

The future is a tool. Fremtenkt's tailor-made program teaches you how to use it - for innovation, collaboration, education and engagement.

We offer workshops, organize courses and give lectures for business, government, education and the voluntary sector. Read more about each offer below.

Strategy workshop

From 2 hours to 2 days - we tailor a program for your needs based on our future methodology.

The offer has three modules:

  1. Insight phase to gain insight into the organization.
  2. Facilitate a workshop that explores, examines and expands the challenges and opportunities are aware of.
  3. Final report with future scenarios tailored to your situation.

Price: 50-150k.

For academia:

Perfectly thought through program, using creativity and co-creation processes in an entertaining and very encouraging way, with perfect timing, perfect communication and leading to great results.

- Participant, Futures of Aging

For citizen participation:

This is one of the most fun things I've been involved in. Finally, a discussion about the future of Åsane without argument. You led the meeting in an excellent way.

For teaching:

Previous experience of interdisciplinary project work shows that a good structure makes all the difference. That's what the future workshop gives us.

- Monica Langeland, Fyllingsdalen vgs

For further education:

This is my first time leaving a course and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

- Teacher, Fyllingsdalen vgs

Get in touch at post@fremtenkt.no or find us on LinkedIn and Facebook.

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