Future Centers are collaborative workspaces that apply insights from the past and future to solve real-world problems. They act as innovation engines to systematically explore and design the future. Future Centers exist in a variety of forms across different sectors and purposes, including in government agencies and private companies. They leverage collective intelligence to tackle complex issues through facilitated discussions. The document discusses the building blocks of Future Centers, including their organizational, physical, technological, and methodological perspectives, with a focus on the role of people. It provides examples of existing Future Centers and outlines opportunities and challenges for the future.

1. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
The Future Center Experience:
A View from the Work Floor
Hank Kune
Educore, Future Center Alliance

2. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008
Society is changing,
the challenges are
increasing…

3. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
The future?
• Flat world?
• Hot world?
• Fortress economies? Diminishing returns?
• Emerging super economies?
• China, India…
• Looking in the right direction?
• Tsunami?
• Boiled frog?
• Not invented here?

4. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008
There’s a lot of knowledge out there,
lots of organizations are working on
the problems…

5. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

6. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

7. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe
Tokyo November 2008

8. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008
Future
Centers

9. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
What are Future Centers?
• Highly participative working and thinking
environments
• Collaborative workplaces
…where learning and insights
…from past and future
…and diverse perspectives
are applied to solve real-world problems
in the present

10. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Future Centers
• Innovation engines
to systematically and continuously
explore, prepare for and actively design the future
- return to the present to realize it
• Facilitated collaborative working environments
with physical, virtual, cognitive and emotional space
• Support users and clients
deal effectively with today’s challenges
to achieve middle and long term goals
and deliver sustainable solutions and results

11. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
A Future Center
• is an organizational, physical,
methodological and virtual space.
• It is a mental space, an affective space,
and above all a people space.
• It exists across time, moving between
past, present and future
• navigating knowledge and experiential
pathways to achieve its objectives

12. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Future Centers add intelligence
…Creative, visual, emotional, spatial intelligence…
• Asking questions
• Challenging assumptions
• Not accepting easy answers
• Letting go of habits
• Working from multiple perspectives
• Creating multiplier effects
• Taking responsibility for actions and decisions

13. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Varieties of Future Centers
• Public / Private
• Sector Specific / Corporate Specific
• Regional / Municipal
• Permanent / Temporary
• Large / Small
• High tech / High touch

14. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
They operate in various domains, for
a range of purposes
Public administration
• Ministerial level in national government, in cities
and in regions.
• Government and semi-government agencies
• Economic Affairs, Taxation, Transportation,
Public Works and Water Management, Nature
and the environment, Spatial Planning and
Urban Renewal, Social Affairs and Employment,
Pensions, Welfare system, and Education

15. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Private Sector
Corporate and company-specific:
• post, telecommunications, energy, consumer
electronics, insurance and banking.
A number of consultancy organisations – both
large and small – operate their own Future
Center-like initiatives on a commercial basis.

16. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
A Common Focus
• Places for facilitated, collaborative solution-
seeking
• Dealing with real people and real issues in
organizations and society
• Leveraging collective intelligence – and
distributed intelligence – of relevant
organizations, sectors and communities
• Applying this intelligence to tackle specific
organizational issues and societal challenges
• With new ideas, new directions, and sustainable
real-time answers to complex problems

17. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

18. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

19. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

20. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

21. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

22. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

23. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

24. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
The Country House
Future Center for the national civl service the
Netherlands:

25. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
The Shipyard
Future Center of the Dutch Tax & Customs
Administration

26. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Academy SZW
Ministry of Social Affairs & Employment, the
Netherlands

27. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Studio BliQ
Future Center for the city of Oss,
the Netherlands

28. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Castle Groeneveld
Countryseat for City and Countryside, Ministry of
Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality, the Netherlands

29. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Dialogues House
ABN-AMRO Bank, the Netherlands

30. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Momentum
Regional Ideas House, Denmark

31. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Mindlab
Future Center for 3 Ministries in Denmark:
Economic & Business Affairs, Taxation, and
Employment

32. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
futurefocus
Future Center for 3 ministries in the U.K: Department for
Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Department for
Universities, Innovation & Skills; the Department for Children,
Schools & Families

33. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Royal Mail Innovation Lab
U.K.

34. FUTURE NEST made in Hong Kong
2009
Northern Light
AICA

35. KDI Future Center, Tokyo
Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

36. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

37. Skandia Future
Center
The world´s first , 1996
Source: leif.edvinsson@unic.net

38. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008
OpenFutures
European Commission
Specific Support Action
SIXTH FRAMEWORK
PROGRAMME
2006 - 2008

39. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

40. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Building Blocks: What are Future
Centers Made Of?

41. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Models
Some
Examples

42. Cafe Tokyo November 2008
Some
Examples
Metaphors
Ship /
Shipyard
Outlook
post
Idea
pipeline
Ship/Shipyard
Lab /
Incubator
Joy
Zone /
Oasis
Magnet
Tornado
Hub /
Interchange

43. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Common practice
• Meeting space for people and ideas
• Diversity of stakeholders working together
• Issues that matter to people
• Explicit link between past-present-and-future
• Combine dreaming, thinking and doing
• Focus on concrete results
• Examine the consequences of choices
• Multigenerational perspectives

44. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Core competences of Future Centers
• Developing people-friendly and “brain-friendly”
working environments with optimal user-
centricity
• Developing and investigating future perspectives
• Breaking through barriers of behavior and
thinking
• Prototyping product ideas and policy options
• Engaging in multi-stakeholder dialogue which
leads to action

45. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Functions of Future Centers in
organizations
• Innovation
• Meeting and networking space
• Future orientation
• Knowledge creation – and utilization
• Prototyping products and policies
• Talent development
• Education
• Anchoring results

46. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
4 perspectives + 1
• Organizational
• Physical
• Technological
• Methodological
+
• People

47. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Physical Perspective
• How to design a space that catalyzes
innovation
• 16 factors to consider, including:
– Building
– Gateways
– Layout
– Materials
– Senses

48. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

49. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Technological Perspective
How can technology multiply impact?
• Web-based collaboration
• Interactive knowledge repositories
• Virtual worlds
• Collaborative visualization
• Idea pipelines
• Social computing
• And more…

50. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Methodological Perspective
Methods & Tools
for the 7-phase
Futurizing
Process
Icebreaking/
Kick-off
ID of
needs/
Problems
Data
gathering
Generating
ideas
Testing
Communicat
ion
of results
Prototypi
ng

51. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Organizational Perspective
• Vision and Mission
• Positioning
• Budgeting
• Facilities
• Products & Services
• Performance management
• Lifecycle
• Renewal
• Success Factors … and Blunders

52. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
People
The director Programme
managers
Facilitators Experts
Front office:
cultivators,
hosts, etc
Support staff
Clients Participants Stakeholders End users

53. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Facilitation
Facilitators play a key role in the success of
activities
• Challenge existing mind-sets and accepted
wisdom
• Bring fresh ideas to traditional and/or stuck
situations
• Set the tone of events
• Can “take an opportunity forward”
Diversity and professionalism are important

54. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

55. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
project website:
www.open-futures.net

56. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
LEF future center
Rijkswaterstaat Future Center,
Department of Public Works & Water Management,
the Netherlands
LEF

57. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
3000 m2
4 workshop spaces
Multimedia theatre
Capacity: 80 people

58. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
LEF = Courage
• Serves the entire
organization (8500
people)
• Road and water
infrastructure:
construction, networks,
maintenance, safety,
water quality
• Achieving corporate
goals, incl. core
business, innovation,
public orientation, human
resources
• 400 sessions per year
• No meetings!
• 7 fulltime account
managers
• 40+ on-call facilitators
• 7-step work process
• Measuring impact on the
work floor
• 1st Intellectual Capital
Report: 2009

59. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

60. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

61. The Country House
working for the national government in the
Netherlands
Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

62. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

63. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

64. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
The Road Ahead
• Cooperation in communities
• Sharing knowledge and tools, methods, lessons
learned
• Joint projects across borders
• Assessing impact on the work floor
• IC reporting
• FC 3.0
• Future Centers in Asia, Latin America, Africa
• Society as a Future Center

65. 3rd International Future Centre
Summit
Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Focus:societal innovation and
entrepreneurship
Stockholm, Sweden: May 14 – 16, 2009
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and
Communication
Swedish Knowledge Foundation

66. Collective Repository of Ideas
Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

67. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

68. Quizzics from the Summit
• What are appropriate time horizons for Future centers?
• What will the “fuel” for the next economy be?
• What are the metaphors that channel our thinking about
society, energy and the future?
• How to help cross-organizational collaboration in public
sector organizations?
• How to change the mindset of decision makers (embrace
the future, not the past)?
• How Future Centers can support international
collaboration on societal issues?
Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

69. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy

70. Social Renewal based on Social innovations,
Societal Entrepreneurship, Futurizing ,
Volunteers and
Virtual Collective Commons.
KIZ - Knowledge Innovation Zone
KIZ: Knowledge Innovation Zone
A bridge between local society
and global opportunities.
Source: C. Vargacs, D. Amidon
L.Edvinsson, et al et al
KIZ - Knowledge Innovation Zone
Intelligent K-Regions

71. Paris, May 28-29, 2009 Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
REPUBLICS OF TOMORROW
• All around the world there cities and regions pursuing
sustainable futures. Their goal is improving the quality of
life for their citizens through societal innovation. They are
the REPUBLICS OF TOMORROW.
• They work – or in the future will work – through linked
Future Centers.
• Republics of Tomorrow are entrepreneurial societies that
recognize the value of cross-border collaboration and
networked knowledge creation/application
• Their focus is both inward – towards their own citizens –
and outward to the wider world.

72. Hank Kune: Intellectual Cafe Tokyo November 2008

73. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
Major Challenges of the 21st century
• Global heating
• Mental cooling
• Credit crisis
• Demographics  aging populations
……
The indicators were all there 20 years ago
• We didn’t recognize them…or else
• We didn’t act on them
• Did we ask the right questions?

74. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
So, you can ask questions
If today is the answer to the questions
we were asking yesterday,
what questions should we be asking now?

75. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy
If the future is a moving target…
…shouldn’t we be moving with it

76. Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy