The updated world's challenges below show the top threats and opportunities as they are forecasted to be seven years from now. You can check out what you don't know about these, and specific topics of interest to you, using the search box above, or the links below to begin planning and actioning your response.

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 Our service helps you to address an issue of importance to you in a systematic manner:
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 By analyzing underlying Issues using the
methods here, and picturing what's
likely/unlikely to happen within the global
environment, mental models of possible
futures can be created from which
preferable futures can be chosen
 By choosing unique and preferable futures
people and organizations shape their and
our tomorrows and create leadership
positions
 You can too quickly and easily here
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 Managing change is a process that can be
systematized
 Increasing strategic foresight capability is
the first step in change management
 Having strategic foresight increases future
opportunity and reduces emerging risk
 You can Add Sources to scan for, identify
and monitor change going on around you
and to look for more evidence of change to
confirm or deny the FORECASTS our robot
has automatically extracted from the
content here
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By kind permission of Dr. Wendy Schultz

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 Scanning is analogous to an early warning
radar, a continuous process of scanning the
environment to identify signals of change
and emerging trends
 An excellent early warning radar looks at
all aspects of the global environment
scanning for (p)olitical, (e)conomic,
(social), (t)echnological change .. as this
service does
 Good scanning explores both new, strange
and weird ideas, as well as persistent
challenges and trends, today
 In the recent past, scanning was a hugely
time-consuming activity. But now, our
robot Athena, does far more with less than
is humanly possible.
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DATA
INFORMATION
KNOWLEDGE
WISDOM
Raw evidence to
INSIGHTS
Extracted indicators to
FORECASTS
QUESTIONS* to ANSWERS &
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
METHODS to RESPONSES
`
What must be done?
What could be done?
What is predicted?
What is reported?
Our ProcessStrategic Foresight
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIKW_pyramid
Sources
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* Athena now gathers the Data and extracts
verbatim Information instantly. She is now
beginning to offer Knowledge on what could
be done by finding Answers to extracted
Questions on the Web and potential solutions.

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 By collecting Insights about emerging
change, analyzing underlying patterns,
finding future FORECASTS and picturing
what’s likely/unlikely to happen within the
global environment, mental models of
possible futures can be created from which
your preferable future can be chosen
 By choosing preferable futures people and
organizations shape their and our
tomorrows and create leadership positions
 You to can quickly and easily
Tracking and analysing how a trend emerges and
diffuses throughout society over time
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 Scanning involves identifying Insights
about change and analyzing the content
 An Insight is a raw and single point
observation of change drawn from reports,
articles, PDF’s, videos etc.
 For instance, when you read a daily
newspaper you will regularly see new
events and discoveries being reported
 Capturing the Insights systematically
underpins the scanning process
 This is a mammoth task done manually,
but fortunately our system almost
completely automates the process
 You need merely add Sources of interest to
you and our robot, Athena, will do the rest
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 Scanning allows you, and your colleagues
to ask ‘what if?’ questions by reading
embedded FORECASTS in Insights
- What if this happened in the world today?
- What does it mean for others?
- What does it mean for us?
- How should we respond and when?
 Select those for further investigation and
deeper thinking that look as though they
will generate significant change in your
world and that of your stakeholders
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 This market-leading service removes all the
drudgery from scanning the horizon for change
 Our robot, Athena, automatically extracts meta
data and future FORECASTS from Insights
 You can search for a topic from the home page
or the site search box to obtain an instant
listing of qualitative future FORECASTS
 The service will also provide quantitative
METRICS in visual form
 Then determine your response by adding a
project and using TOOLS to make better
strategic decisions today
 You can also obtain more lagging and co-
incident information on your interest topic By
clicking the INTELLIGENCE buttons
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 See emerging change using pattern
recognition tools: tag clouds, timelines,
maps, graphs, tables, voting
 Know how your own organization’s and our
members thinking is changing over time
 Look for patterns, ideas and uncertainties
among the presented content
Here is how forward thinking individuals and
organizations stay ahead of slower rivals:
 Add and share FORECASTS with
colleagues.
 Speed read each others article titles and/or
descriptions
 Look for patterns, risks, opportunities
across FORECASTS
 Delve deeper into content of interest by
clicking on it
 ‘Refer’ specific trends, ideas, uncertainties
and potential
 Make it a regular weekly habit
Use METRICS to capture specific trends, ideas,
uncertainties and potential surprises that need to be
considered further in project form or click the plus
button
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 Search for a topic of interest to you and then click any
Tool button to add a project on the subject. A spreadsheet of your
selected items will also begin downloading automatically. Save
your project, setting the Decision field based on your initial
thoughts as to its importance and urgency. Now, click ‘Decisions’,
select your project title from All Decisions and then choose
the method(s) that best completes your project
 The methods are laid out in logical sequence for completing a full
strategic foresight project in just a few hours or a couple of days
 We recommend you begin with Options reading the instructions
to complete a strategic foresight project in just a few hours
 All methods can be used by you alone or in collaboration with
associates either face-to-t0 face or remotely
 Click the method's title for a detailed description of its benefits, use,
disadvantages and how to get the best out of the method
 You can use the methods in isolation or in sequence to fit your needs
Develop your thinking on future questions important to you
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When you search for your interest topic Athena will also
display the:
CONTEXTS: circumstances and facts about your
interest topic
DIMENSIONS: indicators of importance and magnitude
ALTERNATIVES: courses of action or reaction that may
arise
CONTRASTS: differences in your interest topic from
other topics
Use these to rapidly flesh out your knowledge of your
interest topic and to create full strategic foresight
reports.
When we write major futures research reports for our
clients we follow the sequences here to provide a
logical sequence to our research

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 Look for interdependencies, feedback delays
and repeating patterns amongst Insights. Try
to:
- See ahead: look to what’s coming next
- See behind: understand the past
- See above: take a helicopter view too
- See below: find the diamond in the rough
- See beside: remove the blinkers
- See beyond: question what’s beyond the
horizon
- See through: look for fresh essence and
meaning
See above
See beside
See ahead
See beyond
See below
Brainstorming: Nasi 1991 / Mintzberg 1998
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Tag: use descriptors to bookmark your
favorites, assign project names, track
competitors etc
Report: add to your report
Share: email to associates and add this link
to social media sites

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 You may find our Practical Foresight Guide
useful too, in quickly bringing yourself up
to speed with the underlying concepts of
and uses for strategic foresight.
 NB: the Scanning section of the PFG needs
a complete re-write to take account of our
increasing AI capability but the guide is
still correct and Athena uses many of the
principles described there to do her work.
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 ATHENA is Shaping Tomorrow's robot
scanner, and your digital coach and
personal assistant
 She uses artificial intelligence to
automatically find, extract and interpret
the implications drawn from articles,
reports and PowerPoints on the web
 She also is increasingly helping you, our
members, clients and partners with advice
and help as you work
 We are striving to make her perfect but we
know she makes interpretative mistakes.
 That's why Shaping Tomorrow still needs
editors to clean up the Forecasts and
Implications after she has done her work.
 But tests have shown that she works
>5,000+ times faster than using manual
methods. So, please cut her some slack if
what she tell you is good enough for you to
use and let us know if you see how we
could improve her service to you
More about me here:
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 Begin exploring the service
 Work your way through this Guide in byte-
sized chucks until you become masterful
 Learn how to get ahead of rivals
 Contact us if you have any difficulties or
would like up to 40 minutes free, online
training
We are here to help. Feel free to contact us
 +44 (0) 1273 832221
 info@shapingtomorrow.com
 Skype: shapingtomorrow
 Ask Athena
“We are here to help you make
better strategy decisions today, faster.
better and cheaper than ever before”
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