The Future: Foresight and Futures Studies is Growing

Recently (October), the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) held a very interesting event. Something like a webinar, but it lasted eighteen hours, starting in Europe and the U.K. in mid-day, moving on to Washington D.C., Houston, Hawaii and ending in Australia, mid-afternoon. Lots of speakers who offered several new ideas or challenges.
My contribution was to suggest that the field or profession was about to experience serious change, starting with substantial growth. I came to that conclusion largely through my work with the APF Student Recognition Program, which began in 2008. That year, we found eleven universities around the world that were offering Masters’ degrees for work in Foresight and Futures Studies.

This year, we invited twenty-six universities to participate, and we already know there will be more schools next year.

That’s only one indicator, but it looks pretty powerful to me. When I graduated from the University of Houston in 2000, I listened in to a conversation between academic futurists that suggested that there were only a few hundred career futurists (academics, business, government, etc.) in the world. Now we can see where existing programs will be graduating hundreds of career-qualified futurists every year, and growing.

The point I was making is that futurists of all types should be thinking of the growth that is coming, and how we (all of us) can prepare for it. Where will the jobs be? Academics will want to be sure their graduates find jobs, because employment of grads is what will keep the Futures programs growing, or at least staying alive. Futures consulting firms will be looking for opportunities to hire new graduates, but will have to expand their business to create those jobs. Large organizations and governments will be able to add more futurists, but will have to justify those hirings.

I happen to believe that Personal Futures may offer some opportunities for growing the futures industry. No, not teaching people one at a time about futuring, but working with companies who want to build client loyalty by helping those clients understand the future (Financial advisors and insurance companies for example). Also, working with large organizations that wish to educate executives (Long Term Perspective/ futures methods) and train personnel throughout the organization about futures methods in their lives and within the organization. Human Resource Development professionals have already shown considerable interest in these areas.

I’ll stop here and ask for your thoughts. What do you think about the growth of Foresight and Futures Studies? Do you see a potential for Personal Futures as one approach to encourage and grow interest in our field? Send me an email: verne@personalfutuers.net. I’ll include your thoughts in a future blog.
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