Future prototypes – when the future visits the present

The project involves creating future prototypes. Future prototypes are objects from the future, visiting the present that aim to create thoughts, feelings and discussion about what kind of society we want in the future and how best to get there.

The call for proposals closed in March 2022. The prototypes must be designed by creators and must be developed and placed in relevant environments - to experience, think and talk about by autumn 2022.

The work with speculative design and future prototypes must become tools to be able to make conscious decisions that contribute to a sustainable transition. We see the tools as an opportunity to find new ways to visualize and invite the public to shape the Sweden we want.

The road to a future prototype

A future prototype starts with understanding where we are going. By analyzing the environment, we try to understand what it can say about the future. This can take place, for example, through interviews, data analysis and/or workshops. By talking to people from different backgrounds, environments and who are active in different contexts, we get a broader and more objective picture of the future - and can pick up so-called weak signals.

I Vinnovas effort also conducts interviews with the foremost thinkers in various fields to gain an understanding of their perspective. Together with creators, physical prototypes are built that can visualize designed products from the future. The path to future prototyping is called speculative design and is a way to help us think more long-term, include more perspectives, question our own truths and together shape new decision-making processes.

During the work, we are coached by Elliot Montogomery, teacher at Parsons School of Design and also founder of Extrapolation Factory, one of the world's leading organizations in speculative design.