The future visits the present

There is a lot of activity at the Universeum science center in Gothenburg on the last day of January. In addition to the exhibition with 28 future prototypes, there are workshops on various themes and a lecture on methods in strategic foresight. School classes, pensioners, people on parental leave and white-collar workers are mixed in the place. Visitors can do everything from experiencing the food of the future in times of crisis to new ways of traveling and gaining an understanding of society's impact on our future.

Maria Wirén, Head of Development and Learning, Universeum.

- It was a good day for both visitors and exhibitors, where visions of the future created engagement. I particularly appreciate the breadth of visitors and the large participation in workshops on future issues, says Maria Wirén, head of development and learning at Universeum.

In the film, some of the projects tell more about their future prototypes. Representatives from the projects seen in the film are Viktor Norgren, EPA for the win, Erika Pohjanen Rossi, Food of the future about reacting and acting, Susanna Nissar, Mobility of the future for an aging population, Ida Lemone Skolhållplatsen.

Researchers study future prototypes as a format for dialogue

The exhibition at Universeum is part of a research project run by Universeum in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg with funding from Vinnova. The research project aims to test and develop event formats for the design and dialogue around future sustainable solutions.

The first step was to plan and implement the exhibition and right now the event is being evaluated to then further develop a concept that can be scaled up and spread, says Maria Wirén, head of development and learning at Universeum.

– It is important for us at Universeum to have event formats that work to stimulate dialogues between companies, decision-makers, civil society and the general public. We know that questions about the future are engaging, and we want to take advantage of that through experiences that create power to act, says Maria Wirén.

Joakim Skog, who leads the work on strategic foresight at Vinnova, sees the collaboration with Universeum as an exciting experiment and an opportunity to establish future prototypes as part of a concept for creating citizen dialogue.

– A previous round of future prototypes has been shown at Vinnova's premises to a small audience. It has worked well. But at Universeum we have the chance to take a major step forward in the development of meetings and dialogue when the prototypes reach a broad audience. It will be incredibly exciting to follow the results of the research project, says Joakim Skog.

Read the news article: The future comes to visit Universeum

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