Futures & Foresight events
Upcoming events
Discover future Futures & Foresight events, conferences, festivals and much more!
Find a mix of ANTICIPATE-hosted events and courses, and other forward-oriented gatherings focused on the latest trends, new technologies, and fresh ideas shaping the futures.
ATINER's 12th Annual International Symposium on Foresight
The symposium aims to gather scholars, researchers, and students from various fields related to Futures Studies. Participants will explore a range of methodologies, including scenario-building, horizon scanning, forecasting, roadmapping, back-casting, technology assessment, Delphi surveys, and the use of social platforms.
ACT Futures Mosaic: Lisbon Edition
ANTICIPATE is excited to bring ACT Futures Mosaic to Lisbon for its second edition: a participatory futures workshop and travelling installation designed to make future thinking tangible, collective and visual. This three-hour session will create the next layer of the mosaic, connecting reflections and future artefacts from Lisbon with a growing archive shaped across cities and communities.
Brasil Futures Forum
The Brasil Futures Forum invites participants to co-create better futures through dialogue, collaboration, and collective imagination. Hosted at the iconic Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, the forum positions itself as a space built on listening, representation, and shared vision-building, bringing together diverse voices to explore what more desirable futures could look like for Brazil and beyond.
The Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference 2026
The Asia Pacific Futures Network (APFN) will return to Bangkok for its 12th conference, bringing together futurists, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders from across the region. Hosted in Bangkok for the fourth time, the conference aims to raise the profile of futures thinking and strategic foresight in ASEAN and the wider Asia-Pacific.
EASST’s Biennial Conference 2026. More than Now: Exploring Resilient Futures
The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners inScience and Technology Studies (STS) to its 2026 Biennial Conference in Krakow. EASST brings together an interdisciplinarycommunity spanning social sciences, humanities, engineering,and natural sciences, united by a shared interest in how science and technology shape society, and how societies shape science and technology.
esse-sense Future Forum 2026
The esse-sense Future Forum 2026 is a unique gathering designed to bridge one of society’s most persistent divides: the distance between frontier research and its real-world application. Across two days in Tokyo, more than 170 researchers and approximately 1,000 participants come together to explore how scientific knowledge, creativity, and interdisciplinary dialogue can contribute to shaping the future.
Futures Studies Conference 2026 (Convegno di Futures Studies)
The Futures Studies Conference 2026, organised by the Italian Institute for the Future, will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and organisations working with futures studies and strategic foresight. The 2026 edition focuses on long-term thinking as a response to short-termism and global polycrisis.
Futures4Europe Conference 2026: Daring to Imagine Otherwise
Sep 30-Oct 1 in Rome, Italy
The Futures4Europe Conference returns for its second edition in Rome, building on the inaugural gathering held in Vienna in 2025. Rooted in the Futures4Europe platform — Europe’s online hub for foresight — the conference continues the work initiated through the EU-funded Eye of Europe project.
Future Festival World Summit
Hosted by Trend Hunter, the Future Festival World Summit 2026 brings together innovators, strategists, marketers, researchers, and business leaders to explore how organisations can stay ahead of change in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. This year’s theme, Unlocking the Human Advantage in Innovation, focuses on the uniquely human capabilities, creativity, intuition, cultural understanding, and strategic thinking, that will become even more valuable as AI transforms industries and ways of working.
African Futures Conference 2026: From Data to Decisions
The African Futures Conference is the continent’s leading platform for exploring and amplifying African-led foresight. The 2026 edition brings together policymakers, analysts, researchers, young changemakers, and foresight practitioners for two days of bold thinking, rigorous analysis, and practical collaboration.
Foresight Conference 2026
The Market Research Society's Foresight Conference is where the foresight and market research communities meet, exploring how to embed futures thinking, forecasting, and foresight into projects — and how to demonstrate their commercial value. Expect practical sessions on using futures methods to boost organisational preparedness, sharpen positioning, and feed innovation pipelines, with speakers from Amazon, Shell, Jaguar Land Rover, McDonald's, and Beiersdorf, among others.
Vision Weekend USA 2026
Foresight Institute's flagship gathering returns to San Francisco, marking the organization's 40th anniversary. Around 300 frontier scientists, builders, entrepreneurs, funders, and activists come together for three days of presentations, unconference discussions, office hours, and live technology demos — all focused on the scientific and technological breakthroughs that will shape the coming decades.
Dubai Future Forum 2026
Nov 17th-18th 2026, Dubai, UAE
The Dubai Future Forum is an annual event hosted by the Dubai Future Foundation at the iconic Museum of the Future that brings together futurists, foresight practitioners, thought leaders, and experts from academia and various industries as well as government to anticipate challenges, imagine opportunities, share foresight, and shape the future.
UNESCO World Futures Day 2026
Dec 2nd, 2026, Global
To underscore the universal nature of anticipatory activities and advance futures thinking, UNESCO has designated December 2nd as World Futures Day, emphasizing the role of foresight in addressing present and future challenges. Aligned with the UN Secretary-General's "Our Common Agenda," this initiative advocates for using foresight to secure a sustainable future. A key aspect of UNESCO's approach is the promotion of futures literacy as a capability for all, fostering inclusive discussions.
World Futures Day - Young Voices 2027
An annual 24-hour global conversation about the future, co-led by young people and futurists. Every hour, participants from different time zones join online to share their ideas, aspirations, concerns, and visions for the future. Launched in 2021 by Teach the Future in collaboration with The Millennium Project and other partners, the event creates a dedicated platform for youth to be active contributors in shaping the futures they will inherit.
Foresight Practitioner Conference 2027
The International Institute of Forecasters' deliberately small (<100 participants) conference brings together business leaders, forecasting practitioners, and leading researchers to critically explore the state of forecasting practice, creating space for in-depth discussion, peer learning, and meaningful exchange between research and practice.
SXSW 2027
SXSW returns to downtown Austin in 2027 with an earlier start and expanded schedule, once again featuring its hallmark blend of Innovation, Music, Film & TV, and Comedy programming. The dedicated Futurism track gathers thought leaders, creatives, and technologists to explore long-range thinking, speculative design, and the societal impacts of cutting-edge developments.
Urban Future 2027
Europe's leading gathering for people who make cities better crosses continents in 2027, bringing the world's most enthusiastic urbanists, city leaders, architects, planners, and changemakers to Istanbul — a city that itself bridges Europe and Asia.
IASP 2027 Global Conference
The International Association for Strategy Professionals brings its annual Global Conference to Louisville, gathering strategy leaders, consultants, executives, and transformation professionals from around the world for networking, professional development, and learning across the full strategy discipline.
Rulebreaker Future Congress 2027
The Rulebreaker Future Congress moves to Berlin for its 26th edition, hosted at Germany's largest conference hotel with room for 2,000 participants. The event once again brings pioneers and technology leaders from Silicon Valley, China, and the Middle East to Germany — with one rule only: no talk of the present, just questions about how the world will look in ten years.
Curious2027 Future Insight Conference
July 2027, online and Heidelberg, Germany
The Curious – Future Insight™ Conference is a large gatherings focused on the future of science and technology. The conference brings together top scientists, innovators, and industry leaders to discuss breakthroughs in health, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, material sciences, energy, robotics, mobility, space flight, and more.
Live Learning Experience: The Foresight Facilitator 2 (ANTICIPATE) - Session 2
SESSION 2
The Foresight Facilitator is a live, online learning experience for people who want to get better at guiding futures conversations, with teams, clients, and communities. Most foresight trainings focus on methods and outputs. This experience focuses on what’s usually skipped: how you hold the room. Across two 3-hour live sessions, you’ll work through a practical arc — Design, Develop, Deliver, Debrief — and build a facilitation style that is clear, grounded, and adaptable.
RCA Design Futures Symposium 2026: Untangling Tomorrows
The RCA Design Futures Symposium returns for its third edition, bringing together designers, futurists, policymakers, academics, and practitioners to explore how futures thinking can help us navigate an increasingly complex world.
Live Learning Experience: The Foresight Facilitator 2 (ANTICIPATE) - Session 1
SESSION 1
The Foresight Facilitator is a live, online learning experience for people who want to get better at guiding futures conversations, with teams, clients, and communities. Most foresight trainings focus on methods and outputs. This experience focuses on what’s usually skipped: how you hold the room. Across two 3-hour live sessions, you’ll work through a practical arc — Design, Develop, Deliver, Debrief — and build a facilitation style that is clear, grounded, and adaptable.
2026 Transition Design Conference: Weaving Regenerative Futures
The fifth Transition Design Conference will gather academics, researchers, and practitioners working on sustainability transitions and systems change, as well as those new to the field.
Anticipation Conference 2026
The 6th International Conference on Anticipation will convene at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano, bringing together researchers, designers, philosophers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore how ideas about futures operate under uncertainty, indeterminacy, and unknowing.
EADI/IOB 2026 Conference — Shaping Sustainable Futures: Global Challenges, (G)local Solutions?
The 2026 EADI/IOB conference will explore the dynamics of sustainability across ecological, socio-economic, cultural, and political dimensions, with a focus on how global challenges intersect with local realities. The event will examine tensions and synergies between global frameworks—such as climate agreements, the Sustainable Development Goals, and international trade policies—and local, context-driven approaches to sustainability.
Organizations in Uncertain Worlds
The Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations convenes scholars and practitioners exploring how organizations evolve in times of volatility, complexity, and systemic transition.
Aotearoa Futures Forum 2026
The Aotearoa Futures Forum 2026 brings together those shaping, stewarding, and resourcing the future across local, regional, and national contexts in New Zealand. Framed around the idea of re-weaving the future, the forum invites participants to confront the present, let go of outdated systems, and actively build what comes next.
International Conference on Theory and Practice of Intelligent Cities
The 3rd IC² – International Conference on Theory and Practice of Intelligent Cities brings together academics, practitioners, policymakers, and industry leaders to explore how cities can become more intelligent, sustainable, and innovation-driven.
ANTICIPATE will deliver a keynote on the Transformation of Copenhagen
ACT Futures Mosaic (ANTICIPATE Lab)
ANTICIPATE is excited to host a new experimental lab at Future Days 2026: ACT Futures Mosaic, a participatory futures workshop and live installation designed to make future thinking tangible, collective, and visual. This 2-hour session marks the first-ever edition of the format and the founding moment of what will become an evolving travelling installation.
Breakfast Club: Copenhagen (co-hosted by ANTICIPATE)
Since many of us will be gathered in Copenhagen for the amazing Future Days festival, we’re hosting a small Breakfast Club on June 10th from 7.45–9.15. And you are invited. Yes, you. Come by for coffee, breakfast, and good conversations with good people. Nothing too formal (do book a seat though, as we have reserved a table).
Future Days 26: Currents of Tomorrow
Future Days 26 (FD26) is a festival dedicated to futures for systemic thinkers, innovators, creatives, purpose-driven organizations, and policymakers, all with a shared vision of shaping the future of urban life and fostering equitable societies.
The new location of Copenhagen meets Future Days along its canals. Mimicking the currents of water that come together to bring the city to life, Currents of Tomorrow will look at the many streams of futures that move and interact, reflecting on the undercurrents shaping design, society, and governance.
WE ARE HOSTING ACT FUTURES MOSAIC, AN OFFICIAL SIDE EVENT: https://www.anticipate.dk/futures-foresight-events/act-futures-mosaic
Futures Conference 2026: Sustainability, Temporalities and Futures
The Futures Conference 2026 will explore the theme Sustainability, Temporalities and Futures, examining how different concepts of time shape sustainable transitions and long-term thinking. The event will bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to address pressing global challenges from temporal, ecological, and societal perspectives.
Rulebreaker Future Congress 2026
The Rulebreaker Future Congress returns in 2026, setting new standards for inspiration, innovation, and foresight. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, this landmark event promises to be bigger, bolder, and more relevant than ever before, bringing together people whose ideas are changing the world.
Vision Weekend 2026
Over three days in London, leading researchers, builders, funders, and technologists will come together to explore which scientific and technological breakthroughs will shape the coming decades, and how to turn them into reality.
IASP 2026 Global Conference: Leading Transformation with Momentum
The International Association for Strategy Professionals (IASP) invites strategy leaders, consultants, executives, and transformation professionals to its 2026 Global Conference in Winnipeg. Under the theme “Leading Transformation with Momentum,” the conference focuses on how organizations sustain energy, alignment, and execution in times of complexity and change.
Future of Everything Festival 2026: Work, Wealth and Health in an AI-Enabled Future
The Wall Street Journal’s flagship live event, The Future of Everything, brings together leading voices and influential figures from across the full spectrum of the Journal’s coverage—from business, technology, and economics to sports, entertainment, and style.
World Beautiful Business Forum
In 2026, the House of Beautiful Business turns ten, marking the milestone with the launch of the World Beautiful Business Forum, a new gathering for those who dream bigger, aim higher, and seek more. The forum invites bold, original, and whimsical minds from across disciplines to think, feel, and do business beyond business.
Democratising Futures (Thinking) w/ Mathias Behn Bjørnhof
Futures thinking is often treated as a specialist capability — held by experts, consultants, or senior leaders. But in a world shaped by accelerating change, complexity, and uncertainty, the future affects everyone — and should be shaped by many. This webinar explores why futures thinking must be democratised, and what it actually takes to make it usable, participatory, and decision-relevant across organisations and communities.
Webinar with our Director Mathias Behn Bjørnhof
Masterclass: Cultural Foresight (ANTICIPATE)
Culture often tells us about change before the numbers do. While technology transforms systems, culture reveals how these transformations are interpreted, adopted, and lived. In this practical and inspiring masterclass, foresight experts Mathias Behn Bjørnhof (ANTICIPATE) and Chloé de Ruffray introduce cultural foresight as a way to understand emerging behaviors, values, narratives, and social dynamics and turn them into strategic insight.
PolyFutures 2026: Reimagining Policymaking for Europe
Hosted by the EU Policy Lab, PolyFutures 2026 brings together policymakers, futurists, designers, and behavioural scientists to explore how foresight and design can transform European policymaking. Organised as part of the European Commission’s Knowledge4Policy platform, the event focuses on building long-term, future-oriented approaches to governance in an era defined by complexity and systemic challenges.
Bridging Opportunities: Connecting German Companies with the Öresund Region (ANTICIPATE Networking Event)
Organized by the Economic Development Agency Brandenburg (WFBB) in partnership with 4sing and ANTICIPATE, this networking event brings together companies from Brandenburg (Germany) and the Öresund region for an afternoon of exchange, insight, and new connections.
Nordic Baltic Design in Government Spring Conference 2026
The Nordic Baltic Design in Government Spring Conference brings together public servants, designers, researchers, policymakers, consultants, and innovation practitioners across the Nordic and Baltic region.
The 2026 theme, “Emerging Streams of Design” highlights both impactful cases from across the region and new approaches like futures that are shaping the next phase of public sector design.
Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium 2026
The symposium is a community-driven event that invites futurists, foresight practitioners, and those passionate about sustainable futures to come together, share knowledge, and build connections across Oceania. The symposium aims to create a flexible model for futures thinking, adaptable throughout the region and independent of any single association
Live Learning Experience: The Foresight Facilitator (ANTICIPATE) - Session 2
SESSION 2
The Foresight Facilitator is a live, online learning experience for people who want to get better at guiding futures conversations, with teams, clients, and communities. Most foresight trainings focus on methods and outputs. This experience focuses on what’s usually skipped: how you hold the room. Across two 3-hour live sessions, you’ll work through a practical arc — Design, Develop, Deliver, Debrief — and build a facilitation style that is clear, grounded, and adaptable.
Urban Future 2026
Urban Future is Europe’s leading gathering for people who make cities better. Each year, it brings together the world’s most enthusiastic urbanists, city leaders, architects, planners, and changemakers, and in 2026, the movement comes to Ljubljana.
The Summit 2026
The Summit is a Nordic gathering for leaders, innovators, and forward-thinking organisations who want to explore the futures of emerging technologies and understand their profound impact on business, society, and organisational readiness.
SXSW 2026
SXSW 2026, taking place in Austin, Texas, will once again feature its hallmark blend of music, film, and interactive programming — including an Innovation-focused event and a dedicated Futurism track. The Futurism track will gather thought leaders, creatives, and technologists to explore long-range thinking, speculative design, and the societal impacts of cutting-edge developments.
Live Learning Experience: The Foresight Facilitator (ANTICIPATE) - Session 1
SESSION 1
The Foresight Facilitator is a live, online learning experience for people who want to get better at guiding futures conversations, with teams, clients, and communities. Most foresight trainings focus on methods and outputs. This experience focuses on what’s usually skipped: how you hold the room. Across two 3-hour live sessions, you’ll work through a practical arc — Design, Develop, Deliver, Debrief — and build a facilitation style that is clear, grounded, and adaptable.
Foresight Practitioner Conference 2026
The Foresight Practitioner Conference brings together business leaders, forecasting practitioners, and leading researchers to critically explore the state of forecasting practice — with a strong focus on AI-driven forecasting. The conference is deliberately small (<100 participants), creating space for in-depth discussion, peer learning, and meaningful exchange between research and practice.