Sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future has launched a new website that offers insight and access into the organisation’s scenario-planning work aimed at helping business leaders make better decisions.
Called ‘The Futures Centre’, the digital platform will provide resources and tools to track trends such as rapid urbanisation, the energy transformation, and increasing inequality, among others.
Speaking at the launch held at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum on Thursday, founder of Forum for the Future Sir Jonathan Porritt said the platform was a result of the Forum’s desire to bring together diverse groups of people to solve complex challenges.
The UK-headquartered non-profit has nearly 20 years of experience in what it calls “futures techniques” such as scenarios and horizon scanning, to help business leaders consider the potential impact of longer-term trends including climate change and resource scarcity.
Porritt said that it was “strange” for Forum to be celebrating 20 years as it still thinks of itself as “a bit of a startup doing experimental things”.
Underlying the work of the organisation is the belief that “we can use the genius of the human species to make life better for 9 billion people,” he told about 100 people gathered for the launch.
Pepsico, HP, Levi’s, Sony and US retail giant Target are some companies that have worked with Forum using their methods. Regionally, the non-profit has worked with the Singapore office of The Swire Group and Malaysia-based Sime Darby to integrate long-term sustainability issues into their strategies.
The platform was developed with support from Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) and other Forum partners, which include multi-nationals such as Unilever, Marks and Spencer and Pepsico.
Ariel Muller, head of the Futures Centres and Forum’s Asia Pacific director, told Eco-Business the organisation’s choice to launch and base the platform in Singapore is “linked to our recognition of the fact that the country – and that of the Asia Pacific region more broadly – is where so much of the future is happening.”
“Siting the Futures Centre team based at the heart of this highly motivated business community will redress any bias towards Europe and the US in our futures work, and will maximise the potential for increasing the scale and impact of our work,” she said.
Stephanie Draper, Forum’s executive director for Asia Pacific, added: “The world is changing quickly and unpredictably, and nowhere more so than here in Asia Pacific. Any organisation that wants to thrive in the long term needs to understand the nature of that change, and make decisions today that protect them for tomorrow.”
Users can register to share and comment on the website’s resources. Over the coming year, Forum will launch ‘topic hubs’ which will bring together experts to explore a specific issue in detail. The first one to go live in April will focus on sustainable shipping.
Kelvin Wong, EDB’s assistant managing director, said, “We are pleased to support Forum for the Future’s establishment of the Futures Centre. The capabilities that the centre bring in future analysis and system innovation will strengthen Singapore’s role in enabling win-win partnerships between corporates, non-profits and public sector to create sustainable growth.”
