Once the preparatory phase is complete, the process is carried out through five steps involving a combination of introductory materials, independent work and group workshops, all supported by individual sessions with Futurice.
1. Futures literacy – getting started
This introductory stage presents an opportunity for the actors to familiarise themselves with the futures thinking concept through one-on-one sessions with Futurice and get to know each other in a collaborative workshop.
2. Horizon scanning – identifying trends
At this stage we go a little deeper, looking at the activities that Futurice facilitates within the ecosystem, including trend collection, drivers of change and smart money mapping, along with outputs for each activity.
3. Future table – converging trends
This phase begins with a massive list of signals, cues and trends. We then speculate on how all of these trends may be manifested in the future to create a future table for each actor, eventually combining the tables to produce a joint one for the ecosystem.
4. Future states – creating scenarios
Having created the future table, the next step is to create detailed scenarios from the perspectives of hypothetical individuals living within the imagined manifestation of the trends examined. Individual companies within the ecosystem are then encouraged to consider their roles and how they will address the opportunities and challenges within these future world scenarios. This is not just a theoretical exercise – if done correctly, it will lead to concrete actions.
5. Impact mapping – looking forwards
This final stage wraps up the process with a gap analysis, experimentation roadmap and a group sharing event for the ecosystem actors along with a partner-specific analysis and a project report. The aim is to take meaningful steps towards the concrete actions that the partners can take moving forwards.