The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies ( Danish: ''Instituttet for Fremtidsforskning'') is a Danish not-for-profit, independent futures think tank founded in 1969 by Thorkil Kristensen, former

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

Secretary-General for the betterment of our society. The Institute's mission is to facilitate knowledge about potential futures and it hosts various events during the year and collaborate on others, in Denmark and abroad. Lastly the Institute produce several publications, such as reports, magazines and books. The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies is organised as an association consisting of a wide range of member organisations and individuals. CIFS is not associated with any specific university or governmental body. The Institute's products include seminars, analyses, reports, courses, newsletters, books, and the magazine FARSIGHT. The work at the Institute rests on the assumptions outlined by military strategist

Herman Kahn Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was an American physicist and a founding member of the Hudson Institute, regarded as one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence ...

in his book: The Year 2000: A Framework for Speculation on the Next Thirty-three Years, and later adapted for strategic business planning by Pierre Wack from

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

History

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies was founded in 1969 by Professor Thorkil Kristensen, a member of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

who had previously been the Danish Minister of Finance and later the

Secretary-General. The organisation was established in collaboration with a number of Danish organisations who had a desire to qualify their decision-making basis through futures studies. Thorkil Kristensen was the CEO of the Institute from 1969 to 1988, after which Rolf Jensen took over until 2000. During this period, the Institute published the book The Dream Society, which became an international bestseller and was translated to several languages. From 2000 to 2013, the international outlook was expanded under the leadership of first Johan Peter Paludan and later Axel Olesen, and an especially Nordic focus characterised the circle of members and projects. In 2004 CIFS published the follow-up to The Dream Society, the book Creative Man. In 2010 CIFS launched the print magazine SCENARIO (since renamed FARSIGHT), which has since been sold from newsstands around the world. In 2019, the Institute became the facilitator of the Nordic Health 2030 Movement, a multi-stakeholder initiative intended to create collaboration around the future of health.

List of CEOs

* Thorkil Kristensen (1969-1972, 1973-1988) * Niels Ivar Bech (1972-1973) * Rolf Jensen (1988-2000) * Johan Peter Paludan (2001-2004) * Axel Olesen (2004-2013) * Claus Kjeldsen (2013-2018) * Daria Krivonos (2018-

Work

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies research covers a wide variety of topics from identification and statistically based analysis of global trends to subjective and emotional responses to the future. The work of the Institute is interdisciplinary, and its staff covers a number of academic disciplines and professional backgrounds, including

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource manageme ...

, and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

FARSIGHT Magazine

The institute publishes a quarterly magazine called ''FARSIGHT''. Some of the Institute's books include: * Jensen, Rolf. The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination will Transform your Business *Mogensen, Klaus Æ. Creative Man: The Future Consumer, Employee, and Citizen The Institute is the Danish Partner of the EUROCONSTRUCT network, which provides analysis and forecasts of construction in 19 Western and Central Eastern European countries.EUROCONSTRUCT Members
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History

List of CEOs

Work

FARSIGHT Magazine

References

Further reading