In an era of constant disruption, simply having a "good" purpose is no longer enough to drive systemic change. Purpose-driven entrepreneurs are realizing that to solve today’s grand challenges, they cannot just react to the world as it is—they must design the world as it should be.
To create truly transformative change, we must design the future.
What is futures design?
Futures Design is an approach that helps you identify emerging trends, articulate possible scenarios, and make strategic choices to proactively shape what comes next. It is a new way to innovate by imagining differently.
While traditional entrepreneurship often tries to tame uncertainty by looking at the past, Futures Design leverages uncertainty as a tool for imagination. It combines three disciplines to create change:
- Foresight practice: We use horizon scanning to move beyond mainstream thinking and identify the emerging signals of change that others miss.
- Storytelling: We craft compelling narratives of alternative futures to help us navigate complexity and imagine possibilities that don't yet exist.
- Design strategy: We apply innovation and prototyping skills to not just describe the future, but to bring it to life through tangible products, services, and business models.
Futures design for changemaking
Futures Design is uniquely suited for those who believe the future can always be otherwise. It is uniquely suited for changemaking because:
- It reclaims agency: Instead of being powerless observers of trends, entrepreneurs become creators who actively build the future they want to see.
- It decolonizes imagination: It helps us challenge the few, dominant images of the future that often trap us in the imagination of others.
- It reframes crisis as transition: In a polycrisis, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Futures Design helps us see this moment as a profound transition—a crossroads between the old world and a new one we have the power to shape.
- It shifts from problem-solving to systemic change: Instead of fixing a broken system, it empowers changemakers to rethink entire paradigms from the ground up.
Futures design in action
What does this look like in practice? Whether you are an educator rethinking access to culture, a designer reimagining migration, or a creative championing a new mindset for nature, Futures Design helps you build a more desirable tomorrow. Here is how Futures Design looks in action:
- Look back to look forward: You begin by thinking like a historian. You map the milestones and shifts that led to the present to uncover the current "paradigm." By understanding the history of your topic, you identify where change is possible.
- Scan for signals of change: You train your eyes to see "weak signals"—niche innovations, emerging behaviors, or cultural shifts that are barely visible today but point to radical shifts tomorrow.
- Map alternative futures: You use these signals to explore "what if" scenarios that challenge your current assumptions, and identify what is transformative, desirable, or even unthinkable.
- Prototype your vision: You define a “moonshot” strategy designed to achieve 10X impact, and you create a near-future product, an impact-driven business model, and a marketing strategy to spark a global movement.
- Launch your changemaker business: Finally, this is where you activate your strategy in the real world. You turn your vision into fuel, sparking the momentum needed to lead your community toward a brighter future.
Step into the future
If you’re an entrepreneur in the creative or cultural sectors with a business idea that’s not only seeking to make money, but to build a brighter future for all people and the planet, we invite you to join the next cohort of our Futures Design Accelerator.
Over 8 weeks of hands-on training, expert coaching, and collaborative work with our global community of changemakers, we will help you create a purposeful business that tackles the causes you care about, drives transformative impact, and builds a brighter future for all.
Join us and let’s Make Better.
