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"The European Journal of Futures Research is a peer-reviewed open access jounral published under the brand SpringerOpen: It publishes original research papers on all aspects of foresight and futures studies; Welcomes (inter-)disciplinary articles on society, politics, economy and science and technology, in particular from European and/or comparative perspectives; Encourages empirical, theoretical and/or methodological contributions; Strengthens networking and community building among scholars engaged in European futures studies. This journal provides an international platform for leading and upcoming scholarly work on possible, probable and desirable European and global futures. We invite submissions of articles focusing on both interdisciplinary and disciplinary studies on future developments in society, politics, economy and science and technology. The journal publishes empirically oriented articles as well as contributions of a more methodological, epistemological or theoretical nature.  Envisioning a common future, the journal welcomes lively debates on European affairs - viewed against the backdrop of a shared, yet diverse and complicated history. The journal seeks to foster comprehensive analyses of key European policies, such as those for research and education - among others. A central objective of the journal is to strengthen European dimensions of futures studies. All research articles are subject to double-blind peer review."

About the iKNOW projectiKNOW is a new blue sky research and horizon scanning project launched by the European Commission and led by Rafael Popper of the University of Manchester and the participation of seven other partners (FFRC, Z_punkt, TC AS, RTC, ICTAF, Cyber Fox and Mindcom). iKNOW aims to advance knowledge and tools related to events and developments (e.g. wild cards and weak signals) potentially shaping and shaking the future of science, technology and innovation (STI).

The Open Technology Initiative formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open source innovations and facilitates the development and implementation of open technologies and communications networks. OTI promotes affordable, universal, and ubiquitous communications networks through partnerships with communities, researchers, industry, and public interest groups and is committed to maximizing the potentials of innovative open technologies by studying their social and economic impacts - particularly for poor, rural, and other underserved constituencies. OTI provides in-depth, objective research, analysis, and findings for policy decision-makers and the general public. More Info

Absent significant changes on the spending and/or revenue sides of the federal budget, long term deficits will encumber a growing share of federal resources and test the capacity of current and future generations to afford both today's and tomorrow's commitments. Continuing on this unsustainable path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living and ultimately our national security. Incremental approaches to budgeting will need to give way to more fundamental and periodic reexaminations of the base of government, ultimately covering discretionary and mandatory programs as well as the revenue side of the budget. Having identified the major fiscal challenge facing the nation, and given our role in supporting the Congress, we believe that GAO also has an obligation to provide policymakers with support in identifying issues and options that could help to address these fiscal pressures. In this report, we draw on our past and pending work-about 90 percent of which is either requested by the Congress or required by law-- to provide policy makers with examples of the kinds of hard choices stemming from these challenges in the form of questions for elected officials and other policy makers to consider.

"It all started with Steven Ing's counseling practice. He was working with all sorts of people who were dissatisfied with their lives in one way or another. A man and wife who couldn't talk to each other about their problems, a woman who felt depressed but didn't know why, an older man who seemed to hate the world. And then there were the people who had committed sex crimes who were court ordered to go through therapy with Ing. As Ing went on with his practice, it became apparent to him that his "regular" clients and his "sex-offender" clients all had similar problems that stemmed from the same place. The problems all came back to their individual sexualities and inability to cope with them. Ing then went further and realized that these problems were societal, no one seemed to be able to have an open and honest conversation about sex. But it was not just because in his own backyard that struggled with this aspect of their lives, it was people and cultures all over the world as well. So Ing decided to start a community called "sexual futurist." He wasn't trying to solve everyone's problems or tell them what to think, he just wanted to encourage people to start having intelligent and logical conversations about sex to ultimately lead to change for the better. If we are able to have these intelligent conversations about sex using reason and logic, perhaps one day we'll start being more comfortable with the topic and therefore able to respect sex as an important aspect of our lives. Perhaps we will be able to encourage the United Nations to help people all over the world by enacting our "Sexual Bill of Rights.""

Thought leaders in the field - including Bruce Sterling, Jamais Cascio, Bill McKibben, Witold Rybczynski and Jay Oglivy - will kick-start the launch by blogging about what "prevailing" means to them. Readers will be encouraged to become authors and help direct the discussion in groups devoted to everything from "Creating Stronger, Faster Communities" and "Human Enhancement" to "Revolutionizing Learning" and "Foresight - How Can We Think Critically About the Future?" "Prevailproject.org will be a place for everybody from my mother to technologists inventing the future to grapple with some of the most pressing questions of our time: How are the genetics, robotics, information and nano revolutions changing human nature, and how can we shape our own futures, toward our own ends, rather than being the pawns of these explosively powerful technologies?" said Joel Garreau, the Lincoln Professor of Law, Culture and Values at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, and director of The Prevail Project: Wise Governance for Challenging Futures.

Facing declining visitors and uncertainty about what to do about it, library administrators in the new town of Almere in the Netherlands did something extraordinary. They redesigned their libraries based on the changing needs and desires of library users and, in 2010, opened the Nieuwe Bibliotheek (New Library), a thriving community hub that looks more like a bookstore than a library. Guided by patron surveys, administrators tossed out traditional methods of library organization, turning to retail design and merchandising for inspiration. They now group books by areas of interest, combining fiction and nonfiction; they display books face-out to catch the eye of browsers; and they train staff members in marketing and customer service techniques. The library is also a Seats2meet (S2M) location where patrons are empowered to help one another in exchange for free, permanent, coworking space, and they utilize the S2M Serendipity Machine to connect library users in real-time. They also have a bustling cafe, an extensive events and music program, a gaming facility, a reading garden and more. The result? The New Library surpassed all expectation about usage with over 100,000 visitors in the first two months. It is now considered one of the most innovative libraries in the world.

"A NEW citizen science project will be launched next month to help researchers assess how our marine ecosystems are changing in response to ocean warming. Currently each year over three million Australian's go fishing, diving and boating and scientists want to enlist their help to collect valuable data for the RangeExtension Database and Mapping Project. Redmap invites recreational and commercial fishers, scuba divers, boaters and scientists in Western Australia to spot, log and map any uncommon marine species not usually seen in their particular coastal areas."

Provides insight + surprising solutions for the dramatic field of peri-urbanisation in Europe Introduces innovative tools for planners, scientists and lay-persons allowing to integratevily analyze the impact of peri-urbanisation onto sustainable development Has unique maps showing EU-periurbanisation effects on a pan-European level Has a conclusive didactic approach + text structure (e.g.  inserts, boxes ...) Presently, peri-urbanisation is one of the most pervasive processes of land use change in Europe with strong impacts on environment and quality of life. Urgently strategies and tools in support of sustainable development have to be developed. The book synthesizes results of PLUREL, a large European Commission funded research project (2007-2010). Tools and strategies of PLUREL address main challenges of managing land use in peri-urban areas. Results will be presented and illustrated through 6 case studies which are at the core of the book. A novel, futures oriented approach to the planning and management of peri-urban areas with a main focus on scenarios and sustainability impact analysis. The book is unique: - futures oriented (e.g. IPCC framework), - links quantitative modeling and sustainability impact analysis with qualitative & in-depth analysis of regional strategies - links study at European level (Nuts 2&3 regions) with case study work - involves a Chinese case study

To explore the iKnow system please use the top navigation menu to access the iScan - to monitor and search WI-WE issues, the iDelphi - to assess and prioritise WI-WE issues, the iLibrary - to share innovation and foresight and horizon scanning (FHS) documents, the iCommunity - to engage and network innovation and FHS people, the iNews - to feature selected contributions to iKnow's FHS systems, and the iOracle - to map FHS practices, players and outcomes - in collaboration with the mapping activities of the European Foresight Platform. To learn about the iKnow project's objectives and background, please click here .

"We are Academically Qualified Futurists who provide innovative, dynamic leadership and qualified expertise in transformation practice from a futurist perspective. The purpose of our practice is to create powerful, measurable and practical results for individuals and organisations by providing the expertise and proven methodology to guide them to shape their best possible future, the future they aspire to live. We work one on one with individuals from Australia and around the world to assist them to identify, strategically plan and create significant, conscious and purposeful improvement in their life. We work with organisations in Australia to assist leaders in the strategic development and implementation of significant, cultural and business transformation."

2020 Media Futures is an ambitious, multi-industry strategic foresight project designed to understand and envision what media may look like in the year 2020; what kind of cross-platform Internet environment may shape our media and entertainment in the coming decade; and how our firms and organizations can take action today toward capturing and maintaining positions of national and international leadership.

IN library - Open-source foresight project on future media 2020 Media Futures is an ambitious, multi-industry strategic foresight project designed to understand and envision what media may look like in the year 2020; what kind of cross-platform Internet environment may shape our media and entertainment in the coming decade; and how our firms and organizations can take action today toward capturing and maintaining positions of national and international leadership.

Title: Scenarios 2040Location: The Bell Tower on 34thLink out: Click hereDescription: More vivid and dynamic than forecasting or visioning, scenarios are stories based on rigorous research, analysis and community interviews that help us understand how the powerful driving forces that affect our world - and the choices we make right now - could affect our region's future decades from now. In 2009, the Center for Houston's Future embarked upon Scenarios 2040, the largest public-interest, business-led, regional scenario project in the country. The resulting scenarios will describe different future worlds we might face in the year 2040, and will be used to generate wide public discussion that will help individuals, organizations, business, and government identify their own options and responses to different future worlds. These scenarios will help us learn how to protect and nurture what we value, and achieve what we want to achieve - a healthy balance between competitiveness and sustainability. Start Time: 18:00Date: 2011-10-04

"The buzz at Pivot25, a conference for mobile-phone software developers and investors held this June, is all about the future of money. Ben Lyon, the 24-year-old business-development VP of Kopo Kopo, wants $250,000 to produce his app for shops to process payments made by text message. Paul Okwalinga, 28, describes his money app - called M-Shop, it allows you to buy travel tickets and takeout via mobile phone - as "not reinventing the wheel but pimping it." Kamal Budhabhatti, 35, claims Elma, the latest product from his company Craft Silicon, lets a phone do and be almost anything financial - act like a credit card or an online bank (a "digital wallet," he says), trade shares or forex, organize a company's payroll and (incidentally) surf the Web and phone home. Cash suddenly seems very old. The previous week, Joe Mucheru, a senior manager at Google, declared credit cards prehistoric. Adding to the giddy mood is the thought that the inventions on display might make some lucky Pivot25ers gazillionaires. And where are these extraordinary futures being imagined and plotted? The giraffes and zebras grazing in the game park outside rule out Silicon Valley, Seattle and Bangalore. Try Nairobi. "

"Global Foresight Associates is a futures research and consulting firm that offers ideas and insights about the future to help our clients determine the strategic implications of change for their business and industry. Our uninhibited thinking offers a unique perspective - a big picture view of the future that explores the current trends and emerging issues reverberating throughout society and business. This view from the "outside in" helps clients innovate existing products, identify new areas and markets for growth and explore the possible, probable and preferable futures for their business."

" Sustainable computing is a rapidly expanding research area spanning the fields of computer science and engineering, electrical engineering as well as other engineering disciplines. The aim of Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems (SUSCOM) is to publish the myriad research findings related to energy-aware and thermal-aware management of computing resource. Equally important is a spectrum of related research issues such as applications of computing that can have ecological and societal impacts. SUSCOM publishes original and timely research papers and survey articles in current areas of power, energy, temperature, and environment related research areas of current importance to readers. SUSCOM has an editorial board comprising prominent researchers from around the world and selects competitively evaluated peer-reviewed papers. "

Malcolm Turbull on Wikileaks, "There will be a medium term impact on the candour with which people talk to American officials. Frankly if I were an American citizen I would be less outraged with Assange than I would be with a Government that can allow such a gigantic breach of security. The United States will need to demonstrate that it has changed its ways, and it is not that hard. Most large organisations will not permit downloading of material to an external medium without express authorisation as those of you who work for large firms should already know. And it goes without saying that if a young Private can copy so much classified material off his own volition, how vulnerable are US systems to more sophisticated operatives who have the backing and expertise provided by foreign intelligence agencies. We will remain forever, I imagine, rightly angry at the recklessness of receiving and publishing so much confidential material. So far it seems less harm has been done than might have been the case, but the risks are extraordinary and if only one life was lost, if only one sensitive operation was compromised then the heavy responsibility for that must lie with Assange. I would like to hope that in the future such revelations will be more discriminating, but it is hard to be confident. The lesson for Governments, apart from improving their security, is to assume that everything said or written will, sooner or later, see the light of day. That may not be a good thing, and it certainly doesn't make life easier, but it is, I fear, a reality. The Governments with most to fear from such disclosure are those whose public statements are at odds with their private opinions - and as I noted earlier so far it appears, to its credit, that the US State Department's private cables have been consistent with their public policy."

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies was formed to study and debate vital questions such as: Which technologies, especially new ones, are likely to have the greatest impact on human beings and human societies in the 21st century? What ethical issues do those technologies and their applications raise for humans, our civilization, and our world? How much can we extrapolate from the past and how much accelerating change should we anticipate? What sort of policy positions can be recommended to promote the best possible outcomes for individuals and societies?

Open FutureInterested in Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing? Follow Open Innovators on twitter or subscribe to the Open Innovators RSS feed! In addition to tracking specific trends about open innovation and crowdsourcing, it is important to build a broader view on those trends' underlying drivers and facilitators, and how they could evolve in the years to come. Trends, forecasts and scenarios about the power of the Internet, Web 2.0, the rise of virtual worlds, consumers becoming prosumers… The Open Future report is somewhat atypical, as it is build around interesting videos and quotes. It explains why and how one should constantly keep track of (disruptive) trends, build different scenarios, and have corresponding strategies prepared.

'Futures' (images of the future) are often devised at the level of a single university or at a national level for the overall higher education system. However, the bulk of trends and driving forces shaping universities' future are international in their nature and universities operate in broader socio-economic and S&T systems. Hence, futures devised in a multi-level structure would better assist decision-makers and stakeholders. This approach is a demanding one in several respects, but offers significant advantages: (i) the potential changes in the social, economic and S&T systems, in which universities are embedded, as well as their impacts on higher education can be considered systematically; (ii) the substantial diversity of higher education systems and individual universities can be taken into account; and (iii) the likely impacts of various policy options can also be analysed.