Democratized Discovery (2.3)

Democratized Discovery: Foresight-Fueled Action

We’ve reframed Frankenstein’s Lab as Democratized Discovery using Strategic Foresight tools. We at The Futures School believe in the power of transformationalist foresight– pulling our aspirational, sustainable visions of the future to today. We call this practice Creating the Future Today.

Defining value in a post-normal world

In order to democratize and co-create the future, we must address and integrate a shift in value generation. The ideas have historically guided what we value — hierarchical structures, top-down governance, segmented industries, intellectual property, personal ownership, etc. — are becoming increasingly relevant.

The hyper-focus on efficiency, productivity, economies of scale, and mass consumption as a means to create value has cemented systems and structures that have largely neglected a generative and human-centric worldview in favor of a more mechanistic approach.

To thrive, modern organizations must cultivate and embrace new pathways to value creation that align with the characteristics of an era that is characterized by chaos, complexity, and contradiction.

Read more about the Post-Normal world in chapter seven of the Guide to the Natural Foresight Framework.

Podcast

Yvette and Frank illustrate a world impacted by Democratized Discovery by leveraging the Design Futures scenario method. Listen for a product, service, and experience in a Democratized Discovery future.

Download the transcript here.

Map

Visualize the movement from today’s Wicked Problem –Frankenstein’s Lab– toward the transformational Wicked Opportunity – Democratized Discovery.

The map tells a story of the data points we’ve uncovered during this month’s thought leadership, including root causes, environmental scanning, strategic responses, and future prototyping.  

View the full map to envision a world impacted by Democratized Discovery!