VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT) covers multiple areas to address opportunities in the world of huge challenges. VTT is a state owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company established by law. Act on the Limited Liability Company Called VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (8761/2014) lays down provisions on the operations and status of VTT (this Act enters into force 1st of January 2015 and supersedes the Act on the Technical Research Centre of Finland 953/2010 and all amendments subsequently made to it). The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is responsible for state ownership steering. As an impartial non-profit Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) and with the national mandate and mission to support economic competitiveness, societal development and innovation, VTT carries out research and innovation activities for the needs of industry and knowledge-based society. 

Rafael Popper (PhD) – Principal Scientist at VTT and Director of Executive Education on Foresight at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) in The University of Manchester since 2002. He is trained as an economist, foresight methodologist, innovation policy analyst, and IT systems architecture designer. In 2008, Dr Popper was a member of the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on European Research Area (ERA) Rationales. He has been Scientific Director of the EU funded iKNOW project interconnecting STI knowledge shaping ERA. He also leads the mapping of forward-looking activities of the European Foresight Platform (EFP). In 2009, he received two Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence for his outstanding and highly commended publications in the foresight area. He is also co-editor of an Edward Elgar’s Book of the Month: “The Handbook of Technology Foresight” (2008), which has been translated to Spanish in 2011. 

The Department of Communication features both the study of communication theory and criticism, and the development of practical skills. At a time when media (print, telephone, television, Internet), modes of communication (oral, written, visual), and contexts (face-to-face, public, and organizational) converge in our careers and daily lives, the department offers the first state-university program in the Bay Area to cover this interrelated spectrum of today's communication in new and traditional forms. The Department of Communication's broad range of courses and programs (from public, interpersonal, and family communication to broadcasting, new media of electronic communication, and everything in between) provides exciting choices.

Lonny J Avi Brooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at California State University, East Bay, in strategic communication where he piloted the integration of futures thinking into the communication curriculum for the last fifteen years. Emerging in recent years as a leading voice of Afrofuturism 2.0, Brooks contributes prolifically to journals, conferences and anthologies on the subject, and is executive producer/co-creator, with Ahmed Best, of The Afrofuturist Podcast. He is the lead co-editor for the December 2019 special issue of the Journal of Futures Studies: “When is Wakanda? Afrofuturism & Dark Speculative Futurity”. He is lead organizer in Oakland and advisory board member for the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM), co-founded by Reynaldo Anderson, a national, global movement dedicated to celebrating the Black imagination. He is Creative Director for California BSAM Futures (launching soon), using gaming for imaginative, futures, action-oriented thinking. He has a passion for creating games to envision social justice futures including black and queer liberation from the recently launched game events like Afro-Rithms From The Future to United Queerdom and Futurescope. He and his co-game designer Eli Kosminsky are committed to articulating emerging new future visions for traditionally underrepresented voices.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI conducts applied research in seven Competence Centers with a total of 25 Business Units and sees itself as an independent institute for society, politics and industry. Our expertise in the area of innovation research is based on the synergy of the technical, economic and social science knowledge of our staff members. In our work we apply not only a broad spectrum of advanced scientific theories, models, methods and social-science measurement instruments, but continually develop them further, utilizing the empirical findings from the research projects conducted. On behalf of our customers we investigate the scientific, economic, ecological, social, organizational, legal and political framework conditions for generating innovations and their implications. We use scientifically based analysis, evaluation and forecasting methods. Our assessments of the potentials and limitations of technical, organizational or institutional innovations help decision-makers from industry, academia and politics in making strategic decisions and thus assist them in creating a favorable environment for innovations. Thus Fraunhofer ISI one of the leading innovation research institutes in Europe.

Kerstin Cuhls (PhD) is a scientific project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) since 1992. She studied Japanology, Chinese Studies and Economics/Business Administration. She finished her Dr. phil. at the University of Hamburg in Japanology about Technology Foresight in Japan and now combines this knowledge with methods from Futures Research. From 2007 to 2009 Kerstin Cuhls was the project manager of the first cycle of the BMBF Foresight. From 2008 to 2010 she was head of the business unit "Foresight and Futures Research" in Fraunhofer ISI. In national, regional and international studies for different contracting authorities she built up a huge repertoire of methods in Foresight applied in projects and taught in seminars at the Freie Universität Berlin (Masterstudiengang Zukunftsforschung) as well as the Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik (BAKS).

Melbourne Business School is home to Australia's best MBA and business analytics degrees, as well as short courses for professionals and custom solutions for organisations. As Australia's leading provider of business education and insight, we also offer a range of other postgraduate degrees in management, economics, finance and entrepreneurship. Jointly owned by the business community and the University of Melbourne, we give students the knowledge and experience they need to make a lasting impact in the workplace – and on the world at large.

Sohail Inayatullah (PhD), a political scientist and futurist, is the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies. He is also Professor at Tamkang University, Taiwan and Associate, Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne. He teaches from metafutureschool.teachable.com. In March 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Futures Studies and on the editorial boards of Futures, Foresight, Futures and Foresight Science, and World Future Review. He is theme editor of ‘Globalization and World Systems’ for the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. He is the author and co-editor of twenty five books, including Futures thinking in Asia and the Pacific, Asia 2038, Transformation 2050, and Prout In Power: Policy Solutions that Reframe our Futures. He has published over 350 scientific journal articles and book chapters.

Futures Diamond is an innovation systems company specialised in the provision of information technology (IT) and software solutions to government, business, research and education actors at local, national and international levels. Futures Diamond is based in the United Kingdom and is built on over 20 years of foresight and horizon scanning research and technology development (RTD) know-how. Futures Diamond technologies support qualitative and quantitative research by combining creativity (using exploratory tools), interaction (using participatory tools), evidence (using explanatory tools) and expertise (using advisory tools). Futures Diamond staff members have a long and successful record of supporting European and national RTD projects. Among the recent European initiatives involving Futures Diamond staff and IT systems, the following can be highlighted: ‘FP7 Cooperative Research project iKnow aimed at interconnecting Knowledge on issues and developments potentially shaking or shaping the future of science, technology and innovation (STI) in Europe and the world’; and ‘FP7 Coordination and Support Action project EFP aimed to build an European Foresight Platform’. Futures Diamond is also a major provider of foresight and horizon scanning IT solutions at the national level. The horizon scanning ‘hub’ developed for the UK Department of Health is the flagship technology development of the company in partnership with the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, responsible for the research agenda. Persons involved in this project include:

Monika Popper (MSc) has worked in the area of foresight and future-oriented innovation assessment and management; mapping critical issues affecting sustainability of innovation and collaborating with relevant stakeholders to create growth, competitiveness and sustainability of innovations. She has been involved in the organization of diverse foresight and horizon scanning research projects with strong emphasis in multistakeholder engagement activities, including the participation of citizens in agenda setting. In her role as a researcher and innovation manager, she has reviewed developments and implementation of health and safety, food security, healthcare and sustainable innovation (SI) policies and platforms, amongst other research and technology development activities.

Consistently ranked as one of Russia’s top universities, HSE University is a leader in Russian education and one of the preeminent economics and social sciences universities in eastern Europe and Eurasia. Having rapidly grown into a well-renowned research university over two decades, HSE University sets itself apart with its international presence and cooperation. Our faculty, researchers, and students represent over 90 countries, and are dedicated to maintaining the highest academic standards. Our newly-adopted structural reforms support HSE University’s drive to internationalize and conduct groundbreaking research. Now a dynamic university with four campuses, HSE University is a leader in combining Russian education traditions with the best international teaching and research practices. HSE University offers outstanding educational programmes from secondary school to doctoral studies, with top departments and research centres in a number of fields.

Alexander Sokolov (PhD) is a tenured professor at the National Research University Higher School of Eco-nomics (HSE) and Deputy Director of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge. He is deputy editor-in-chief of HSE based journal “Foresight and STI Governance” and regional editor of the international journal “Foresight”. He is a member of working groups at OECD and other international organisations, a member of the Scientific Board and panelist at a number of international scientific conferences. Alexander managed dozens of large-scale Foresight projects in Russia including National Critical Technologies (2006, 2011, 2015), National S&T Foresight stud-ies (2008, 2011, 2017).