Co-created Input for Thematic Models for 2050

January 2024

Co-creation plays two distinct yet interrelated objectives in WISE Horizons. On the one hand, it enriches the research process insofar as the outcomes of the project are informed by the qualitative insights of a wide range of stakeholders, producing a much more complex, comprehensive, and nuanced understanding of the phenomena under analysis. On the other, it also ensures that the outputs of the project are useful to those working in the areas of wellbeing, inclusion, and sustainability towards system change.

This report summarises the main findings of the first two co-creative public events of the WISE Horizons project: the Future Lab (September 2023, Brussels) and the Just Transition Lab (November 2023, Brussels). In the Future Lab, participants focused on identifying what driving factors determine what the future will look like in 2050 and come up with a series of qualitative scenarios for 2050 using scenario planning methods. The content focus was inspired by key topics identified during the Conference of the Future of Europe, such as ‘climate change and environment’, ‘health’, and ‘digital transformation’. Civil society, business, policy, and research actors invited to this session collaboratively explored different scenarios.