This page contains summary information about a conference happening over the weekend of 22-23 March 2014, with the theme “Anticipating 2025”:
- Paths to 2025: visions, nightmares, roadblocks, and plans
- Transformations in thinking and lifestyle:
health, spirituality, organisations, politics, transhumanism, and transcendence.
For the latest public information, see the dedicated site http://anticipating2025.com/.
Subject to ticket availability, people can choose to attend either, or both, of these two days.
Each day will be structured as follows:
- 09.15: Registration, refreshments, and networking
- 09.40: Chair’s introductory remarks
- 09.45: Three opening talks
- 11.15: Break for networking and refreshments
- 11.45 Two further talks
- 12.45: Lunch break
- 14.15: Two further talks
- 15.15: Break for networking and refreshments
- 15.45: Final session (two more talks and extended panel discussion)
- 17.30: End of day.
This envisages up to nine speakers per day, with each speaker having around 18 minutes to make their key points (the same length as a TED talk), followed by 10-12 minutes of audience interaction.
The choice of focusing on the year 2025 is to address an area where most other conferences are weak. Many so-called “technology forecasting” events seem pre-occupied by possibilities for the next 2-3 years, whereas other events (e.g. Singularity Summits) look forward to a period such as 2045 when it is conceivable that a technology singularity may have taken place.
The conference will be co-branded “London Futurists” and “Humanity+”.
Important side-goals of the conference will be to record all talks, and to broadcast them live online.
The conference will be designed to break even financially:
- The main costs will be room hire
- Subsidiary costs will include some refreshments (teas, coffees, biscuits) and perhaps some audiovisual processing costs.
The events won’t provide lunch or dinner, but the venue will be chosen so that there are plenty of places nearby where people can get some lunch cheaply and reasonably quickly.
A mailing group has been set up, to allow people to become involved (in greater or smaller ways) with the design, planning, and organisation of these events. To apply to join this mailing group (without necessarily making any commitment, at this stage, for actual involvement), please visit https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/anticipating-2025.
Note: For a preview of some topics that could feature in the Anticipating 2025 conference, see the London Futurist Hangout On Air Which technologies will have the biggest impact by 2025?
Feedback after the conference
You can leave comments below if you have specific feedback or suggestions relevant to future London Futurists conferences. For example:
- Which aspects of Anticipating 2025 did you value the most? And which the least?
- If you did not attend, what changes would have made you more likely to attend?
- What changes would you like to see in follow-up events? (And let us know if you are willing to join the volunteer organisation team to help put these changes in place.)
- What theme would you like to see addressed in a future event? (Probably not “Anticipating 2026″…)
London Futurists 
Hello David,
First of all I appreciate the initiative and looking forward to this event.
Is there a room to suggest / present a topic?
Hi Yissar, Planning is still at a very early stage. By all means suggest presenters and/or topics – either here, or in the Google Groups forum.
(Or you can make suggestions privately, via email, if you prefer, though my preference will be for as much discussion as possible to be “open”.)
Hi everyone! I look forward in participating in this exciting event. Let’s see how we can make it sparkle!
Hi Natasha – it will be a great honour to have you participate in this event! Indeed, let’s make this a highly memorable event.
The honor is mine! 🙂
Feedback from Paul Barnett
It occurs to me, having listened to all the speakers on day one, that access to finance (funding or investment), is the biggest obstacle to progress. All speakers talked about the lack of finance being a restricting factors.
In my talk after lunch I referred to this, pointing out that it is business models, not ideas or technology, that attract finance. Coincidentally the good news story of the morning was offered by Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO Azuri Technologies, whose products are providing power to poor communities in Africa. And, his story confirms my point. He noted that what they are offering is not new technology, but new business models.
Buy a business model, I don’t mean just those that will demonstrate how an investor will make money, but how the business will deliver value and achieve it’s goals, even if the value is non-financial and the goals are social, not commercial. Funders, like investors, want to know that the money they provide will be used effectively, in whatever way they define that.
I made the point that communication between companies, organisations and finance providers, is of huge strategic importance, but usually seen only as a burden or compliance issue, rather than a source of competitive advantage – and may determine whether finance is available at all, or the price that has to be paid for that finance. Riva-Melissa Tez, (co-Founder, Kardashev Communications), made a similar point.
In short, I think there is a huge strategic advantage to be had in better business reporting- internally and externally. It is likely to result in better strategic decisions, the levels and costs of access to finance, and the efficiency with which the goals of the organisation are achieved, or not. I suggest that what progress gets made between now and 2025 will depend on whether or not these messages are heard and acted upon or not. And whether or not companies get better at strategic management, not just technical innovation.
[Paul: I moved your comment here, since I think this is a better place for it.]
I was wondering if there was any way I could contact Natasha Vita-More. Help would be greatly appreciated.