Open Changin’ School Project among a wide range of foresight activities
Monterrey (Mexico), September 26, 2024
Dear Colleagues [1],
First of all, I would like to say how pleased I am to be able to share a few moments with you. Of course, this does not make up for my regret that I cannot be in Monterrey. This is due to the narrow-mindedness of the US Administration, which cannot imagine anyone else going to Iraq.
In my presentation, I would like to focus my remarks on two points. The first, very briefly, is to tell you that while the Brussels Area Node is pursuing a wide range of activities in the field of foresight, particularly with its European partners, including the European Commission, it is also open to new initiatives.
1. A wide range of foresight activities
Six main developments can be briefly mentioned:
1.1. The continuation of our activities at regional, federal, interregional and European levels, particularly during the first half of 2024 as part of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union (foresight work on the European Territorial Agenda and anticipating the effects of climate change on spatial planning, etc.).
1.2. Participation with the European Commission’s DG RTD on innovation foresight in the framework of Horizon Europe. Report:
Citizens’ engagement approaches and methods in R&I foresight
1.3. Investment in global issues in partnership with the Millennium Project: Human Security for All, Establishing the common good by arming wisdom, WAAS Conference, May 2024.
1.4. Continuation of work at Wallonia level, particularly a wide-ranging foresight mission for the Government of Wallonia, with the Foresight College to prepare policy recommendations for 2024 (for a new government in July) and 2029, based on a 2050 foresight horizon. This College is made up of about twenty young people under the age of 35, mostly women. 24 recommendations were made to the government and the main social players – including the political parties – in Wallonia on subjects as diverse as preserving biodiversity, developing a more sustainable agricultural market, mapping infrastructure, social cohesion in regional planning, supporting housing renovation policies, providing educational information on public budgets, anticipating changes at local level, developing medical centres, school nutrition programmes, sharing the burden of contraception, etc.
1.5. Strong involvement in education and training in foresight at the universities of Reims (Foresight course applied to the environment and ecological transition in a new master in Sustainability Science) and Paris-Diderot / Cité (Foresight methods in Master 2) and different seminars about biodiversity, mobility and the future of religions).
The Destree Institute continues to organize its Executive Certificate in Operational Foresight: 100-hour course spread throughout the year, 4 hours every Monday afternoon with a dozen high-level speakers.
1.6. The Millennia2025 Women and Innovation Foundation continues its work to empower women and promote equality. Building on its international foresight research process, it is working to translate its six strategic axes into concrete actions.
https://www.millennia2025-foundation.org/processus_prospective.html
The inauguration of the meeting room named after Ted Gordon at The Destree Institute on the 28th of May 2024 [2] was an opportunity to welcome Nikos Kastrinos, former Foresight Leader at the EC’s DG Research, to our own planning committee. He sits alongside Marie-Anne Delahaut, President of Millennia2025 Women and Innovation Foundation – who has been active in the MP for years -, Thomas Deridder, the new CEO of The Destree Institute, as well Giovanna Sacco and Frédéric Moray, the initiators of the Open Changin’ School project.
2. The Open Changin’ School project
This new project is the second element I would like to talk about. It is supported by the Brussels Area Node of the Millennium Project and currently brings together in a fruitful exchange the Liège University College (HELMo) and the State University of Liège, the King Baudouin Foundation and The Destree Institute. This project is, by definition, open to other partnerships and I would like to invite all the nodes to participate. Our contacts with the team in charge go back to 2018 and the keynote speech I had the opportunity to give at the beginning of the academic year at this University College on « Jobs of Tomorrow ». I presented our MP work and scenarios on Future Work/Technology 2050.
This project, called Open Changin’ School, aims to help current educational models evolve in the face of the many challenges of the future by showcasing, through film, the innovative educational initiatives that are emerging around the world [3]. As Giovanna Sacco explained, for each target school, the documentary will address themes such as the school’s culture and vision of learning, the content and curricula, the skills developed, the organization of the school, the methods used, the points of view of the children, parents and teachers, and the challenges to be met. These subjects will be covered using an immersive and authentic approach, with interviews with key players in the education community, extracts from original interviews and video illustrations explaining the answers to the documentary’s ‘key’ questions. The team, consisting of an education specialist and a filmmaker, will be supported by a scientific advisory board. Of course, this can only be done effectively by building partnerships between our different countries to identify the places and processes of educational innovation that anticipate and address our 15 global challenges.
Examples of inspiring schools have already been identified: in Denmark, the United States, Uruguay, Canada, Norway and so on. But this work needs to be continued and represents a real opportunity to analyse and understand experiences. We will promote them among ourselves and try to make them inspiring objects for adapting our education systems to the changes we want to see in tomorrow’s world.
That’s why I’m listening carefully to what you have to say and I’m counting on your commitment to this project, which is so necessary for the future generations.
Philippe Destatte
PhD2050
[1] This paper is the finalized version of my presentation to the Planning Committee of the Millennium Project, held in Monterrey, Mexico, on 26 and 27 September 2024, as chair of the Brussels’ Area Node of the Millennium Project.
[2] Ph. DESTATTE, Tribute to Ted J. Gordon (1930-2024), Brussels, May 29, 2024, https://phd2050.org/2024/05/29/ted/
[3] Giovanna SACCO & Frédéric MORAY, Open Changin’ School ou l’Ecole ouverte (sur le monde) en changement (dans son propre système), May 28, 2024, 22p.