Our future life: A Global Exploration of our Shared Future
Our Future Life is a global challenge for anyone and everyone to share their vision of the future with the world through the creation of short videos and films. It aims to put insights from our collective imagination into the hands of policymakers, decision-makers, creators and future shapers of all kinds.
There are as many visions of the future as there are people on this planet. How can we enable anyone to share their vision?
Our Future Life aims to capture at least some of that diversity through the world’s most inclusive brainstorm, gathering visions that can create a direct line of communication between the actors of the future and its shapers.
In a world where ideas are imprisoned by silos and held back by the echo chambers we create, Our Future Life aims to break down these barriers by inviting anyone and everyone to imagine how we collectively shift civilization towards a positive and prosperous common future.
This initiative is formed via the collaboration of partners like Arizona State University, ITU, RSA, World Economic Forum, Xprize, Gesda, the Graduate Institute, and of course the TASC Platform. The goal is to gather insights from our collective imagination, and bring them to the attention of policymakers, decision-makers, creators and future shapers of all kinds.
BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER
The link between those who shape the future and those who envision it is not always as straightforward as we might think. Geographical distance, generational divides or even varying goals can all create a bigger gap affecting solutions for future generations. Strengthening the connection between these different people, groups and perspectives could shape our future for the better. Our Future Life’s activities aim to fulfill this exact purpose of creating links and avoiding needless dead ends on our way to a better tomorrow.
Since its inception, the project has been breaking down silos at every turn, and engaging with actors from vastly different horizons. From opting to collaborate with the TASC Platform and create ties to the community of policymakers and international organisations they wish to inform, to engaging with students at universities like ASU and the Geneva Graduate Institute.
LEARNING FROM DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
A project hoping to engage diverse populations can only be built by diverse opinions and Our Future Life, along with its partners, is constantly reaching out and learning from these opinions.
At the very beginning of the project the workshop: Building a Future Where All Voices are Heard, held at the graduate Institute in Fall of 2022 was a moment of learning and collaboration where organisers were able to gather input from the private sector, academia, and of course international organisations. Valuable insights were gathered at this inspiring discussion that will help to create a more inclusive framework.
Shaping the future also requires engagement from those who will live through it. By setting a challenge for the 2022 edition of Collaborate for Social Impact (C4SI), Our Future Life and the TASC platform benefited from a team of students developing social innovations to real-world problems through collaboration and design-thinking methodology. These students engaged with questions at the heart of the project: How can we engage under-represented populations in envisioning the future of work? What approaches currently used in the international development, humanitarian, and civil society sectors (including media and creative arts) could be adapted and applied to spark imagination and encourage engagement in groups who are currently under-represented in global decision-making? The results of their brainstorm will help to inform a project where no voice is left behind.
FILMING THE FUTURE
Over the coming months, Our Future Life will continue to gather expertise and build partnerships to enable the launch of the first iteration of the global challenge, where we are all able to share our own vision of what’s to come, and be voices that shape the future accordingly.
The challenge will invite people from any walk of life to submit their hopes for the future, and enable the creation of visual stories to better express and share their visions. Participants will advance through a number of stages, working with experts and artists to develop their ideas and create compelling short films. The results will be made public in an open access repository of ideas and films, with attribution to each contributor, that will grow year-on-year.
The challenge will culminate in a film festival and summit bringing participants face to face with experts, practitioners and world leaders to discuss how the short films present fresh possibilities for solutions to complex problems, for the benefit of people around the world.