The Project
Welcome to the FutuRes Policy Lab!
How will labour markets respond to societal ageing? How are migration and automation going to affect demographic trends? Which policies are most likely to benefit Europe's resilience?
Policymakers have questions. FutuRes investigates the scenarios.
The FutuRes project wants to help Europe face the future with confidence. Fostering productive exchange with decision-makers is central to our work.
FutuRes is a collaborative research project and policy lab which is funded by the EU's Horizon Research and Innovation programme. The focus is on understanding the drivers of resilience in increasingly ageing societies.
What are the goals of FutuRes? By the end of 2025, the project's team will produce science-informed scenarios of demographic resilience in Europe. This means that we will generate detailed data-based hypotheses of future demographic developments, which will prepare policymakers for challenges most likely to arise.
How does Scenario Building work? Qualitative Scenario Building has gained significance in the context of the increasing focus of European governments, the European Commission and international actors on “anticipatory governance”. All have engaged with some variation of Qualitative Scenario Building in recent years.
When implemented correctly, this approach is recognised as helping to foresee future developments and to direct preparatory measures. This can result in better adaptation to change and increased societal resilience.
Experts and stakeholders from academia, policy, and civil society across the EU, alongside high-level actors from the UN and European Parliament, will participate in this collaborative approach to foresight. The experts will collaboratively lay out possible future scenarios of resilience, based on the most likely demographic trends.
Wish to know more about this foresight method? See our Policy Brief here.
After the Scenario Building phase in fall 2024, the research team will continuously meet with policymakers, civil society stakeholders and citizens to develop policy recommendations. Follow or get in touch if you would like to be updated about the Policy Lab's events.
