Leadership today requires not just navigating through uncertainties, but also envisioning
strategic views of the future spanning 5 to 50 years. ‘Design Futures’ is both a strategic and
hands-on course wherein you will learn to construct future scenarios and strategic
trajectories for your business, incorporating technological, economic, and societal
behavioral aspects. The course encourages the crafting of desirable futures (while avoiding
undesirable ones), with the goal of delineating feasible, positive, and inclusive strategies for
corporations, government entities, small businesses, and civic society.
do you prefer to predict or design the future?
We are living in the most disruptive time of our era. All we thought was the status quo entered into a state of suspension. In 2020, because of the pandemic, society changed behaviours, the organisations had to completely transform their mentality and work practices, and the governments had to interfere in private life to ensure the health of their citizens. According to UNESCO, knowledge and literacy about futures is an essential competence for the 21st century, and we agree on that. Designing futures can be one of the most important skills in 2021. Thinking about your product, service, organisation and policy from NOW ON, based on what is emerging, since we are at this liminal moment now, is crucial for executives, leaders and managers, as well as for designers and creatives.
Our methodology blends the finest elements of business strategy, futurism, and emerging technologies with the virtues of
human-centered design. We uphold an ethical and inclusive perspective while shaping new possibilities for the future.
Craft Strategic, Desirable Futures
Master the techniques of
Forecasting and Backcasting and understand their application
across diverse contexts to construct strategic, desirable futures
for your organization, sector, or community.
Map Weak Signals and Exponential Technologies
Implement key concepts and tools used for crafting future scenarios, with a
focus on identifying weak signals and understanding the role of
exponential technologies.
Broaden Your Perspective
Augment your understanding of the
multifaceted layers of our world, and learn to outline paths
towards designing a sustainable future.
Foster Collaborative Innovation
Discover techniques to stimulate collective idea generation and collaboration, empowering you to co-design desirable futures in a team
setting.
Learn the global context in which futurology and design futures emerged and why in this current context it is essential that companies become protagonists in the creation of desirable futures. In this module, we will get to know each other, dive into the tools used for remote work and talk about how design has contributed to make organisations more innovative.
Learn the stages of designing scenarios in different contexts through case studies and structured research of the necessary steps. We will discuss social values and standards that have shaped themselves throughout history and realise that this ever-changing vision influences directly in the possible and desirable scenarios.
We will prototype Desirable Futures through the creation of scenarios and how they express themselves in the process of prototyping futures. In this module, we will also work on Behavioural Economics and how this area involves directly in prospecting desired scenarios.
Learn how to map weak signs and create pre-trends. Weak signs and exponential technologies are the emerging bases of the process that impacts and influences all the layers of our society. We will research and translate possible weak signs into real contexts that apply to business challenges and public policies. We will share and discuss technologies and future trends aligned with Moore’s Law. We will share the conceptualisation of these technologies and the relevance of this mapping so that we can stand out in the contexts we are inserted in.
We will speculate about the various possibilities for the future. We cannot predict futures, so it is necessary to create and test possible, plausible, desirable and undesirable futures so that we have the possibility to create an intentional path and still be ready if the future unfolds in an undesirable way.
Learn the use of some tools in the creation of futures such as Future Wheel and Design Fiction. We will work on critical sense and how to use it in our current context from the creation of futuristic narratives.
Learn about the backcasting and structuring process to implement it in several economic, political, social and environmental contexts. We will practice bringing real contexts and implementation possibilities in the different sectors that you work on.
a 2-day hands on experience
Echos Certificate
Access to the global network of Echos innovators, with thousands of people from around the world.
Access to the platform for 6 months
Original Echos content and download of all the tools used throughout the journey
Echos Innovation Lab is a pioneer in teaching and consulting for innovation and Design Thinking headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
We’re currently the only Latin American organisation recognised by the GDTA – Global Design Thinking Alliance as well as a Google News Initiative Asia Pacific partner. We believe in the power of Design to transform realities and build desirable futures.