The Chair of the Iceland Node of The Millennium Project (hosted by The Icelandic Centre for Future studies), Karl Friðriksson, the Chair of the Denmark Node of The Millennium Project Node (hosted by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies), Martin Kruse, and one of the Co-Chairs of the Finland Node (hosted by the Finland Futures Research Centre), Toni Ahlquist, are members of the organizing committee for the Futures of Democracies Conference in Reykjavík, Iceland, taking place in Februrary 21-23, 2024. along with others form the nascent Nordic Chapter of the WFSF.

The theme is How can we inspire the rest of the world to renew democracy for the 21st century? The objetive is to co-create concrete measures to ensure that democratic values are used to tackle our wicked global challenges. The conference will propose discussions, workshops, do-shops and talks to develop specific concrete solutions and ideas to speed up processes for citizen participation, enthusiastic youth engagement and group-action.

Directors and Chairs of The Millennium Project will be speaking at the event:

• Feb. 21: Martin Kruse, Chair of the Denmark Node of The Millennium Project, will give a speech about “Climate shaping the future of democracy”, session “Democracy – The bigger picture”; a specific will also discuss the Role of Future committe of national parliaments;
• Feb. 22: Ibon Zugasti, Deputy Director of The Millennium Project and Chair of the Spain Node, will give a speech on “Etorkizuna Eraikiz (Building the Future) – Innovative program for a more open and collaborative governance”, session “Democracies in a turbulent environment”; Martin Kruse will also lead a Labs session on Climate shaing tomorrow’s democracy;
• Feb 23: Jerome Glenn, Executive Director of The Millennium Project, will give a recorded speach about “Information Warfare threats to the future of democracy”, Session “Societal changes and attitudes” (Feb. 23); Karl Friðriksson, Chair of the Iceland Node of The Millennium Project, will close the event with other experts with remarks during the session “The road ahead and closing”.

Democracy in focus in Reykjavík. Nordic Chapter in the field of future studies founded.
Short report by Karl Friðriksson

A successful three-days conference on the future challenges of democracies ended last Friday in Reykjavík. Several interesting talks were given and a lot of group work, discussing the effects of long-term trends on democracy, such as the effects of climate change, artificial intelligence, and other social changes. Lively panel discussions took place on the role of future parliamentary committees. A memorandum of cooperation was signed, forming a Nordic Chapter among the future centers of all the Nordic countries to address the upcoming future challenges.

The conference was opened by the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrínu Jakobsdóttir, a representative of the Millennium Project, Ibon Zugasti gave a speech. Jerome Glenn addressed the conference via video. Erik Overland the president of the World Future Studies Federation took full part in the conference and addressed it.

The organizing committee of the conference is composed by the following members:

• Karl Friðriksson, The Icelandic Centre for Future studies, Chair of the Iceland Node of The Millennium Project 
• Sævar Kristinsson, The Icelandic Centre for Future studies 
• Toni Ahlquist, Finland Futures Research Centre, Co-Chair of the Finland Node of The Millennium Project
• Jari Kaivo-oja, Finland Futures Research Centre  
• Mikkel Knudsen, Finland Futures Research Centre  
• Martin Kruse, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Chair of the Denmark Node of The Millennium Project 
• Hank Kune, Educore (the Netherlands) 
• Siv Helen Hesjedal, TheseWays (Norway) 
• William Fagerheim, Mind the Gap (Norway) 

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The organizing committee invites to send in proposals or ideas for workshop, presentations, and related material that can contribute to the theme of the conference. By using future thinking and methods, the event will look into possible ways to develop what we propose to call “Democracy+” as a tool to explore what is needed for a 21st century societal contract 2.0, which clearly links democracy to civil society and the need for social innovation and sees resilient democracy as a force for peace. Focusing on 2040, positive action and concrete movement, participants will be part of an action-oriented and challenge-driven 3-day camp to reframe tomorrow’s democracy.

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For information on the call and proposals, please contact Karl Friðriksson on email karlf@framtidarsetur.is 
For information on the conference and registration details, visit https://framtidarsetur.is/futures-of-democracy-reykjavik-2024/