Futures Studies Conference 2025 in Italy – September 25–27, 2025
- Posted by Mara Di Berardo
- On 22 September 2025
- 0 Comments
- futures conference, Italy Node, open futures, State of the Future
From September 25 to 27, 2025, Naples will once again welcome scholars, professionals, and enthusiasts of futures thinking for the Futures Studies Conference 2025, the flagship annual event organized by the Italian Institute for the Future in collaboration with the Italy Node of The Millennium Project and many others.
This year’s theme, “Closed Future / Open Futures,” will invite participants to reflect on the importance of moving beyond deterministic visions of the future towards plural, inclusive, and human-driven pathways. The program will open on Thursday, September 25 at Palazzo Venezia with a keynote lecture by Wendy Schultz, a leading international futurist, marking her 70th birthday with “Arias for Postnormal Times – reflections on chaos, complexity, foresight, and leadership.” In the following days, discussions and workshops will cover a wide range of topics, from the future of education to AI’s role in business, the new space economy, intergenerational coexistence, and innovative methods of social foresight.
One of the highlights of this year’s edition will be the presentation of the Italian translation of the State of the Future 20.0, available starting October 2025. The translation has been curated by Mara Di Berardo, Communications Director and Italy Node Co-Chair, and the publication is a common effort by the Italian Institute for the Future and the Italy Node. Di Berardo will present the volume during the Future Book Corner session on Friday, September 26. Pre-order the publication with a discount if you’re joining the conference.
In addition to presenting the book, Mara Di Berardo will also moderate two sessions on the 25th: epistemology of open futures, discussing exchange, insight, and perspective shifts, and theories and methods of foresight, where practical, innovative proposals and frameworks to move the field forward will be explored.
On the second day, she will be a speaker in the session on Artificial Intelligence and Foresight, with a talk titled “Experimenting with New AI-Based Visual Forms for Delphi Scenarios: Between Expert Opinions and Data Analysis.” The presentation, delivered in collaboration with fellow members of the Italian Node, will showcase the outcomes of a research project conducted jointly with The Millennium Project. Di Berardo will also serve as moderator for two sessions on September 26: “Epistemology of Open Futures” and “Theories and Methods of Foresight.”
At the end of the conference, Mara Di Berardo will also take part in the closing plenary workshop on co-designing the future of the newly formed Italian Institute for the Future Foundation, where she will propose a simple yet stimulating method to support collective ideation and future-oriented collaboration — aimed at helping the Foundation shape its next steps through inclusive, actionable foresight.
With more than one hundred speakers across 18 panels and 4 workshops, the Futures Studies Conference 2025 reaffirms itself as a crucial meeting point for the futures community, both in Italy and internationally.
