Mini Trip Report: Baku

The Baku International Humanitarian Futures Forum brought together 13 Nobel Prize Winners, 6 former Presidents, and over 600 leaders in their fields from more than 70 countries to explore “Converging Technologies and Outlines of the Future: Landmark Challenges of the 21st Century.” Among the participants sponsored by the Government of Azerbaijan from The Millennium Project were Concepción Olavarrieta, Elizabeth Florescu, Nadezhda Gaponenko, Reyhan Huseynova, and myself.

It was quite an event and provided the opportunity for additional meetings with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, the Center for Strategic Studies under the President, and Elizabeth and I taught the weekly futures class for the Azerbaijan State Economic University in person, while Hayato came in via video from Jakarta to talk about the first three of the 15 Global Challenges.

Two of the initial results from the visit are draft agreements to create a State of the Future Index (SOFI) for the Human Capacity of Azerbaijan with the Central Bank, and a senior executive seminar about think thanks and the use of futures concepts and methods. Concepción and Elizabeth will stay on in Baku for the Monday Awards Ceremony for the Millennium Awards for Azerbaijan high school and college students; more about that soon.

Next stop for me: Bilbao, Spain

All the best,

Jerome C. Glenn, CEO