Mini Trip report: Baku Azerbaijan

The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) and the Nizami Ganjavi International Center brought me to Azerbaijan to participate in the VII Global Baku Forum followed by the WAAS round table on Global Leadership in the 21st Century.

While in Baku, Reyhan Huseynova, Chair of Azerbaijan Node of The Millennium Project organized an amazing set of meetings and talks with the Minister of Transportation, Communications, and High Technologies, Minister of Environment, two Institutes of National Academy of Sciences, four University Rectors, and opening the New Foresight Club with in the Azerbaijan Futures Studies Society. These meetings resulted in agreements in principle for:

1. tele-teaching a one-year, two semester course on futures research, concepts, 15 Global Challenges, and futures research methodologies beginning in September;

2. developing a workshop on national actions to address the future work/technology issues and translating the Work/Tech 2050 Global Scenarios; and

3. exploring the use the Global Futures Intelligence System for environmental scanning for the Ministry of Environment.

On the last day, the World Academy of Art and Science held an intensive round table discussion on global leadership. A report of the meeting should be available in a month. With permission, I will share it here and in the Global Futures Intelligence System, in Global Challenge 5 on foresight and decisionmaking along with the WAAS background paper on global leadership.