The Millennium Project at the Futures Conference 2025 on Futures of Technologies

Turku, Finland – June 10–12, 2025 – Futures of Technologies was the 25th international Futures Conference organized by the Finland Futures Research Centre, hosting the Helsinki Node of The Millennium Project, and the Finland Futures Academy, University of Turku, this year together with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.

The event on “Mutual Shaping of Socio-Technical Transformations” placed foresight at the center of discussions on ethics, artificial intelligence, and the futures of work and brought together scholars, foresight professionals, and technologists to explore how emerging technologies are shaping society. Each day featured rich exchanges of ideas through keynote speeches, academic presentations, and participatory workshops — with The Millennium Project actively contributing to the discourse on foresight and transformative futures.

Opening the event on June 10, 2025 were Prof. Toni Ahlqvist (Co-Chair, Helsinki Node) and Dr. Arho Suominen, followed by thought-provoking keynotes from Dr. Philip Brey, “Approaches for Ethical Assessment of Emerging Technologies”, discussing ethics in emerging technologies, and Dr. Elina Hiltunen, “Imagining the Technological Threats and Possibilities of the Future Through the Lens of Science Fiction,” on science fiction and technological imaginaries. One of the day’s key highlights was the keynote speech by Rohit Talwar, Co-Chair of the UK Node of The Millennium Project, who delivered a powerful talk titled “The Fall and Rise of Finance in the Era of AGI,” delving into how advanced generative AI could reshape global financial systems and economic models. Rohit Talwar opened his keynote by framing four core pillars that shape our daily lives: government, civil society infrastructure, healthcare, and education — with a special emphasis on a fifth, often overlooked but crucial element: money and finance. He highlighted how our income and financial systems fundamentally influence how we navigate life, and focused on how artificial general intelligence (AGI) is poised to disrupt and transform this vital sector.

Soon after in one of the first satellite session of the program, Bridging foresight and management, the Poland Node (4CF The Futures Literacy Company) was represented by Anna Sacio-Szymańska, who shared lessons from recent EU foresight initiatives, emphasizing the importance of leveraging Europe’s growing expertise to improve foresight facilitation. Her presentation was widely praised for its practical insights and valuable methods.

The second day of the conference on June 11, 2025, opened with a keynote speech by Dr. Ali Aslan Gümüşay on “Desirable Futures & Prospective Theorizing”, followed by another powerfull speech by Dr. Cynthia Selin on “What Do We Know? The Productive Power of Certainties in Scenario Planning.” A highlight of the day was The Millennium Project’s special session “The Radical and the Resilient: Narratives to Highlight the Road to Desirable Futures of Work.” Organized by Sirkka Heinonen, Osmo Kuusi, and Saija Toivonen, with contribution from my and many other colleagues from the Helsinki node and FFRC, the session opened with a speech by Jerome Glenn, giving insights to following working groups on the futures of work, and with contributions by Mara Di Berardo, Comms Director and Italy Node Co-Chair, who joined the work and will report on the session (download Heinonen’s presentation in .pdf). The session engaged over 80 attendees in group work to co-create compelling 2035 work narratives emphasizing resilience and inclusivity as a part of the current T-Winning Spaces Project run by Aalto University, University of Turku (Finland Futures Research Centre) and University of Tampere. Evening activities continued with a lively networking dinner at the historic Old Academy Building.

Day three on June 12, 2025 began with a powerful keynote by Jerome Glenn titled “Future of AI: Issues, Opportunities, and Geopolitical Synergies” (download Glenn’s presentation in .pdf). Glenn examined the global implications of AI, addressing governance, ethics, and strategic foresight. Drawing from current UN resolutions and expert predictions, Glenn emphasized the urgent need to govern the transition from Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). He outlined both the transformative potential of AGI in fields like medicine, climate change, and education, and the existential risks it poses—including global inequality, critical infrastructure vulnerabilities, and loss of human oversight. His call for a UN-led global governance framework—including a possible AGI Convention and international observatory—underscored the need for inclusive, enforceable solutions before AGI becomes a reality.

Later in the day, the Futures Wheel method—created by Glenn—was used in a workshop on Hybrid Horizons of Futures Workplaces, a workshop on Hybrid Horizons of Futures Workplaces, hosted by the Aalto University and organized by Aino Ruohola, Saija Toivonen  (co-ordinator the T-winning Spaces Project), Kevin Drain, Riikka Kyrö, and Sirpa Nieminen. Jerome Glenn, inventor of the method, joined the workshop together with Mara Di Berardo. Sirkka Heinonen contributed insights as keynote speaker for the session from ongoing research on evolving workspaces, on which the group work was soon after based (download Heinonen’s presentation in .pdf). She also gave concluding remarks on the presentations of the small group results.

In addition to her keynote contributions, Sirkka Heinonen also co-chaired two important editorial sessions during the afternoon of June 12. Alongside Sofi Kurki, Jari Kaivo-oja, and Arho Suominen, she led the session introducing the upcoming Special Issue of Foresight: The Journal of Futures Studies, Strategic Thinking and Policy, titled “Beyond the Horizon: Envisioning Preferred Futures in Technology and Society”, which is exclusively open to Futures Conference 2025 participants. Later, together with Tero Villman and Hazel Salminen, Heinonen also chaired a session presenting the Call for Chapters for Our World of Futures Studies as a Mosaic, Part 2—a global, multi-perspective volume by the Finnish Society for Futures Studies aiming to capture the richness and diversity of futures thinking around the world.

Mara Di Berardo presented early findings from research on visual communication of scenarios conducted by the Italy Node of The Millennium Project in collaboration with The Millennium Project and other universities (download presentation in .pdf) Her talk, part of a session on novel foresight methods, sparked dialogue on the role of communication in strengthening the impact of scenarios in futures thinking and decisionmaking.

Across three days, the conference served as a powerful platform for knowledge exchange and co-creation. Over 330 participants from 40 countries shared tools, methods, and visions for how foresight can support governance, democracy, and collective resilience in uncertain times.

As the event concluded, participants left inspired and energized, carrying forward new collaborations and ideas to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3