Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (Instituttet for Fremtidsforskning) is an independent, non-profit futures think tank – founded in 1969.

We equip and inspire individuals and organisations, decision-makers and the public, to act on the future, today.

The Institute was founded in 1969 by former Danish Finance Minister and OECD-Secretary General, Professor Thorkil Kristensen, with the support of visionary public and private organisations, to better qualify decision-making through futures studies and to contribute to the betterment of our society. That is our purpose.

The Institute is today a truly global entity working with public, private, philanthropic, and academic organisations around the world. We act as an advisory, a publisher, an event organiser, and as an initiator of various future orientated joint-venture initiatives. The Institute is also configured as a community of sorts, offering memberships for organisations and individuals.

We believe that, as the Institute itself, the future belongs to no-one and yet to everyone. We are by decree here to contribute to the betterment of our society, meaning better for the largest possible number of stakeholders. Our own definition of better is based on our perception of our Nordic values firmly rooted in trust, equality, openness, integrity, and inclusiveness, and a society where critical decisions about the future are based on insights, not intuition.

Our research within futures studies is essentially about spotting initial signals, identifying patterns, and convert analysis into insights about potential futures. The Institute does not predict the future, this is of course impossible, but instead we generate the best possibly qualified assumptions for potential futures.

All of the Institute’s profits are allocated to further futures studies and to realising our purpose.