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Generation Alpha is still in its childhood. But how fit will this generation be for the future and the challenges that come with it? Are elementary schools able to adequately prepare the next generation for new work and the associated future skills? Futurologist Monika Herrmann from moderning looks at the vision of the school of the future.

Zurich, September 2022 – In the next ten years, development will move farther ahead than it has in the last 100 years. The pace is set by the ever-growing innovations on the technology market. This will lead to numerous future trends that will have an impact on our everyday lives, our work and our ways of learning. In addition to artificial intelligence, these include an increasingly interconnected society by means of social networks that go far beyond actual communication, or a rapidly changing world of work in which new future skillsets are required. New professions, methods and work models require new skills and approaches.

As early as the late 1970s, the Austrian-American social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann presented a new way of working based on more freedom, self-determination and responsibility in his New Work manifesto. Today, the term New Work describes, among other things, a new attitude toward work and new roles for employees. Does that sound like dreams of the future? Not at all. Young start-ups in particular, but now also more and more established companies, are relying on the principle, because in times of a shortage of skilled workers, no one can afford to hold on to old ways of doing things.

Future for the school
We should be prepared for such drastic developments – and focus our attention in particular on the youngest generation: Generation Alpha (born in 2010, 2012 or 2015, depending on the definition) is the first generation to be able to use smartphones as a matter of course, even as babies and toddlers, and is already a social media user from childhood. This raises the question: Is our education system equipped for this new generation? According to futurologist Monika Herrmann of moderning, “For our elementary schools to meet the growing demands of the future and adequately prepare the next generation for the New Work market, they need to speed up.” The mission statement of the school of the future must be sustainably changed from the lower to the upper school levels and adapted to the new needs. Monika Herrmann provides a few key words in this regard: “Project-based learning or individually adapted school duration, but also integrative teaching are just a few aspects that need to be taken into account. Digital learning, as well as content like social competence and empathy on the curriculum and an environment of mutual respect are big issues that need to be addressed.” moderning does this in workshops moderated by Monika Herrmann. “We want to make schools future-proof,” she says. “The focus is placed on personality development. Consideration is also given to how the educational job profiles could be designed with a view to future-oriented educational goals. So that the school – and thus the next generation – has a future.”

For questions, interviews or further information, Monika Herrmann is at your disposal.

Contact
Sibylle Ambs
media responsible moderning
die textwerkstatt
079 484 85 00
presse@die-textwerktatt.ch

As a result of continued failures and missed opportunities, schools in Switzerland are criticized in public and their future viability is questioned – also by teachers. Workshops moderated by Monika Herrmann from moderning show how a young, self-determined generation together with futurology can create essential impulses for alternatives worth living.

School model at present: missed opportunities, no concept for the future
Teacher shortages, burnout, lateral entrants trained in crash courses, unattractive working conditions, a school policy that has failed to respond to the challenges of the last fifty years. It maneuvers between conflicting interests instead of proactively shaping the future. This is the perception of the public, experts and teachers at least on the current situation of elementary school and preschool education in Switzerland.

Educational models put to the test
Against this backdrop, the self-image of teachers, policymakers and executive authorities needs to be scrutinized. Do educational models address the skills that will be needed in the future? What learning goals result from social and technological dynamics? Which interdisciplinary concepts are suitable for the promotion of students, individually, in groups as well as for social integration?

Going forward with futurology?
This is where futurology comes in – for the generation to whom the future belongs. With scenarios up to 2040 or further and thus beyond the usual planning horizon. In workshops, future images are created with desired states and an educational model that focuses on creativity, empathy, personal responsibility and social competence. Using the so-called backcasting method, the future images are re-projected to the present and tested for their suitability for implementation. Simultaneously, the images of the future make it clear where it is worthwhile to let go of what is believed to be reliable and to show the courage to “rulebreaking”.

moderning as a future coach
moderning moderates workshops under the guidance of Monika Herrmann, with which the school becomes fit for the future. The focus is placed on personality development. Artificial intelligence as well as digitalization are not only used to efficiently transmit traditional contents of learning. Consideration is also given to how pedagogical job profiles could be designed with a view to future-oriented educational goals. So that the school – thanks to futurology – has a future!

Gloomy present, dark future? Not at all. Even if the current situation with regard to the economy, politics, climate, the environment or health seems difficult or even hopeless – anyone who dares to take a look into the future and deal with it quickly realizes: with a positive mindset and innovative thinking, solutions are emerging that are already in use today, generating new opportunities and possibilities.

Zurich, August 2022 – Heat waves, drought, the economic consequences of the pandemic, political unrest and the war in Ukraine: the current world situation does not exactly make for optimism. It is therefore all the more important not to lose sight of the future and to consider the world ten, twenty or even more years from now. More than ever, we need innovative ideas, ways of thinking and acting out of the box, and people and companies that invest time and expertise in new technologies and take on forward-thinking roles. There are ways out of the crisis, and finding them is part of the work of futurologists like Monika Herrmann with moderning in Zurich. She was also a guest at the 2b Ahead Future Congress in Munich in July 2022. Managers, business representatives, investors, politicians, but also artists, science fiction authors, and just futurologists from all over the world meet at this annual congress to discuss the technology roadmaps, business models, and markets of the next ten years. “One of the Speakers 2022 was Anna Chernyavsky, Senior Sales Manager of the Israeli company WaterGen,” said Monika Herrmann. “She showed how the water problems of the future can be solved.” That’s because the world’s freshwater reserves are melting and flowing into the sea. They are converting to salt water, and in as little as ten years, about half the people on earth will no longer have direct access to drinking water. WaterGen extracts drinking water from the air with its technology. The company is the world market leader, and the technology has been named one of the ‘world’s most important innovations’ by the World Economic Forum.

“Humans as intelligent beings have so much potential,” Monika Herrmann continued. “The positive mindset at this future event, in combination with the numerous innovative solutions for a wide variety of current challenges, give us courage for the future!”

Futurology makes school!

Futurology plays a key role in determining where the world will be in ten or more years. As an expert, Monika Herrmann and moderning normally develop future scenarios together with companies over a period of ten to 30 years. Her latest project ,Future into Schools’ is targeted at the pioneers of the future: the next generation. “We bring teachers and pedagogues closer to the rather abstract subject of futurology with exciting workshops. The makers of the next future are at the schools. By highlighting scenarios, possibilities, risks and opportunities, we want to awaken the potential of the next generation and arouse their curiosity, provide an incentive for creative thinking and rule breaking. Last but not least, more knowledge and better understanding also ensure a positive outlook on the future.”

For questions, interviews or further information on futurology or the new offer ‘Future Workshop for Schools’, please contact Monika Herrmann.

Pictures attached: Monika Herrmann, futurologist moderning

Kontakt:
Sibylle Ambs
Medienverantwortliche
die textwerkstatt
079 484 85 00
presse@die-textwerktatt.ch

The Russian attack against Ukraine has lasting effects that make it necessary to adjust the premises for futurology as well as for strategic planning, in politics, business and administration.

Violation of accepted norms and values
The principle of world order threatened by the Russian invasion is based on the expectation that common challenges, including climate change, will lead to collective consensus concerning their management and thus ultimately to a convergence of fundamental societal values. Russia evades respect for accepted norms and values through its arbitrary interpretation of the principle of sovereignty and its goal of restoring 19th- and 20th-century geopolitical structures by force.

Limited options for action
The Western community’s options for action are limited. Economic sanctions are more likely to be effective only in the short term. It is not to be expected that a change in values will occur in the medium term, leading to new patterns of conflict solution and thus simultaneously creating the basis for a sustainably favorable investment climate.

Impacts not yet fully comprehensible
The lasting effects for business and government are not yet fully clear, even though differentiated forecasting models and alternative scenarios have already been developed. It is important to know the value chains in order to identify and assess the risks of supply and payment shortfalls and to look for substitutes in the case of disruptions that are considered to be persistent.

Increased planning reliability through artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence helps to forecast supply gaps and possibilities for closing them in alternative scenarios. This increases the chances of identifying fields of action for innovations and improvements and thus avoiding excessive fluctuations in the supply of resources. Last but not least, the greater resistance to politically motivated attempts at extortion also increases entrepreneurial planning security.

What can you expect from moderning?
moderning supports you in the assessment of current challenges and the identification of relationships with regard to framework conditions, the market and the value chain. This is followed by the presentation and selection of probable future scenarios and the development of the promising innovation strategy. And moderning offers special expertise in the implementation to achieve your strategic success position.

The Covid 19 pandemic and the recently started war in Ukraine show us how unpredictable the future ultimately is. But are companies really inevitably at the mercy of this rule, or are there strategies for coping with the future, regardless of what may come? Futurologist Monika Herrmann sees opportunities rather than risks and explains why.

Zurich, March 2022 – The Covid 19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine are just two examples of how apparently established and consolidated structures can be shaken and destroyed within a very short time. Not only as individuals, but also as entrepreneurs, we are seemingly helpless in the face of these events. But is this really the case? Monika Herrmann, futurologist and owner of moderning, says about the current challenges: “Reflecting on strategic success positions thanks to permanent innovative strength and customer loyalty is currently becoming increasingly important. Digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) are interdependent and are megatrends that contribute to shorter planning cycles and increasing pressure for permanent innovation.” Accordingly, she sees opportunities rather than risks in this development for companies, which not only secure their economic survival with a strategic success position, but also use it to gain an identity that is difficult to challenge. “The management of strategic success position has proven to be an adaptable concept in its approaches since the 1970s, which has integrated the Internet as well as digitalization and AI in a trend-setting way.” The starting point is always the company’s strengths. They define the solution concepts that enable an exclusive position with low price sensitivity and sustainable customer loyalty.

An investment in the future

Futurology plays a key role here: as an expert, Monika Herrmann and moderning work with companies to develop future scenarios covering a period of ten to 30 years. These illustrate what measures are needed to achieve a superior market position in the long term. The approach is interdisciplinary and takes into account findings from the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences as well as best practices from business and society. “During our work, it often becomes apparent that mistakes that are recognized years later have a longer genesis, and their consequences can rarely be remedied in the short term without structural disruption.” Future research is thus a worthwhile investment in the future of any company. “Our clients are not only established market players, but also startups in the fields of medical technology, life sciences, IT or financial services.”

(Photo Credit: Lucia Eppmann)

According to recent studies, more than a third of people under 40 pay attention to a sustainable lifestyle. However, interest in sustainability is strongly affected by pricing as well as the transparency of product information. What can be expected for the future?

Sustainability in the public awareness

According to recent surveys (e.g. commissioned by Zurich Group Germany or KPMG), more than a quarter of Germans and more than a third of those under 40 pay attention to a sustainable lifestyle. This statement is also valid for Austria and Switzerland, with minor deviations.

Young families – the origin of the “sustainability generation”?

Interviewees from households with children and the more highly educated are more likely than average to buy bio or fair-trade products and to volunteer for environmental protection or charitable projects. The majority expect climate protection to continue to gain in importance and see politicians as having a responsibility to ensure greater sustainability.

Transparency motivates

The connection between personal commitment and the result must be transparent. Transparency in product and pricing makes people less reluctant to pay higher prices for sustainable products. This experience is also confirmed by the success of online retail with products requiring explanation at the expense of stationary retail.

Sustainable investments – fear of the risks puts the brakes on

Younger people and households with children are more likely than average to own sustainable investment products. However, even people with high purchasing power and an affinity for sustainability show a high degree of price sensitivity and risk aversion. This makes sustainability stocks (e.g. for wind power or solar power) seem more interesting for institutional investors than for private individuals.

What is the conclusion?

Sustainability has arrived in the context of social values. People under 40, professionally successful and with above-average education are open to sustainable behavior. Nevertheless, the willingness to make compromises and sacrifices is low. This can probably be explained by the uncertain effect of sustainable measures, which will only be apparent in the long term.

What can you expect from moderning? Sustainability is not only prescribed, but also practiced. With qualitative research, moderning complements quantitative research approaches. Thanks to a holistic approach, interviewing experts enables us to generate meaningful target group profiles. These make sustainability your success factor, because you know who you are dealing with!

According to FAO studies, demand for food and feed is expected to increase by 70% by 2050 with a world population of around 10 billion people. What alternatives are emerging for the eco-friendly supply of protein foods?

Facing food shortages: ways out sought

Awareness of sustainability and health has arrived. In Germany, around 10 percent of the population are confessed vegetarians, and their number is rising by one million every year. On the other hand, the yield of cereals and pulses in the countries of the tropical zone is expected to decline by a total of about 15 percent by 2050 compared with 2010 as a result of climate change. This will require the use of higher-yielding cereal varieties and water-saving soil cultivation.

Meat without slaughter?

Not least, this perspective gives essential impetus to research aimed at reproducing animal cells bypassing natural reproduction. Following a stem cell biopsy on a living animal, new muscle tissue is generated in a nutrient medium. The increasing use of plant-based nutrient media instead of serum from calf fetuses can be seen as forward-looking.

Advantages and disadvantages of laboratory meat: not yet conclusively assessed

According to current findings, the consumption of laboratory meat does not lead to any adverse health effects. The ecological effects of the production of lab-grown meat have also been little studied. According to a study published by the American Chemical Society, land and water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced in the production of cultured meat. The energy balance of in vitro meat is more favorable compared to animal agriculture, but at a disadvantage compared to plant-based diets.

On the way to market

The addition of fatty tissue from bovine stem cells has also significantly improved the taste of the meat. With support from 3D printing, the currently still mushy consistency is to give way to a structure close to that of natural meat. The price of an in vitro burger is still around 10 to 11 dollars. Increasing competition thanks to new start-ups with shorter development times in the USA and Israel means that prices are expected to fall further. Swiss retailers have also recognized the signs of the times. Through the Bell Food Group, Coop has a stake in the Dutch start-up Mosa Meat, while Migros is involved in the Israeli start-up Aleph Farms.

Future with diversity

The potential for innovation in alternative foods has not been exhausted, as evidenced by the fact that only about $1 billion has been invested globally in research and development for lab-grown meat. The increase over the last three years, including about $120 million in new funding for Aleph Farms, indicates a growing general interest in alternative foods. moderning monitors this development and shows the interactions between the research branches involved, politics, business, and the consumer values that ultimately determine success. The future scenarios developed with you show the range of feasibility and acceptance – and the chances of achieving a new diversity instead of just having to prevent an impending emergency.

Sustainability has become more than a marketing buzzword behind which existing business models and business processes remain unchanged. Nevertheless, important questions remain unanswered about the definition, measurement and implementation of sustainability goals. How can perspectives for sustainable companies be shown?

Open questions on implementation

Listed companies are sending out clear signals when they announce that they will only purchase electricity from renewable sources in the future or take greater account of climate protection in their asset management. However, in politics as well as in science and business, important questions regarding implementation, roles, responsibility and cost allocation are still open. A typical example is the emissions tax for greenhouse gases (also known as the CO2 tax): Although trading in emissions certificates has become established within the EU, especially since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, and has thus enabled market-based pricing, a tax on emissions is still under discussion.

Measuring sustainability – but how?

On the one hand, sustainability is achieved by offsetting the consumption of resources (example: reforestation of cleared forests) and damage caused by production and consumption (example: wastewater treatment plants). On the other hand, sustainability increasingly also means avoiding production and consumption with harmful consequences. But how can this be measured? Indicators, such as those related to pollutant emissions, largely ignore how the costs incurred can be “correctly” attributed to the polluters. Behind this is the problem known in economics as external effects, namely that the polluter does not usually bear the full costs of manufacturing his or her products, but passes them on to the general public.

Solution approaches: Close to the market and as little bureaucracy as possible

Imperfect information leads to a “bias” against market-based pricing as well as fiscal and environmental policy objectives when emissions are taxed. The trading of certificates is intended to avoid this problem by setting prices that are close to the market. In addition to the appropriate attribution of external effects, a quantity target (e.g. production quantities of fossil fuels or other scarce resources) is also aimed at. Ethical parameters can also be taken into account, e.g. different damage costs per ton of CO2, depending on how strongly the welfare of people in the future is valued.

Managing the future is sustainability management

By purchasing and selling services in which sustainability certificates are priced in or which reflect the avoidance of polluting substances and activities, the value chain continuously gains in sustainability. moderning supports you in this process by analyzing and evaluating the interactions between the framework conditions and your strategic options. The future scenarios developed with you show the range within which the performance rendered under sustainability aspects is worthwhile or innovative alternatives should be developed.

Business is increasingly being held accountable – social responsibility through sustainable added value is expected. Since the 1980s, the topic of sustainability has become a ubiquitous and indispensable feature of political programs and product marketing. But what is behind it – and what does it mean for our future?

The definition of sustainability

According to the 1987 report of the Brundlandt Commission, named after its then-president and initiated by the United Nations, development is sustainable “if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Sustainability for society

Smart cities with intelligent, energy-efficient connectivity. “green lungs” between dense living and working areas with CO2 absorption and adapted water recycling. New concepts for colonizing the Amazon rainforest without destroying it. We are clearly moving toward this development, which will determine the next two decades.

How important is sustainability in business?

The postulates of the above-mentioned Brundlandt Report have found their way into standards and specifications for companies. They combine sustainability with the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This means a shift to products with high added value and a positive ecological balance.

Claim and reality

Best-practice comparisons in the automotive industry, for example, reveal that companies attach little importance to social responsibility. Concepts for strategic personnel development and sustainable attractiveness for talent are largely lacking. By contrast, the resource efficiency of production and drive systems and further development in the direction of sustainable mobility (e-mobility, hybrid) are of the greatest importance.

And nevertheless: Only a sustainable future has a future

No future without sustainability. How is an intrinsic desire of the management to use sustainability strategically and to include the opinion of the users as a driver of sustainability awakened? moderning stands for positive motivation in the face of the challenges of the global framework conditions. With a proactive strategy of qualitative, resource-conserving growth, we initiate a development with you that avoids reactive responses to disasters that have already occurred or are imminent in the face of growing regulation.

Sustainable profit

Such sustainable growth enables the highest present value of investments and process costs, taking into account the underlying value premises. By identifying and consistently evaluating the distinctive, sustainable product characteristics, moderning creates a win-win situation with you. And thanks to an effective implementation concept, you achieve quick wins – short-term and yet lasting, because you are “on the right track”.

Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, but also nutritional science and food research: life sciences are becoming increasingly important. But what solutions are needed in view of the aging of the world’s population? What ( practicall) paths does futurology see in life sciences?

Feasible health – what’s behind it?

Are we always in control of leading a healthy life ourselves? How much do we depend on impulses from science and research – and on an industry that is becoming increasingly important? What is behind the so-called life sciences? Life sciences means the interdisciplinary scientific and industrial study of biological structures and processes in the broadest sense. It includes biology, medicine, pharmacy and biochemistry, but also agricultural technology, nutritional sciences and food research. In Switzerland, the Anglo-Saxon, strongly commercially oriented understanding of the term has prevailed, while in Germany the translation of “biosciences” primarily means research institutions and training courses for basic research.

The science for healthy living

Life sciences stand for physical fitness, healthy nutrition, prevention, repair and the preservation of key life functions. Artificial joints or devices to help with limited mobility come to mind. And of nutritional supplements, medicines, diagnostics, and other health-related products. The need is well-founded: Ever-increasing competition in our professional lives, and more and more in our leisure time, drive us to ever more ambitious goals. These are signs of our prosperity, which has been accompanied by a sharp increase in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases since the mid-1950s. Today, medical progress raises the expectation that even congenital diseases and deformities can be eliminated or their consequences reduced. Thanks not least to the successes of the life sciences, life expectancy has risen by 15 to 20 years worldwide over the last five decades.

Demography as a driver of the life sciences

High life expectancy means, on the one hand, that more and more people are reaching old age with good physical and mental vitality. On the other hand, the number of those who are no longer able to lead a self-determined life as a result of chronic, age-specific diseases is growing. In a study, economists from the renowned London School of Economics show the effects of increasing life expectancy in economically advanced countries and in the emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. By the middle of this century, about one-third of the population in the economically advanced countries and China is expected to be over 65, with a steadily declining proportion available as “productive” workers. An increasing proportion of the working-age population will then be absorbed by caring for a steadily growing number of people who become permanently dependent, mainly as a result of dementia.

Don’t be afraid of robots – they are urgently needed

The foreseeable shortage of labor will only be compensated for by automation and the use of robots and artificial intelligence. Life sciences play a central role in this: from medication to surgical interventions and artificial joints to the monitoring of follow-up treatment or long-term care. Digitization is creating new job profiles and workplaces with new requirement profiles, to which the use of robots is also adapted. Seeing robots as job killers is therefore largely unfounded. Rather, new forms of interaction between humans and machines are emerging in the life sciences, while preserving human sovereignty.

Where health is “made

Together with locations in the USA and China, Zurich is one of the leading life sciences locations. Apart from the big players in the pharmaceutical industry, the sector in this country is characterized by numerous start-ups, often university spin-offs. These are mostly dependent on government funding and private venture capital. The willingness of investors to forgo dividends for years or to contribute additional funds is a sign of their optimism. The demographic challenge puts the fear of China’s sole dominance into perspective: The combination of digitization, AI and life sciences has become a question of survival for China itself.

Future research – the perspectives and opportunities of life sciences How does moderning with futurology show the perspectives – and the possibilities of the life sciences and their effects? Demographic development provides a framework for scenarios in which possible futures 20 to 30 years ahead of us make visible the importance of the life sciences and their influence on the way we live. We not only see how further achievements will change our lives. We also see from which centers of the life sciences the strongest impulses are emanating and to what extent previously less favored regions and locations are being given the opportunity to catch up. Put another way: We try to show ways in which life sciences can continue to generate different levels of profit, but as far as possible there should no longer be any losers in the proc