The interest in the future and attempts to predict what is going to happen can be traced back to the Delphic oracle via the Utopian socialists of the 19th century and further on to the systematic futures studies of today. The first approaches to more organized studies on the future were made by the American defense during World War II. However, it was 1960 – and 1970-century political, social and technological change that significantly increased interest in future studies. Specialized institutes for futures studies were established in many countries at this time. One of them was the Swedish Secretariat for Futures studies (predecessor to the Institute for Futures Studies) that was established in the early 1970s.
The Institute for Futures Studies has always emphasized the importance of scientific research and of close ties with universities and other research-intensive environments. To be able to say something about the future, we must be able to formulate with considerable clarity how the future-relevant processes are working and this requires us to be familiar with the latest developments in the social sciences. In recent years, access to large-scale databases and the ability to use computers to simulate possible future-scenarios have improved significantly and this has important consequences for the way in which our research is conducted.
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