SGAC at Futures Research Seminar at the UN Headquarters in New York

By Andrew Hoppin, SGAC

Making use of SGAC’s Consultative Status at UN ECOSOC, the oversight and policy-setting body
for UN operational development activities, on March 27th I attended a Seminar on Futures
Research at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The seminar featured presentations by the co-founders of The Millennium Project (TMP), Jerome
C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon, and was Chaired by the Director of the UNESCO office in
New York, Helene-Marie Gosselin. The Millennium Project, which operates under the auspices of
the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA), is a “global participatory futures research
think tank of futurists, scholars, business planners, and policy makers who work for international
organizations, governments, corporations, NGOs, and universities” and is perhaps best known for
its annual ‘State of the Future’ report.

The purpose of the seminar was to introduce participants to contemporary futures research
methods such as those developed by TMP, to present the results of TMP’s review of 23
government futures strategy units, and to begin a discussion about the possibility of creating an
Intranet to connect government and UN future strategy units with one another in order to improve
global strategic research and planning. Such an Intranet, the presenters argued, would assist the
UN and its member Nations in addressing the Millennium Development Goals and other issues.

I attended the seminar in part because I had previously been introduced to one of the presenters
and have found that their State of the Future Report is a popular and widely-read document at
NASA Ames Research Center, where I work, and also because I have a personal interest in
Futures research and the profession of Futurists.

I found the presentations of Futures research methods at the seminar to be quite arcane, and
heard similar feedback from other attendees. There seemed to be a significant conceptual gap
between the research methods employed by TMP and the strategic planning processes of the UN
staff in attendance. Indeed, I believe this was part of the point that the presenters wished to
convey—that the UN’s strategic planning processes must be improved. I found the most
impressive aspect of TMP’s presentations to be the vast network of affiliated people and
institutions that TMP has accrued around the world since its inception in 1996. As SGAC well
knows, a global network of talented people actively collaborating with one another can be a
powerful force for change.

The discussion portion of the Seminar focused was more pragmatic and applied, we discussed
the opportunity and challenges inherent in deploying a new Intranet for futures researchers within
the UN system. While the opportunity of improved communication and collaboration resulting in
better planning seemed clear to all participants, the UN staff in attendance expressed skepticism
about the ability to deploy such a tool within the UN bureaucracy. A principal concern raised was
the potential for unequal access to Web-based communication / collaboration tools within less
developed nations due to the “Digital Divide.” Proponents of the Intranet countered that the
mountains of paper publications produced by the UN as a principal method of reporting and
communication are rarely read, ineffective, and environmentally wasteful. The discussion got
quite heated, in fact! I shared with the group my experience deploying new online collaboration
tools within NASA, and suggested that within any large bureaucratic organization (as both the UN
and NASA are), a useful approach is to “pilot” a new technology deployment within a small group
so that less buy-in is required to get started. Then when results from a pilot deployment are
illuminated for the rest of the organization, organization-wide deployment can occur far more
easily. Jerome Glenn concurred that this approach would make sense for this Intranet project at
the UN.

After the seminar, the participants went across the street to the Turkish Consulate for a reception
hosted by the Consulate and WFUNA. This informal environment allowed me to speak directly
with and build new relationships with UN and TMP staff, including Director Gosselin.
I strongly recommend that SGAC participate in small group seminars that relate to the use of
technology by the UN. As a virtual UN-affiliated organization comprised of young people that
relies principally on online communications technologies for its work, I believe that SGAC’s voice
can encourage other UN affiliated entities to accelerate adoption of these tools and
methodologies. I also recommend that SGAC representatives focus on participating in smaller
meetings and seminars, where there is far more opportunity for us to participate in the dialogue
and make meaningful contributions than there is a larger more “high-profile” events.