Future-Ready Society is a future-oriented programme that brings together academic research and action-oriented solutioning to re-think and challenge existing assumptions and paradigms underlying society’s wicked challenges.
What is a future-ready society?
A future-ready society is one that is capable of handling whatever challenges and disasters that may come its way in the future, whether they have been forecasted or are completely unpredictable. Members of a future-ready society are aware of the kind of values, policies, and societal features they do and do not desire in a future community and nation, and are willing to work towards making the desirable future a reality.
In essence, a future-ready society is prepared for whatever the future has in store, be they minor variations on the present, or calamitous events with immense consequences. Thus, to become future-ready, a society must be one that:
- is actively planning and working towards its desired future, taking into consideration the “likely knowns”. This requires:
i. a strong disposition towards futures thinking and foresight in the community, in order to better identify issues that may potentially affect Singapore’s future.
ii. a robust process to surface and experiment with promising solutions that would bring the trajectory of society closer towards its desired future, among the various possible alternative futures. - is resilient in the face of unexpected threats, shocks and stressors brought about by “unknowns”. For a community to be resilient in adapting and thriving during crisis, strong social capital and cohesion are critical.
Programme structure
Knowledge
Partnership
- Scan and identify issues that may potentially affect the future operating environment of our society;
- Provide research insights and focus on the implications of these issues on human beings, behaviour and society;
- Identify gaps and opportunities for intervention;
- Share knowledge with the broader community, to percolate futures insights, drive generative conversations and build capabilities
Future-Ready Society
Impact fund
- Pilot innovative solutions that have the potential to result in impactful transformation of Singapore’s social ecosystem;
- To be future-oriented, the solutions should be novel, bold, and ahead of its time. This necessitates re-thinking and challenging existing assumptions about current beliefs and paradigms;
- Engaging community partners to co-own issues, contribute innovative ideas, and to co-solution and co-drive the pilots;
- Evaluation of outcomes and measurement of impact
THEMATIC FOCUS
The programme currently focuses on two themes, the Future of Resilient Families and Empowered Communities and the Future of Civic Engagement.
Additional themes will be added as the programme develops.
Participating organisations
The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities is a research institute in the Singapore University of Technology and Design. The Centre seeks to stimulate thinking and research on the critical issues of cities and urbanisation and explore the integrated use of technology, design and policy to provide urban solutions.
The Institute of Policy Studies is an autonomous research centre of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. The Institute examines issues of critical national interest across a variety of fields, and studies the attitudes and aspirations of Singaporeans through surveys of public perception.
Supported by
Tote Board is a broad-based grantmaking organisation that contributes towards building an inclusive, resilient and vibrant community through their grants.