Spring 2024 Bulletin: Outcomes of the first year of FutuRes
We celebrate one year of the FutuRes project, in which we created the "Policy Lab" as a platform for stakeholders to meet and discuss modes of crisis resilient policy making. Several hundred stakeholders have already attended Policy Lab events - with distinguished speakers such as Vice-President of the European Commission Dubravka Šuica, MEPs Beatrice Covassi, Damian Boeselager and Brando Benifei, and policy experts Massimiliano Mascherini, Pearl Dykstra, Jutta Allmendinger and Fabiana Scapolo.
Our events so far have been:
Policy Lab Launch about labour market policy in June 2023
High Level Policy Expert Workshop on foresight methods in November 2023
Virtual Press Hour about ageing myths in December 2023
Stakeholder Dialogue at Berlin Demography Days in January 2024
At the same time, FutuRes researchers pursued their lines of research. How did recent shocks like the economic recession, the pandemic, and the war against Ukraine, impact fertility? How will migration and technological change likely affect the labour markets? In order to answer these questions, the research teams worked on their definition of resilience in policy, on the theoretical foundation for their economic models and set the groundwork for updating population projections. See the latest scientific publications along with policy recommendations. Finally, in order to engage a broad public with its research topics, FutuRes published a series of "Myth Busts" which contrast common misconceptions with scientific evidence.
In 2024, FutuRes will continue to improve population projections in Europe for the coming decades; engage citizens in the Policy Lab; host a series of scenario-building workshops with our stakeholders; work towards our scenario building for 2025.
With cross-sectoral groups, FutuRes will discuss questions such as: Which social investments will improve people’s resilience throughout their lives? How can government institutions adapt and adjust better to future crises? How can an older population of Europe thrive even in future crises? The scenarios, informed by the experts practical knowledge, will feed back into the project's final results. We would like to thank all who have contributed to the project's research, the science communication, and the Policy Lab events. To the next two years of cross-sectoral knowledge exchange!
This event marked the launch of the FutuRes Policy Lab. Speakers: Beatrice Covassi, Member of the European Parliament, Jutta Allmendinger, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Massimiliano Mascherini, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Arnstein Aassve, Futures Head of Research, and Ulrich Becker, Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
As the baby boomer generation retires, Germany and France respond by raising the age of retirement. This has been met with frustration by many, and outright anger by some. But is “How long should we work?” even the right question? What if the question was: “How can we work better?”