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Devon Christianson, Board Member “Water drew me here,” explains Bridget O’Connor: It was the view of the Fox River that brought Bridget here from Minnesota as an SNC undergrad. Today she is the president and CEO of the O’Connor Connective, a marketing and communications firm that seeks to “be the chosen partner for the advancement […]

Nanette Nelson, Board Member Another Easter, another survey showing religion’s recent ebb: This one is from Gallup, confirming a deepening of the 21st-century decline in church attendance. But diminishment coexists with transformation… So let’s try to imagine how these trends might shape American religion a generation hence.

Tom Schumacher, Housing and Safety Signals Team Could deaths from fentanyl be declining? New testing that is a thousand times more sensitive than anything we’ve known before suggests this might be the case. Imagine this 2030 headline!

Beth Kowalski, Arts, Culture and Entertainment Signals Team The Arts, Culture and Entertainment signals team uses the SparkGGB! report to guide its work toward more robust regional opportunities in their area of focus. Learn more about the arts.

Beverly French, Arts, Culture and Entertainment Signals Team With all the talk lately about AI trends, here is a thoughtful discussion on AI usage in education sixteen years from now. Daniel Bron discusses the applications of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Web3 Technologies (the next generation), IoT (Internet of Things), BCI (Brain-Computer Interfaces), and ITS (Intelligent Tutoring […]

Beverly French, Arts, Culture and Entertainment Signals Team Imagine a university music department offering, under one roof, transformative artistic encounters musical practices that include beatboxing, beat-making, Djing, dance, fashion, poetry, theater, and visual arts. Mark Katz, Professor of Music at UNC-Chapel Hill, challenges higher education in his article called 2040 Vision: What will Arts Education […]

Judy Nagel, Upward Mobility Signals Team Fifteen thousand satellites have been sent to space since 1957, and only half are still working. Others are floating uselessly or have burned up. Orbit Fab is now building gas stations in space, providing hydrazine, the most common fuel for satellites. Read more on satellites.

We recently welcomed leaders from eight local organizations to Strategic Foresight training at the St. Norbert Abbey Center for Spirituality. Meet them here and discover what brought them to foresight training.

We welcome to our Board of Directors a chief strategy officer in the food production industry, a retired printing executive, and a consultant and executive coach. Meet them.

Judy Nagel, Upward Mobility Signals Assertion: The United States is the most powerful country in the world. We do not need to change our policies. Twenty years ago, the US made up 46.9% of world capitalization, by 2020 the share of world capitalization had increased to 54.6%The United States is first in world nominal GDP […]

How did all this “World Futures Day” business get its start? Learn about the work of Humanity+, the Millennium Project, Teach the Future, and more, all brought together on March 1. Learn how World Futures Day has evolved.

Nearly 400 local leaders, activists and civic-minded residents packed the room on March 1 to hear keynote speaker John Smart and local speakers John Werner and Gratzia Villarroel. They listened, asked questions, networked and considered. Read about World Futures Day 2024.

Judy Nagel, Upward Mobility Signals Team Google has initiated a first-of-its-kind approach to powering its data centers –geothermal energy! With the goal of accelerating a clean energy transition on aplanetary scale, Google has pioneered a horizontal drilling method. It uses newtechniques to harness the consistent heat from within the Earth’s crust and generateelectricity without burning […]

Jim Golembeski, Upward Mobility Signals Team Historically, prison conditions in America are not a pretty picture. Wisconsin continues to spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on a system that is inhumane and a vicious cycle for those caught up in it. The current situation at the Green Bay and Waupun prisons has been gaining […]

Kent Paulsen, Director of the Dudley Birder Chorale In fall 2024, the Dudley Birder Chorale of St. Norbert College will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, and,like most 50-year-olds, we of the Chorale find ourselves in a collective mid-life crisis! We could clearlysee a possible future of “decline and collapse.” Our board officers enrolled in Envision’s strategicforesight […]

Nan Nelson, Envision Board Member and Economic Transformation Signals Team In 2022, Thomas Frey was our keynote speaker at World Futures Day here in Green Bay. Today he is examining artificial intelligence (AI) trends to watch for in 2024. He warns that “With prudent planning, generative AI can drive positive workforce transformation. But neglecting to […]

COP, the United Nations’ annual global meeting on climate change, is being held in late November. Bill Gates says, “There are more reasons to be hopeful than many people realize—and it’s not just that renewable energy sources like wind and solar are getting cheaper. And it’s not just because many of the steps already taken to […]

Mark A. Konlock, Director of Horticulture, Green Bay Botanical Garden Plants build community – we understand that. For 27 years, the Garden has connected people withplants through educational and recreational experiences in an environment that engages, inspires, andrefreshes. But how can we plan for the Garden’s best possible future? The Garden’s leadership team hasbeen working […]

Jim Golembeski, Upward Mobility Signals Team Someone told me recently that the current state of generative AI today is comparable to what cellphones were in 2008. Remember pulling up little antennas in days before unlimited texting? What willAI be doing in 2033? We had better keep up with it, because generative AI accelerates what is […]

David Groteluschen, M.D., Medical Oncologist, guest author Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world we live in, including healthcare. It offers a wide possibilityof change – from patient wellness and provider access to medical diagnostics, clinical operations, andoptimization of disease treatment modalities. At Green Bay Oncology, we have started to incorporate AItechnologies into patient care, […]