The Futures Balance Takes Centre Stage in the Launch of the EU Intergenerational Fairness strategy
"How do we translate the vision of long-termism, systems-thinking, and intergenerational equity into practical, operational policymaking?"
This week marks a milestone for the Beyond Lab at the United Nations Geneva — and for global efforts to embed long-term thinking into public policy.
We are delighted to announce that Futures Balance developed by the Beyond Lab in close collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and with TASC Platform at the Geneva Graduate Institute as knowledge partner, has been officially included as a flagship instrument in today’s launch of the European Union’s Intergenerational Fairness Strategy (IGF).
This collaboration represents a meaningful step forward for anticipatory governance, evidence-based policymaking, and the multilateral community’s commitments to ensuring that decisions taken today do not compromise the opportunities and wellbeing of future generations.
The Futures Balance was conceived to address a simple but critical challenge:
How do we translate the vision of long-termism, systems-thinking, and intergenerational equity into practical, operational policymaking?
Together with colleagues from the JRC’s Decision Analysis Lab and EU Policy Lab, and with the TASC Platform at the Geneva Graduate Institute as knowledge partner — the Lab has built an innovative, structured and use-friendly tool that supports decision-makers in answering this question already at the earliest stage of policy design.
The Futures Balance is an innovative and interactive AI-facilitated tool and method designed to support decision-makers in understanding and addressing the long-term impacts and spillover effects of their policies and investments over time and across policy areas.
At its current prototype phase, the Futures Balance has two primary functions:
By integrating this dual capacity, the tool transforms intergenerational fairness from an aspirational concept into a practical, evidence-based decision-support system.
The inclusion of Futures Balance as a flagship component of the EU Intergenerational Fairness Strategy is a powerful testament to the value of multilateral collaboration in governance innovation and future-fit policy making, and a tangible demonstration of what becomes possible when institutions pool expertise, creativity and long-term vision.
The initiative represents a forward-looking contribution to the international community’s efforts to strengthen long-term governance and intergenerational equity — resonating closely with the commitments in the United Nations’ Pact for the Future, as well as the EU Better Regulations Framework and IGF Strategy.
It is also a significant advancement for intergenerational equity, showing how international institutions can give practical effect to their commitments to future generations — not through declarations, but through tools, processes and shared governance infrastructures.
Above, you will find a sneak peek of the Futures Balance tool — soon to appear on your screens as we prepare the next stage of its public release and deployment.
Stay tuned!
