Saphia Richou, president of Prospective-Foresight Network, chair of the Franch Node couldn't attend the July 2002 meeting in Philadelphia, but sent in her report.

PROSPECTIVE-FORESIGHT NETWORK :
Contribution to the Millennium Project Planning Committee Meeting Philadelphia, 19-20 July 2002

Previous six month’s work of the French Node

During the course of the last six months, the association Prospective-Foresight Network has implemented on its web site the Millennium Project, witch introduces
it’s philosophy and fifteen challenges.

The originality of the Millennium Project’s framework, is to allow experts to answer the questionnaires and interviews on line and to send by enclosed documents their results, concerning the fifteen challenges.

Moreover, during these last six months, Prospective-Foresight Network has attempted to motive  the French Foresight specialists to the Millennium Project
in order to make them participate.

A first meeting with about thirty specialists including Michel Godet was held in November 2001 at Futuribles.  A second one took place in June 2002, still at Futuribles. However, this time, more intimate, it was followed by a lunch with Hugues de Jouvenel, Rémi Barré of Futuribles and Olivier Da Costa of the IPTS of Seville (Spain). At the end of the meal, Hugues de Jouvenel agreed to publish an important article to promote the Millennium Project.

I have started to look for sponsors to finance the Millennium Project’s  works (update of the web site developments, translations of the challenges from English to French, and the beginning of the French Challenge “Art Representative of the State of the Future”. Concerning this issue, I met Marc Gelot, a Foresight consultant of Altran Europe, Philippe Gaumont of advertising FCB France (True North Group) and Philippe Cobombani of IFRI ( French Institute of International Relations).

With Jerome Glenn’s advise, I will make an appointment in September with Pierre-François Colleu, President of the Media Institute in Paris.

Objectives for the French Node year 2003

Prospective-Foresight Network’s goals for 2003 are to diffuse the questionnaires and interviews for the American Millennium Project. Also, it’s goal is to carry on motivating the French foresight specialists as to participate in the collective research. As the  French Node, Prospective-Foresight Network represents the Millennium Project in all the French manifestation and abroad.

To finish presenting our objectives for 2003, I would like to introduce a new challenge called : “Art Representative of State of the Future”.

To realize : “Art Representative of the State of the Future”, we need to create a network of International Artists, with the help of an International Node, whom will answer to each of the fifteen global challenges by photographs picturing art. In order to do so, we will collaborate with Frank Catanzaro from the Millennium Project Maui Node since he kindly agrees to let us use his laboratory’s tools.

The final idea is to visualize works of Art sent by the artists and to have their meaning analysed by specialists so as to publish a sociological analysis containing images and results for each challenge part of the State of the Future.

Saphia Richou
Prospective-Foresight Network
Paris, France