A Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project for Foresight UK

January 2008 - shiftN has been heavily involved in one of Foresight UK’s key projects: the Mental Capital and Wellbeing project. The UK Government's Foresight programme, alongside the Horizon Scanning Centre, uses science-based methods to provide visions of the future to enable policymakers to develop strategies to manage our future better. (The Foresight Programme and Horizon Scanning Centre are based in the Government Office for Science based within the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.)

The aim of this project is to produce a challenging and long-term vision for maximising Mental Capital and Wellbeing in the UK in the twenty-first century - both for the benefit of society, and for the individual. It surveys a particularly wide range of issues, ranging from mental health to learning difficulties, learning through life and mental wellbeing at work.

shiftN is responsible for two work packages in this project. First we work very closely with a wide range of top-level scientific experts to build cross-disciplinary visual models. The purpose of these models is to visualise systemic interdependencies across a wide range of issues surrounding mental capital and to make this complexity accessible to decision-makers and wider audiences. A second work package focuses on the development of a set of future scenarios to help assess the robustness of potential policy interventions in this area.

In a second phase, which has just started, we work closely with scientific experts who are engaging with their peers and stakeholders in thinking through the implications of the insights gathered in an initial phase of the project.

The projects’ second phase has just started and is scheduled to run from February 2008 to May 2008.

New UK government strategy on obesity launched

January 2008 - A new cross government strategy to tackle obesity "Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives" was launched by the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls building on Foresight's most recent published project. This strategy is the first stage of the Government's response to the Foresight report "Tackling Obesities: Future Choices", published in October 2007.

shiftN has been deeply involved in the work leading up to this groundbreaking report. Working with top scientists across the UK, shiftN has built a comprehensive system map that provides the most systemic view to date on the many interdependences between biological, social, cultural, psychological and economic factors associated with obesity. More information on the project and the full report can be downloaded from here.

One of the elements in the UK Government’s strategy is the establishment of a National Obesity Observatory. This will use the systems map as the backbone of their research and monitoring functions.

More information on the “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives” strategy can be found here.

Radicalisation Futures 2020

December 2007 – shiftN continued to work on Radicalisation futures with an expert group from the Global Futures Forum, a multinational, multidisciplinary intelligence community embracing intelligence, national security, and nongovernmental experts. The aim is to better understand drivers behind radicalisation processes in societies and to anticipate how they might evolve. The recent workshop offered an engaging mix of expert contributions, field testimonials and interactive scenario building work. In addition to the radicalisation-focused community, shiftN supports other topic-focused communities of interest in the GFF.

Launch of Foresight’s “Tackling Obesity: future choices” report.

October 2007 – Tackling Obesity: Future Choices, the latest report to be published today by Foresight, part of the UK Government Office for Science, examines a wide-range of aspects around obesity from biology to social and cultural factors in order to understand how to prevent and treat obesity in the future.

shiftN has been deeply involved in the work leading up to this groundbreaking report. Working with top scientists across the UK, shiftN has built a comprehensive system map that provides the most systemic view to date on the many interdependences between biological, social, cultural, psychological and economic factors associated with obesity.

Sir David King alongside the lead science experts on the project:  Dr Susan Jebb (on the picture at left), Dr Peter Koppelman and Prof. Klim McPherson, and the project sponsor Minister Dawn Primarolo, presented the findings at a stakeholder event at the Royal Society of Arts on Wednesday 17th October 2007.

Launching the report Sir David King said: The report is a major step forward in understanding the complex nature of this problem and how to approach it, and will be a helpful tool for Government and policymakers in exploring the key challenges and designing robust strategies to prevent and treat obesity in the future." Sir David referred to the system map as a “marvellous piece of work.”

Most adults in the UK are already overweight but by 2050 we might expect 60% of men and 50% of women to be clinically obese. Without action, obesity related diseases will cost an extra £45.5 Billion per year, suggesting that tackling obesity requires a societal approach as well as individual efforts.

More information on the project and the full report can be downloaded from here.

shiftN is currently engaged in Foresight’s Mental Capital and Wellbeing project, using the best science and evidence from across a wide range of disciplines to identify and analyse the most important drivers affecting  Mental Capital and Wellbeing in the future.

Umicore launches the Umicore Way Game

October 2007 – Umicore has recently rolled out its Umicore Way Game. It is a learning game that has been developed by shiftN in partnership with design bureau pars pro toto to help Umicore’s employees worldwide to reflect on the relevance of the company’s Values, Code of Conduct, and Sustainability and Human Rights policies in their own work situation.

The game has been developed over a six month-period under the championship of Mark Dolfyn (Director Corporate HR) and Bert Swennen (Director Environment, Health and Safety Management). Most members of the company’s Executive Committee have been actively involved in the development process. CEO Thomas Leysen has been personally overseeing the project.

The Umicore leadership sees a proactive approach to sustainable development and ethical business practices as vital in realising the company’s goal of creating sustainable value by developing, producing and recycling “materials for a better life”.

Four pilot runs in different parts of the world have demonstrated the game’s potential to engage Umicore’s employees on these issues in a playfully serious way (picture on the left was taken during the Shangai pilot run).

More information on Umicore’s approach to sustainable development can be found on www.sustainabledevelopment.umicore.com

WS morphs into shiftN

December 2007 - As of January 1st 2008, the brand WS will cease to exist. We will continue with our work under a new name: shiftN (pronounced “shift en”).

shiftN will continue to build on almost 15 years of experience in helping clients deal with complex strategic and societal issues. Our key contribution; to foster clarity in conditions of complexity, relying on state-of-the-art skills in systems thinking, futures methodologies and collaborative intelligence.

The shiftN core team consists of Kim Becher, Marshall Clemens, Alexandra Kanitz and Philippe Vandenbroeck. As was the case in the past, our own capabilities will be complemented by those of trusted partners whenever appropriate.

We look forward to continuing an exciting intellectual journey, to building new relationships, and contributing to pressing societal problems.