Imagining the future of corporations in a changing world.
In a future marked by climate change, recurring crises, and technological transformations, how will the very nature of corporations, their business models, and ways of operating be transformed? And what role could corporations play with regard to these changes?
This reflection is rendered all the more necessary as virtually no foresight on the future of corporations exists. The Emerging Enterprise project, led by the Plurality University Network, intends to fill this gap.
From 2020 to 2022, The Emerging Enterprise brought together representatives from more than 40 businesses operating in France, as well as one trade union (CFDT), and researchers, to imagine 12 companies of the year 2050 with the help of 5 (mostly science fiction) writers.
Out of these fictional corporations of the future, we have extracted 10 “Archetypes” of businesses of the future, some quite different from today’s corporations, others more recognizable yet significantly transformed.
Pilot project results in English (2021)
- Futures of Corporations: Trends, Forces of Change and Tensions (.pdf)
- Artistic and fictional “fragments” on the future of corporations and corporations of the future
- Three fictional corporations of the future: Results of the writing workshops (.pdf)
- Imagining the future of corporations: Summary of the collaborative work (.pdf)
A project initiated by the Plurality University Network, in cooperation with Ingrid Kandelman (L’Onde Zéro) and Philippe Hagmann (Le travail redistribué).
The fictional stories were illustrated by a group of students from Geneva’s Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design (HEAD). The images on the side are by David Humberset and Louise Monnard.
