The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS) was founded in 1970 by Professor Thorkil Kristensen, former Minister of Finance and Secretary-General of the OECD. Since its foundation, CIFS has been a non-profit and independent organisation. It was set up in co-operation with a number of visionary organisations wanting to qualify their basis for making decisions through futures studies.

The objective of the CIFS is to strengthen the basis for decision-making in public and private organisations by creating awareness of the future and highlighting its importance to the present.

The work methods of CIFS range from statistically based analysis and the identification of global trends, to more subjective emotional factors of importance to the future.

CIFS has since the beginning been at the front edge of developments of new working methods and analysis tools. These are regularly revised and improved in line with new knowledge and experience acquired, for instance through the CIFS contacts with research communities around the world.

CIFS is Danish member of the Euroconstruct network, i.e. we are in close contact with the European research community in relation to housing and construction in general.

The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies is part of a number of global networks and participates regularly in conferences and roundtables. These exchanges of new ideas and visions provide the Institute with a global perspective and a strong basis for multinational projects.

Due to its size, a highly educated and experienced staff and co-operation with other international research teams, the Institute is capable of taking on a wide variety of tasks, including very complex ones.

The work of the Institute is interdisciplinary. The staff represents various fields of academic and professional backgrounds such as economics, political science, ethnography, psychology, engineering, PR and sociology.