I was recently in Washington D.C. and one of the highlights of the trip was meeting Dr. Mat Burrows. Dr. Burrows is the Director of the Strategic Foresight Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security.

Dr. Burrows spent many years at the CIA and National Intelligence Council where he was the principal drafter of the highly regarded Global Trends report. He continues to lead this same type of forecasting in his role at the Atlantic Council.

In this episode we discuss the importance of forecasting, the challenges inherent in it, and how fiction writers and artists can play a key role in the process. Along the way we dig into some of the key drivers, such as technology, that will weigh heavily in the next report.

The process and final product are fascinating and it gets even more interesting because it’s open to input to all through a contest hosted by The Art Of The Future Project.