In this interview, our Content Director and head of the futurist team, Dr. Tuomo Kuosa, tells about the process of analysing the global impacts of the Ukraine war. He also discusses which one has a more profound impact, the war or the Covid-19 pandemic, and explains the difference between forecasting and foresight.

As populations begin to demand businesses and governments to define their success in new metrics other than financial growth and economic prosperity, new routes for future economic systems are starting to take shape.

In our article series, we zoom in on some specific areas and industries in the world that will emerge after the COVID-19 pandemic. This third instalment is based on an analysis by Futures Platform, with insight from the founder and chairman of energy company St1 and climate change advocate Mika Anttonen and Futures Platform’s Senior Foresight Analyst Max Stucki.

The sudden drop in consumer demand is devastating to the growth and potentially hinders the development of the sharing economy as a whole. As long as the need for social distancing remains, financial damages are inevitable to companies whose sharing services are focused on travelling, vacations and social gatherings.

Do we start to see cities becoming more independent from the national states? Self-reliant cities could potentially produce up to 30% of the energy, food, water and good it consumes. Can cities provide for itself and become less dependent on the states?

The current pandemic has shown that global supply chains are highly sensitive to disruptions in times of crisis. It is possible that sooner or later the Western countries will start to repatriate at least the most critical supply chains from abroad. The key driver behind the repatriation is to ensure the security of supply. However, in some cases, economic benefits may play a part as well.

In the fight against the Coronavirus outbreak, Big Tech and corporations are joining forces to take the lead, whereas the role of national authorities has dwindled.

The impacts of COVID-19 on the environment are likely to be temporary, but they give a historic opportunity to obtain new knowledge and renew our perspectives for handling the climate crisis.

The sudden spike in the number of patients combines with the shortage of medical supplies and PPE for healthcare workers could lead to the collapse of the healthcare system. Can the healthcare system handle the crisis during the pandemic?

The COVID-19 has shaken the lives of everyone, but the crisis will be overcome. However, economic, political and social changes are unavoidable. For this reason, it is important to anticipate the world after Coronavirus to ease the recovery.