Which were the aims at the beginning?The purposes of The Millennium Projectare to assist in organizing futures research,improve thinking about the future, andmake that thinking available through avariety of media for consideration in policy-making, advanced training, public educa-tion, and feedback, ideally in order to ac-cumulate wisdom about potential futures.

Has it changed a lot?The aims are the same, but it has growntremendously. It is now internationally re-cognized as an independent global partici-patory think tank that is interdisciplinary,transinstitutional, and multicultural. Therole of the Nodes around the world hasbecome more important as they now initiatefutures research studies such as on theone now in Latin America to create futurescenarios for the region.

Nowadays, the Project has several“nodes” or active groups all over theWorld. How do they work?A “node” is the intersection of two or morenetworks. In the Millennium Project, it is agroup of individuals and institutions thatconnect global and local views – the localelement of the global system. A Node isa set of self-organized groups of individualsand institutions. Ideally and one or twoare from each of the following institutions:government, corporations, NGOs, Univer-sities but not a majority from any one ins-titutional category – making the Node likea “TransInstitution.”Nodes identify leadingminds to participate in the Project’s resear-ch, adapt research to the cultural setting(group discussions, vs. individual questio-nnaires, and interviews), initiate research(e.g., Latin America 20-30 listed above),design and conduct workshops, sympo-siums, advanced Training, and somethingnone of us have thought of before. It isexperimental; no one knows the right wayto be a Node. Nodes select their chair andsometimes co-chairs, who provide leader-ship, manage communications, attend MPplanning committee meetings once a year.Each Node signs a Memorandum of

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Understanding by one or more organiza-tions with the Millennium Project. Can bewith existing institution or created as a newMillennium Project NGO.

Financing is also a key issue for thiskind of projects. How are used theoutputs of your work?The Millennium Project is sponsored bydifferent Institutions World Wide.Many usetheannual state of the Future reports asinputto their own strategic planning, con-sulting,and teaching.Previous sponsorsare listed at:http://www.millennium-pro-ject.org/millennium/sponsors.htmlCurrent sponsors are: Azerbaijan StateEconomic University (tele-course on futuresconcepts and methods; City of Gimcheon,Korea (support the collective intelligencesystem for the Global Climate ChangeSituation Room); Kuwait Office of the PrimeMinister (design and implement a collectiveintelligence to support their Early WarningSystem); Rockefeller Foundation (generalsupport for meetings and financial plan-ning); UNESCO (research for the UN WorldWater Scenarios); and U.S. Army Environ-mental Policy Institute (monthly environ-mental security reports).

How did you see the Basque Countryin your recent visit to San Sebastian topresent the “2010 State of the Future”?It is wonderful, beautiful, and unique partof Europe. Its architecture, people, andfood were wonderful.

Do you know the work of Prospektiker?Yes, Ibon Zugasti gave me the backgroundand he was highly recommended by otherNode Chairs of the Millennium Project inEurope. We are very pleased with theaddition of Prospektiker to our network offutures organizations around the world.

You are leading a non profit organizationthat has wide and strategic information.Which are, in your opinion, the keychallenges of the planet right now?The Challenges are interdependent: animprovement in one makes it easier to

El proyecto Millenium surgió en 1996, año en que Theodore Gordon publicóel Memorándum del Proyecto Milenio del Grupo Futuro en PredicciónTecnológica y Cambio Social. El grupo pidió a Jerome Glenn que llevasela idea del Proyecto Milenio a la Universidad de las Naciones Unidas.Glenn cambió el concepto de un estudio global a un sistema global paraestudios globales. Recientemente, Glenn visitaba San Sebastián parapresentar, de la mano de Prospektiker, el informe 2010 en español.Aprovechamos las ocasión para hablar con él del proyecto.

address others; deterioration in one makesit harder to address others. Arguing whetherone is more important than another is likearguing that the human nervous system ismore important than the respiratory system.These Challenges are transnational innature and transinstitutional in solution.They cannot be addressed by any govern-ment or institution acting alone. They re-quire collaborative action among govern-ments, international organizations, corpo-rations, universities, NGOs, and creativeindividuals. Although listed in sequence,Challenge 1 on sustainable developmentand climate change is no more or lessimportant than Challenge 15 on globalethics. There is greater consensus aboutthe global situation as expressed in theseChallenges and the actions to addressthem than is evident in the news media.

How can sustainable development beachieved for all while addressing globalclimate change?How can everyone have sufficient cleanwater without conflict?How can population growth and resour-ces be brought into balance?How can genuine democracy emergefrom authoritarian regimes?How can policymaking be made moresensitive to global long-term perspectives?How can the global convergence ofinformation and communications tech-nologies work for everyone?How can ethical market economies beencouraged to help reduce the gapbetween rich and poor?

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“The role of the Nodes around the worldhas become more important”

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Presentación del Informe “Estado del Futuro 2010”

Prospektiker presentó a comienzos de este año, en colaboración con LKS, Diputaciónde Gipuzkoa y MONDRAGON, el Informe “Estado del Futuro 2010” en el Salón delTrono de la citada institución foral. Este documento constituye el informe anual delProyecto Millennium, del que Prospektiker preside el Nodo español. La presentaciónse realizó por el estadounidense Jerome C. Glenn, Director Ejecutivo del mencionadoproyecto.

Millennium es un nuevo tipo de Think Tank, establecido en 1996 para conducir lainvestigación de futuros globales en un esquema global, a través de Nodos en todoel mundo. Es una “inteligencia global estratégica” que interconecta perspectivasglobales y locales a través de su red de más de 30 Nodos y 3.000 expertos alrededordel mundo. Los participantes trabajan para las Naciones Unidas y otras organizacionesinternacionales, corporaciones, gobiernos, ONGs, institutos de investigación yuniversidades.

Entre las secciones habituales del informe «Estado del futuro" están los análisis actualizadosanualmente de los 15 Retos Globales, así como la publicación del Índice Estado del Futuro(SOFI). El índice identifica las áreas en las que se ha producido ya sea una mejora o undeterioro en los últimos 20 años y se desarrollan proyecciones para estos escenariosdurante la próxima década. Todos los estudios relevantes y reconocidos de la ONU, elBanco Mundial y otras organizaciones multilaterales se aplican, en parte, en estasproyecciones.

El Nodo dirigido por Propektiker está trabajando en 3 grandes líneas de actuación:

Informe Estado del Futuro 2010: se ha coordinado la traduccióny edición de la versión en castellano del Informe.

Plataforma Web del Nodo: se ha puesta en marcha la plataforma Web de comunicacióny debate virtual del Nodo: www.proyectomilenio.org

Seminario Millennium: se ha celebrado en San Sebastián el primer seminario con lapresencia de Jerome C. Glenn, Director Ejecutivo del Proyecto Millennium

Para más información sobre las actividades del Nodo Millennium, visite la página Webwww.proyectomilenio.org

Interview with Jerome C. Glenn,Director Ejecutivo de Millenium

How can transnational organized crimenetworks be stopped from becomingmore powerful and sophisticated globalenterprises?How can growing energy demands bemet safely and efficiently?How can scientific and technologicalbreakthroughs be accelerated to impro-ve the human condition?How can ethical considerations becomemore routinely incorporated into globaldecisions?

How can the threat of new and reemer-ging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced?How can the capacity to decide beimproved as the nature of work andinstitutions change?How can shared values and new secu-rity strategies reduce ethnic conflicts,terrorism, and the use of weapons ofmass destruction?How can the changing status of womenhelp improve the human condition?

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