The health and care sector can expect to undergo massive changes in future years. Outside pressures will determine the overall direction of the changes. Knowing about these megatrends could allow staff in the sector to shape the details. A new facility, Exploratoriet, at Copenhagen Science City-partner University College Copenhagen (KP) presents plausible future scenarios as conversation starters for students, staff and leaders in healthcare institutions as well as product- and service developers in private companies. The facility was officially opened for business on March 15th. 2022. By Jes Andersen.

Futurama is open for industry stakeholders

The Exploratoriet futurama was developed primarily to prepare students at KP for a future of constant change. This is part of an initiative at KP, where all future healthcare students will be exposed to innovation tools. For external companies and institutions, Exploratoriet is open for innovation processes, vision work, scenario planning and development and test of technological solutions for the sector.

Four plausible future scenarios

Exploratoriet consists of four scenarios. One where the current Danish single payer system is extended till the financing runs out. One where a nanny state focusses strongly on prevention. One where citizens are encouraged to seek alternative treatments and one where technology and personalized medicine makes health an individual responsibility.

Conversations about the far future

Having conversations about changing working conditions can provoke anxiety. Especially for members of a workforce, who get insecure about whether the conversation is really an excuse for lay-offs or adding burdens to staff. To calm these fears, all four scenarios are set in 2050. Talking about the far future is a lot easier for most. The facility was developen in collaboration with Danish Design Centre.

Exploratoriet is located at University College Copenhagen (Københavns professionshøjskole), Campus Nørrebro, Hermodsgade 8, 2200 Copenhagen N. Read more and get in touch here… (Text in Danish)