In the mood for the future with Horizon Scanning Cards

How could “employee digital twins” change the labour market?

How could in-space manufacturing impact your field of work?

What if we could bioengineer our gut microbiome to solve many of the modern world’s health problems?

These are just some of the many ‘signals of change’ we are collecting through our ESPAS Horizon Scanning process. Apart from using them to inform our regular Horizon Scanning bulletins, we have found them very useful conversation starters for many of our foresight workshops: to get people into the right headspace to think about and interact with the future.

This is why we have created Signal Cards: a creative icebreaker to kick off your workshops with a bang!

Signal Cards

Horizon scanning is a foresight exercise to systematically examine early signs of future developments which are at the margins of the current thinking but may have an important impact in the future.

The Signal Cards come out of the ESPAS Horizon Scanning activity, in which we present and analyse emerging trends, technologies or generally signs of new which we identified through the horizon scanning process.

They are perfect for sparking creativity and getting everyone in the room to think beyond the beaten track. You can use the Signal Cards to start your workshop with a quick exercise to get people in the right mood.

Signals are early identifications of developments around us, which indicate something new, different and potentially impactful - including discontinuities, disruptions, transformative phenomena, inflection points, outliers, and early-stage indications. These signals can be for example scientific findings, innovations, new phenomena or changes in behaviour.

Each card has a title, a short description and a category, which asks a question about the nature of the change, such as whether it indicates a major turning point, or how it could hack society.

The current deck has 113 Signal Cards which we will keep updating annually to keep the signals fresh and relevant.

How to use the cards

The Signal Cards are ideal for situations where you want to expand thinking, foster imagination and explore different potential futures. Start your workshop with a quick exercise to find relevant signals of change for your topic, challenge the common perspective or think about the culminating effects various signals might create together. Imagine how ‘endineering’ - designing products with their end of life in mind - could impact EU industrial standards, or how dream-shaping technologies could affect consumer protection. The Signal Cards are all about exploring how different signals of change might interact in the future and apply to your area of interest.

If you have more time, you can dive deeper into the signals and explore their potential impacts, for example at the beginning of a (foresight) exercise. Participants can use them to envision a world where they have become reality and think about what the consequences might be of such a change. An activity like this can help to pinpoint areas for further analysis.

You don’t need to use all 113 cards at once – it's actually better not to. Our advice is to select a random mix to keep things lively and diverse, or choose a curated set, tailored for the event. Just remember, the goal is to stretch your thinking, so don’t narrow the focus too much.

You can download the Signal Cards below, follow the detailed instructions included and see how they transform your next workshop.

Download the Signal Cards

Whether you print them or use them digitally, they’re a great way to get everyone talking about the future.

Share your experience

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the Signal Cards: share your feedback or tell us about how you have used them by dropping us an email at JRC-HORIZONSCANec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-HORIZONSCAN[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Dive in and see where the future takes you!

And while you’re here, don’t miss the latest edition of our Horizon Scanning Bulletin, where we dig into:

what a “military-grade society” can mean for the EU with the broadening of what is considered “critical infrastructure”
what the EU can do to protect its values and citizens in the face of digital tech giants becoming state actors
what a green hype bust could mean for sustainability transitions and the EU Green Deal

These signals and more analysis are available here:

Horizon Scanning Bulletin 8