UNESCO Chair on Future Studies

The social responsibility of business is growing against the background of aggravated social, economic and digital inequality. Most consumers are ready to give up the goods and services of those companies for which profit is more important than caring about people and environment. The trend towards systematic social investment is the main topic of the new issue of trendletters, produced as part of a joint project of the Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Center and the UNESCO Futures Studies Chair (UNESCO Futures Literacy Chairs network).

2022 marked 20 years since the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge has been founded. To celebrate this 20th Anniversary, we selected key events and facts in ISSEK’s history that sparked reflective discussions in academia, set new milestones for HSE University, or encouraged development in various sectors of the Russian economy and public life.

Professor Alexander Sokolov, Head of the Higher School of Economics UNESCO Futures Studies Chair, took part in the International Conference “Transforming knowledge for just and sustainable futures” held to mark the 30th anniversary of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs programme. The event took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on 3-4 November 2022.

The Twelfth International Academic Conference ‘Foresight and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy’ is kicking off at HSE University on November 22. Alexander Sokolov, chair of the organising committee, talked to the HSE News Service about the evolution of the foresight agenda. Two of the conference speakers, Ibon Zugasti from Spain and Mlungisi Cele from South Africa, shared some highlights of their research.

In 2019, Russian creative industries’ contribution to GDP amounted to 2.4%; the creative economy employs 4.9 million people (6.8% of the total national workforce). These measurements of Russia's creative economy obtained by HSE ISSEK were included in the international report ‘Creative Economy Outlook 2022’ produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

This year, three economists received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel: Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig. For participants of the prediction contest, the jury's choice turned out to be quite unexpected—only six people guessed one of the three Nobel laureates.

In 2022, a HSE University department joined the ranks of UNESCO Futures Literacy Chairs. This builds on the work of the ISSEK International Research and Educational Foresight Centre, and the activity of the Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Centre. Professor Alexander Sokolov, head of the new department, Director of the International Research and Educational Foresight Centre, and Deputy Director of HSE ISSEK, spoke about the establishment, aims and objectives of the UNESCO Chair on Future Studies.

The Human Capital Interdisciplinary Research Centre (HCIRC) is a world-class research centre comprising a consortium of HSE University, RANEPA, MGIMO University, and the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Its work was highly rated by the RAS in 2021. Lilia Ovcharova, HSE University Vice Rector and initiator of the centre’s creation, talked to the HSE News Service about integration in international studies on active ageing, creating a database on development trends in human potential, studying the effects of digitalisation, and the centre’s priority activities for the future.

The HSE ISSEK English-language Master’s programme in Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation is accepting applications. Studies in English, practical skills, extensive networking—former and current students shared their impressions with the HSE News Service, while Academic Supervisor Dirk Meissner talked about what to expect in the new academic year.