Futurist | EPFL Graph Search

Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general. Definition Past futurists and the emergence of the term The term "futurist" most commonly refers to people who attempt to understand the future (sometimes called trend analysis) such as authors, consultants, thinkers, organizational leaders and others who engage in interdisciplinary and systems thinking to advise private and public organizations on such matters as diverse global trends, possible scenarios, emerging market opportunities and risk management. Futurist is not in the sense of the art movement futurism. The Oxford English Dictionary identifies the earliest use of the term futurism i

Modeling the breaking-off of icebergs from tidewater glaciers

Qimin Wang

Ice calving is the breakaway process of icebergs which plays an important role in the dy- namics and the mass balance of ice sheets. Our project is to use Akantu (An open source object-oriented Finite Element library by LSMS) to reproduce the fracturing stages of the Bowdoin glacier in Greenland. Studies were first made on the mechanisms of ice calving and the provided data, to extract the key factors for our simulation. The HPC (high performance computing) simulation model was built by Python scripts, including preprocessing mesh file, applying arbitrary loading profiles, defining boundary conditions and initial conditions, pass- ing message through the simulation process, etc. The simulation scheme has been modified to better analysis the impact of water pressure and velocity field. Simulation acceleration was also implemented by amplifying the velocity field, so that the damage initiation and propagation could be explored faster. Some preliminary results about the relationship of system energy and damage propagation was analyzed. In the end, we proposed some study direction for the future researchers on the similar subject.

2019

Emergent order in hydrodynamic spin lattices

John Bush, Alexis Marie Frederic Goujon

Macroscale analogues(1-3) of microscopic spin systems offer direct insights into fundamental physical principles, thereby advancing our understanding of synchronization phenomena(4) and informing the design of novel classes of chiral metamaterials(5-7). Here we introduce hydrodynamic spin lattices (HSLs) of 'walking' droplets as a class of active spin systems with particle-wave coupling. HSLs reveal various non-equilibrium symmetry-breaking phenomena, including transitions from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic order that can be controlled by varying the lattice geometry and system rotation(8). Theoretical predictions based on a generalized Kuramoto model(4) derived from first principles rationalize our experimental observations, establishing HSLs as a versatile platform for exploring active phase oscillator dynamics. The tunability of HSLs suggests exciting directions for future research, from active spin-wave dynamics to hydrodynamic analogue computation and droplet-based topological insulators. A macroscopic analogue of a spin system is shown to emerge in an ensemble of droplets bouncing on the surface of a vibrating bath, revealing symmetry-breaking phenomena such as 'magnetic' ordering.

NATURE PORTFOLIO2021

Human-centered Innovation Processes

Alan Cabello Llamas

For more than a decade managers, academics, educators and politicians have indicated that innovation is the key to our future. As a result, we find a plethora of innovation initiatives around the world, from university curricula to the mission statements of banks. This push to innovate is a direct result of the recent economic downturn as well as from an ever more competitive, connected and dynamic world. In order to remain relevant in such a world, emphasis is given to generating new ideas that may lead to new products and services. Despite these initiatives, evidence indicates that investment in innovation does not correlate with success. Although the goal of innovation is clear, the processes whereby that goal may be accomplished are varied and not entirely understood. The motivation of this thesis, therefore, is to gain a better understanding of some of those innovation processes. In recent years, a growing number of firms, organizations and governments have adopted an approach to innovation that is referred to as âDesign Thinkingâ. They use the term to describe the process by which a multifunctional team tackles a problem by exploring the underlying needs of the people most affected by that problemâwhether that be customers, users, etc.âthen, based on these observations, defines the root cause or key elements of the problem and finally attempts to resolve it through an active cycle of ideating, prototyping and testing potential solutions. While the process itself is well defined and understood, its implementation and use by managers in the context of innovation management calls for further exploration. With this objective, I first conducted research within academic literature, followed by an ethnographic study focused on the use of Design Thinking by both large firms and entrepreneurial teams. The first paper of this dissertation examines the different elements in the Design Thinking process within the context of management research. The goal of the first conceptual article is thus to establish the common ground among diverse subfields of research in management upon which future research in Design Thinking may build. The second paper of this dissertation aims to uncover how large firms use Design Thinking as an approach to innovation. Based upon direct observation and interview data we find evidence of links between Design Thinking and Absorptive Capacity. We therefore propose that Design Thinking may be a helpful tool for firms who wish to innovate by an increase in their Absorptive Capacity. The third and final paper of this dissertation aims to understand the effects of Design Thinking on the venture creation process. This work is based on ethnographic research conducted at Stanford University wherein twelve teams participated in an accelerator program that uses a Design Thinking approach with the goal of creating and launching new ventures. Building on Dynamic Capabilities literature, this research finds that the teams with greater capability to iterate their venture concept through repeated cycles of attachment and detachment relative to their proposed products or services tend to be more successful.

EPFL2015

Human-centered Innovation Processes

Alan Cabello Llamas

EPFL2015