Observatories

SKOPIA’s observatories help identify opportunities in the fields of work, mobility, and energy through the analysis of phenomena and trends.

The -skopìa Observatories are designed to assist businesses and public administrations in understanding and harnessing the interconnections between phenomena (e.g., trends and megatrends) that can lead to innovations and counter-trends, capturing new opportunities, ideas, services, and market niches in sectors and areas of interest such as work, mobility, and energy.

Each Observatory provides a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon under examination, including statistical data and information describing its current status. It then precisely identifies the megatrends, trends, fads, and weak signals that characterize it. However, the most important and distinctive aspect of these Observatories lies in their long-term vision, going beyond the “simple” description of the theme and its likely development over the next 3-5 years—a timeframe still too influenced by the present and its cognitive constraints.

The uniqueness of our monitoring lies in our determination to move beyond mainstream views and stimulate critical thinking. We ask provocative questions to explore potential developments, surprises that might come into play, and the repercussions that could unfold over a timeframe of 10-20 years and beyond.

The future of transportation and mobility in general is not (only) a matter of inventions, i.e., technologies; it is a matter of choices.

The future of mobility, especially urban mobility, involves infrastructure, public transport fares, shared mobility, light mobility, and vertical mobility.

The Observatory investigates various aspects of mobility: weak signals, trends, and megatrends that directly and indirectly impact this phenomenon, aiming to uncover the possibilities and opportunities that the futures may hold.

Those who claim to know for certain what the futures of work and the jobs of the future will be lie knowingly. Not only is the work of tomorrow uncertain, but its evolution over the next five, ten, or twenty years remains among the greatest uncertainties of this transitional era.

This Observatory focuses on the significant challenges posed by the world of work: population aging, automation of jobs, transformation of skills leading to the obsolescence of certain trades and professions, and the emergence of new ones. It aims to engage in reasoning and hypotheses from the perspective of prospective thinking and Anticipation.

Today, more than ever, there is a widespread awareness of the concept of sustainability, making energy a topic on everyone’s lips and consistently at the top of geopolitical agendas.

In any case, a key role in the next two decades is played by the energy transition, involving the gradual but rapid abandonment of fossil fuels through an intelligent mix of innovative solutions, while awaiting clean nuclear energy, such as fusion with magnetic plasma confinement. When will endless electric energy arrive?

Two major discontinuities have characterized a revolution since the mid-2000s, fundamentally changing our way of communication: the invention and commercialization of so-called “smartphones,” and especially the birth of “social media.”

We spend a significant portion of our days on social media, perhaps without fully realizing how much these platforms have evolved over time—and along with them, our modes of consumption and interaction. Deep down, we take for granted that they will continue to exist for a long time, albeit transforming. But is that really the case?

What will remain in the decades to come of the typically European social protection system known as welfare, emblematic of the “welfare state”?

If we analyze the structural and cultural elements of the current system, we realize that the rules governing the worlds of education and work are too rigid or cannot adapt to ongoing changes.

A comprehensive reform of the welfare system should therefore reshape the social state and prepare safety nets for critical transitions, with the participation of both public administration and private entities, in an integrated and sustainable manner.

When attempting to present current geopolitics from a long-term perspective, leveraging Futures Studies techniques and thinking can prove useful. This approach can help to prepare for the next geopolitical—or perhaps historical—discontinuity and to be caught less off guard.

The Observatory analyzes potential upcoming crises to prevent them from occurring and escalating, thereby avoiding detrimental consequences in the medium and long term.

Few areas of life have dynamics as intense and fast-paced as retail, which is constantly changing, influenced by new consumer habits, emerging technologies, and highly sensitive to surprises and discontinuities.

Last-mile technologies, logistics, sustainability, e-commerce, and new virtual worlds: are these driving forces destined to be radically transformative? The Observatory aims to understand genuine long-term trends, delving deep into the connections between these factors and the demographic and technological megatrends impacting the retail world and, more broadly, consumers

Dietary habits are forces of change that will impact various sectors: production, logistics, retail, and more.

The choice of healthier foods, the increase in vegetarians and vegans, and the decline in alcohol and sugary beverages can be fleeting trends or long-term shifts.

The Observatory conducts a comprehensive analysis of potential developments in sectors directly or indirectly linked to food.

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Cart review

Analysis of often underestimated megatrends

Original insights into what lies ahead in specific industries and aspects of life

Unbiased analysis of possible alternatives

-skopìa's Observatories

Urban Mobility: Beyond Cars

Futures of Work and Jobs of the Future

The Futures of Energy

The Future of Social Media

The Future of Welfare

Geopolitical Observatory

The Future of Retail

Food Trends

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