Traditional conferences are based on two principles: firstly a hierarchical model of thinking and secondly a discipline-based approach to the creation and dissemination of knowledge. The same people keep meeting time after time, and discuss the same experiences and concepts. The inevitable result is “more of the same”.

This is what the WARP CONFERENCE* attempts to address. It is not the experts that the format puts at the centre of things but, rather, the direct exchange of knowledge between the participants – and it seeks to achieve this using a speed-dating technique: in short, one-on-one discussions, similarly to speed dating, the participants swap ideas from a wide variety of disciplines and spheres of activity and develop them into working hypotheses about the world of tomorrow.

The topics of the WARP CONFERENCE are based on the Compendium of Contemporary Trends MIND THE FUTURE, an “open book” that describes 70 trends in business, society, demography, politics, ecology and technology.

* The word “warp” comes from science fiction literature and refers to the faster-than-light propulsion systems of space ships.