The Scottish Parliament's think-tank

Our Future Scotland

Postcard with text that reads: our future Scotland; we wish you were here; www.ourfuturescotland.com

#OurFutureScotland challenges everyone – from the First Minister and other party leaders, to leading business and technology figures, and award-winning authors and artists – to share their aspirations for the kind of country they want Scotland to be in the future.

Check out the video to see what our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Makar Jackie Kay and a host of leading figures in Scotland think about the future.

For full information about the project, check out http://www.ourfuturescotland.com/.


Film premiere at the Scottish Parliament

The film was screened at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 16 May 2018, followed by a panel discussion featuring actor Brian Cox, writer Christopher Brookmyre, robotics expert and Robot Wars judge Prof Sethu Vijayakumar, and Clare Adamson MSP and chaired by the Presiding Officer, Ken Macintosh MSP.

Read more about the Our Future Scotland film premiere


Aberdeen and the North-East

In partnership with the University of Aberdeen, on 25 May 2018, the Futures Forum held an event on the aspirations for our future in Aberdeen and the North East.

Read more about the event in Aberdeen


Our Future Scotland: Artwork

During the month of January through to August 2018, Fiona J MacLellan worked as part of Scotland’s Futures Forum team on a paid internship through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. Bringing a methodological contribution around design practice and participatory research, her placement was immersive and dialogical.

A set of four art works were commission by the Futures Forum to visually represent the growing body of work coming from the Scotland 2030 Programme.

Read more about Fiona’s work


The Scottish Parliament’s 20th Birthday

Picture by @tesodb on Twitter

On 29 June 2019, the Scottish Parliament opened its doors to the people of Scotland for an afternoon of celebration to mark its 20th birthday.

As part of the celebrations the Futures Forum held a debate on what life, and the Parliament, might be like in 10 or 20 years time.

Chaired by Linda Fabiani MSP, Deputy Presiding Officer of the Parliament, an expert panel discussed how technology will change our lives, how we can meet our climate change targets, and the Parliament can meet the challenges those changes present. And, crucially, what kind of country do we want Scotland to be in the future?

Our panel featured:

  • Kelly McBride, director of Demsoc Scotland
  • Lynette Purves, chair of the 2050 Climate Group
  • Jude McCorry, head of business development at the Data Lab