a futurist

In French, we call a futurist a 'prospectiviste': he/she is a specialist in a specific field of foresight, mostly normative, known as the “French Prospective”(different from the American 'forecasting').

The futurist understands the conceptual and methodological corpus of Futures Studies, either through their academic studies (degrees in FS) or through their self-education on the topic.

As a professional, their job is to help their clients to think about the future, particularly in terms of innovation and responsibility. They facilitate decisions integrating futures studies into the client's operational management.

Within this framework, the futurist appears as an architect of foresight exercises (participatory processes); a methodologist who chooses or creates the most appropriate tools; and an expert in specific fields, particularly in the identification of trends, ruptures and weak signals that determine future landscapes.

Futures-oriented neutrality is essential to the futurist's role: for the future is never written -whatever the trends may show.

For more details concerning “what is a futurist?” see:

• Acceleration Watch's definition

• Roger CALDWELL's set of definitions

• Natalie DIAN's definition

• Frank SPENCER's definition

a visionary

Unlike the futurist, the visionary has a strong bias -political or otherwise. He/she believes in a given vision of the future, seeks to convince the decision-makers of that vision, and empowers them to make informed decisions with that vision in mind.

Some visionaries are sometimes described as gurus, in part because of their charisma and their ability to convince others of the accuracy of their vision.