Interview in ‘Technik in Bayern’: Carina Stoettner on Foresight, Fear and Futures Literacy
How can strategic foresight help companies and society prepare for an uncertain future? What role do skills, narratives — and the way we handle technology — actually play? These questions were at the center of a recent interview with futurist Carina Stoettner in Technik in Bayern, the magazine of VDI Bayern Nordostbayern.
Dr. Dina Barbian and Silvia Stettmayer spoke with Carina Stoettner, managing director of the think tank Themis Foresight. The interview offers a layered look at how foresight methods are applied inside companies, and at why futures literacy matters in a period of accelerating change.
Foresight as a strategic lever — beyond fear and techno-optimism
Stoettner makes the case plainly: companies that use foresight deliberately give themselves a head start. It isn’t about predicting the future but about the ability to think in scenarios, recognize risks — and actively shape opportunities.
“Fear is a poor adviser. Shaping the future takes openness, a willingness to learn, and a shared sense of where we’re going.”
— Carina Stoettner
The conversation also examines how societal paradigms get written into technological developments — the airbag as an expression of a promise of safety, for instance. At the same time, Stoettner warns against naive techno-optimism: the future needs more than technical solutions. It needs ethical, social and cultural negotiation.
Futures literacy as the key skill of the coming decades
A central theme of the interview is building futures literacy: the ability to work with uncertainty, understand change and recognize where there’s room to act. In Stoettner’s view, this is one of the decisive success factors for companies and education systems through 2040.
Further contributions and perspectives on the future
Alongside the interview with Carina Stoettner, the issue contains other compelling pieces — including one by Prof. Lothar Abicht — on the technologies of the future, the working world, society and change. Very much in the spirit of the line attributed to Pericles:
“It is not about predicting the future, but about being prepared for it.”
Read the article (in German)
