As pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andrè Borschberg took Solar Impulse around the world for its record-breaking journey, the world-leading manufacturer of high-tech polymer materials behind it was working on another initiative involving the same technology that was used to construct the plane’s cockpit and protect the pilots from extreme temperatures. The structural strength and insulating properties of rigid polyurethane is well

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“We know a new politics of solidarity, individual responsibility and collective transformation is urgently needed. Can we culturally educate ourselves to understand how to create it?” This question has driven community-based arts educator, author, playwright, poet and eco-cultural activist Dan Baron Cohen for many years. He’s travelled from ground-breaking work in post-industrial Manchester and conflict-transformation projects

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Hip Hop Caucus are using the power of hip hop culture to activate people across America and around the world to be an active part of the civic process and make change happen in their own communities. Hip hop, the Caucus don’t stop – not until everyone feels able to take action and have their voice

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The most daring business innovators aren’t always found in boardrooms or tech start-ups, but in street markets, prisons and refugee camps… and at Meaning Conference. Taking place this year on Thursday 15 November 2018 at the Brighton Dome in the UK, at Meaning you’ll find bold ideas from unexpected places. Director Louise Ash explains. “You’ll find thinkers and

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Imagine if you could get a ‘city’ to agree to making the world more self-sufficient. A creative team of pioneers and makers is doing exactly that. They’ve created a set of ten principles as a sort of instruction manual to build a more sustainable and inhabitable new world. And they’re getting cities to agree to it. In fact, 28

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“The youth are co-creators, coordinators and researchers of everything that Rios de Encontro does.” – Dan Baron Cohen, Co-founder, Rios de Encontro In the small Afro-Indigenous community of Cabelo Seco, Marabá City in Brazil – once known as a ‘no-go favela’ – an arts-as-transformation project in the Amazon is addressing the survival of both the community and our

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We must, we can and we will solve the climate crisis. On 8 October the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report on the forthcoming impacts of the climate breakdown. And it ain’t looking good. Even half a degree of extra will affect hundreds of millions, decimate corals and intensify heat extremes. But there is

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In an era of rising environmental awareness, cleantech has become the fastest-growing technology sector in the world. And sunny California loves it. That’s why they buy more electric cars and do more recycling than any place else. So what is ‘cleantech’? At its simplest, it’s any technology that helps a more efficient use of natural resources. We travelled

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Plant curious? The flexitarian, vegan, vegetarian and sustainable food movements are growing in sexiness every day. Veganism is moving away from being seen as a cult, and being recognised as a good thing for your health, the environment – and animals. Ready to join the plant-based revolution? This week we’re celebrating vegan answers in the most surprising

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Let us transport you from Mauritania to Indonesia via blood, sweat and paint, pixels and words…  Over the past few months we’ve been digging deep into the joyful world of artists, filmmakers, photographers, illustrators, curators and collectives who are helping to build a better, and more imaginative, world – in all its technicoloured glory. This week

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Are you ready for the good, the bad and the ugly? Here’s the bad news: the world is broken. The good? This lot can help us fix it. And now for the ugly: it’s going to get messy. Luckily there are plenty of people who are happy to get stuck in. Having now mapped over

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“If you want to be Che Guevara, stop walking around pointing to what’s bad. Want to be a true revolutionary? Rip up the paving slabs, plant a garden and cover your roof in solar panels.” In South London a Uruguayan-born, New York-raised community entrepreneur and artist is tackling fuel poverty with renewables – while catalysing

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This year it will be ten years since environmental journalist and broadcaster Gaia Vince began her 900-day journey around the world to take stock of humanity’s impact on the planet. Back then she never expected to see the important changes now happening globally – the explosion of renewable energy production, the rise of electric vehicles, tariffs

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Future curious? On 13 March a future-‘supergroup’ will gather for the first time in Barcelona. Brought to you by Atlas of the Future and Ara, ‘Fixing the future: adventures in a better tomorrow’ will explore the talent solving the audacious goals of our planet with radical methods. Join us at the CCCB to meet the innovators

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In today’s world we are addicted to growth. That’s why renegade economist Kate Raworth wants to radically reframe the way we look at economics: “The goal of the 21st century economy should be to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet.” It’s an exciting challenge to ensure that no one falls short on

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If you’re responsible for creating the “biggest solar powered computer in world” and it’s capable of delivering three fundamental services – clean water, electricity and the Internet – to the developing world, then you’ve probably got high ambitions. A generator that can supply a hat trick of the pillars of modern civilisation, Watly harvests the sun’s

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In South London a ‘renewable dynamo’ is tackling fuel poverty with renewable power – while showing the true democratic involvement of people power in the energy system. In the UK the number of small-scale energy systems has jumped from a few thousand to over half a million – in part down to the Uruguayan-born, New York-raised community entrepreneur

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When you find yourselves somewhere between Gotham City Police HQ and Blade Runner’s Leon’s Hotel chatting to a Westworld sexbot you know that it’s been an interesting – and surprising – year. OK, it’s been relentless too, but there are so many reasons to feel hopeful. From Cameroon to Patagonia, 2017 has seen your projects make the

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What do Uber flying cars, Hoversurf drone taxis, Amazon’s giant mothership zeppelin, the Soviet city in the sky and these visions of high-elevation life have in common? Apart from being visionary proposals that are hard to distinguish from science fiction, they are also inspiration for ‘Cities for a Flying World’ – an international competition launched in May 2017 by Shukhov Lab (from the HSE

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“When you need a doctor, you phone someone, when you are in trouble, you phone someone. If you want to find out the prices for your crops in the nearest market, you phone someone.” Mobile phones are increasing their penetration, but it’s common for farmers in rural India or Africa to travel for hours to reach

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Today carbon is considered a dirty word; consigned to dirt, dust, something that’s in the air, something that is dark. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking many forms, from diamonds to exhalation of CO2 as a gas, carbon can be used for good. And that’s the idea behind Carbon Productivity. As we struggle with climate catastrophe, this remarkable

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As storytellers we’re interested in how transformative change happens. This week we hosted the first Salon with our Project Breakthrough partners Volans. The topic for discussion was ‘Breakthrough: inevitable or possible?’ Are we driven forward by ‘push’ factors – like technological progress – towards an inevitable future? Or are ‘pull’ factors – like an inspiring vision of a

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As we enter a new year, it’s time to look back at our recent videos for Project Breakthrough. Whether it’s the ex-American football player-turned-food saviour, the ex-Panamanian prisoner demanding transparency or the ex-travel writer fighting toxics, these nine FutureHeroes all have one major thing in common. They are all ex-ponential leaders. And they’re all disrupting entire industries – from food to

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As the world turns upside down and unhinged becomes the new normal, we want to provide some positivity from within the deep divisions of 2016. Take comfort. The world is better than you think. From Silicon Valley to Bulambuli Valley, social entrepreneurs are tackling the world’s most difficult problems. Technology is being democratised, access to education is causing global

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Given his job as a futurologist, a lot of fearful, liberally minded types have been asking Mark Stevenson what he thinks about the future in light of the new US president-elect. The world, some believe, is over. That’s it. The most powerful nation on Earth has chosen a childlike, racist and sexist bigot for its highest office. There

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It’s not often you get so many of the brains behind Atlas of the Future projects in the same room at the same time, but that’s what is happening next week at WIRED2016 (3-4 November) – a two-day conference in London featuring more than 50 of the world’s most disruptive minds. Meet thinkers, makers and doers, such

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The super-optimistic Peter Diamandis (AKA “Pete in Space”) has hope in abundance. As Executive Chairman of both the Silicon Valley institution Singularity University and XPRIZE – the world’s leading designer of rapidly growing technologies and incentive competitions – Diamandis has dedicated his life to addressing humanity’s grand challenges. Throw in an asteroid mining company and a company extending the healthy human lifespan and those are just some of the 17

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This year might have had its dark times, but there are many reasons to get excited. From the Faroe Islands to Patagonia, 2016 has seen the Atlas travel far and wide to bring you projects that democratise the future. Thanks to your suggestions and innovations, over the last six months we’ve explored sex hacks and exposed fast fashion; shone a light on projects bringing

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Nearly one quarter of the world’s population live in off-grid communities. Without access to electricity, households grind to a halt after sunset. Work is limited, medical care is dangerous to provide and education levels drop where children cannot study in the dark. Right now, many of those households use ‘dirty’ kerosene lamps after the sun has gone down. Known for

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Have you spotted cyborg vultures catching illegal fly tippers; heard of a cool way tech is bringing clean water to the billions without it; or discovered a robot that teaches kids to code? At Atlas of the Future we love projects that find new, original or creative solutions to a problem. But to help us truly democratise the future,

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From a Noah’s Ark of seeds and American Idol for rural farmers to 3D printing prosthetics in conflict zones and igloo orphanages on skis, this year has seen hundreds of projects mapped on the Atlas from Syria to the North Pole. We’re celebrating the end of 2015 and looking to the future by ranking our favourite 16.  So get your

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The virtual reality storyteller and documentary producer, who has realised the visions of Terry Gilliam, Chris Milk, Spike Jonze, Robert Redford and Beastie Boys, takes us on a 360-degree trip through her top 5 Atlas projects – from the holo world to the reality of dog poop.   1. Microsoft HoloLens “Imagine a virtual world

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Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if we could end extreme poverty, hunger, disease, climate change and fight inequality and injustice by 2030? But fixing our world is an epic task. The need for a shared vision has led to a move by world leaders described as “bold” and “lofty”. On 25 September 2015 the UN committed to

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