KAIROS FUTURE AKTIEBOLAG

Their core work

Kairos Future is a Stockholm-based strategic foresight and futures research consultancy. Their work centers on helping organizations and policymakers understand long-term trends, build future scenarios, and translate research insights into actionable strategy. In H2020, they contributed their futures methodology and policy intelligence expertise to international research collaboration projects — most visibly in mapping EU-China science and innovation dynamics and in understanding how young people engage with environmental policy. They sit at the intersection of research intelligence, strategic planning, and public policy rather than in a traditional technical or scientific discipline.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects started in 2015, making it impossible to trace a meaningful shift over time from the available data alone. The only keyword-bearing project is DRAGON-STAR Plus, which points squarely at international science policy and foresight; STEP carries no keywords in the dataset, leaving its thematic weight opaque. With a two-project footprint entirely concentrated in one calendar year and no post-2018 H2020 activity visible, there is no evidence of strategic evolution within this dataset — either they did not pursue further H2020 projects, or their later participation is not captured here.

With all activity concentrated in 2015 and no coordinator roles taken, the available data suggests Kairos Future uses EU projects opportunistically to support specific client-relevant topics rather than building a sustained EU research portfolio — a pattern common among consultancies that enter consortia as knowledge partners rather than research leads.

How they like to work

Kairos Future participates exclusively as a consortium partner and has never taken a coordinator role across its two H2020 projects. Despite only two projects, they accumulated 29 unique partners across 13 countries, suggesting they joined well-networked, large international consortia rather than small bilateral arrangements. This profile is typical of specialist knowledge firms brought into consortia to contribute foresight or policy analysis expertise at specific work-package level, without driving the project agenda.

Kairos Future reached 29 unique consortium partners across 13 countries through just two projects, indicating participation in large, geographically diverse consortia. Their network spans at minimum European and East Asian dimensions, consistent with the EU-China focus of DRAGON-STAR Plus.

What sets them apart

Kairos Future is one of very few private Scandinavian foresight consultancies with direct EU-funded research project experience — most foresight work in EU projects is done by universities or think tanks. Their commercial background means they are trained to translate complex futures analysis into business-ready outputs, not just academic deliverables. For consortia needing a credible foresight or policy intelligence partner that can bridge academic research and practical decision-making, Kairos Future offers a profile that is genuinely uncommon among H2020 participants.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DRAGON-STAR Plus
  This project placed Kairos Future at the center of EU-China science and innovation diplomacy, with an explicit foresight and future scenarios mandate — directly matching their core commercial expertise and giving them rare EU-recognized credentials in bilateral S&T policy.
• STEP
  At EUR 216,125 this was their largest single H2020 award, and the focus on youth political engagement in environmental issues shows a capacity beyond pure foresight into participatory social research — broadening their apparent thematic range.