This year the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) embarks on a global campaign spanning 16 nations to amplify the role of science anticipation in policymaking.
This initiative, reaching across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, underscores GESDA’s commitment to a proactive and inclusive approach in tackling the challenges and opportunities posed by emerging scientific breakthroughs.
The pace of technology development that is the focus of GESDA’s attention has become lightning-fast today; innovations bringing life to mere ideas can now occur within a matter of weeks rather than years.
The popular artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, hit 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, just two months after launching. By comparison, the dramatic milestone of more than 1 billion people using the Internet in 2005 was achieved more than 15 years after the invention of the World Wide Web at Geneva in 1989.
Further back in history, it took until the 1920s and 1930s for the electrification of cities and factories in Europe and the United States to become widespread after Thomas Edison first successfully demonstrated his incandescent light bulb in 1879.
At its core, GESDA aims to bridge the gap between cutting-edge scientific research and real-world decision-making, ensuring that policymakers, businesses, and civil society can harness the potential of disruptive technologies before they reshape industries, economies, and societies. By embedding anticipation as a strategic discipline, GESDA is positioning Geneva — and Switzerland — at the heart of the global science diplomacy ecosystem.
A Global Tour of Science Diplomacy: The Anticipation Events
GESDA’s international campaign includes a series of high-impact “Anticipation Events” designed to foster dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing at the intersection of science, policy, and diplomacy.
Each event is anchored in one of GESDA’s key areas of activity that has far-reaching policy implications, ensuring that discussions are grounded in timely, evidence-based foresight.
The first stop of this global initiative is Singapore, where GESDA is convening experts, policymakers, and industry leaders to explore the future of healthy aging and “health span extension” — a challenge of global significance. Singapore and Switzerland, both at the forefront of demographic innovation, provide an ideal setting for these discussions.
The Singapore event in March features:
- A GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar® Workshop, examining the latest scientific advancements in longevity research, regenerative medicine, and disease prevention.
- A Public Anticipation Event, engaging broader audiences in discussions about the importance of anticipation.
- A Policy Roundtable, bringing together government officials, researchers, and business leaders to identify and share best practices in anticipatory science and diplomacy.
From Geneva to the World: A Growing Science Diplomacy Ecosystem
Building on the success of previous Anticipation Events in Zurich, Bern, and Basel, the Singapore initiative marks a new chapter in GESDA’s international strategy. At the heart of this expansion is the GESDA Anticipation Gateway, a structured framework designed to translate scientific foresight into action.
This three-pronged Gateway comprises:
- The Geneva Public Portal to Anticipation – A first-of-its-kind interactive exhibition, designed to immerse the public in future scenarios generated by AI using data from the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®. Set to debut in April at the Swiss Pavilion during the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, this experience aims to bridge the gap between scientific possibility and public understanding.
- The Anticipation Observatory – A digital intelligence platform that tracks 40 emerging scientific topics, integrating expert curation and AI-driven tools to assess their implications for diplomacy, business, and society. This real-time monitoring system provides policymakers with data-driven insights to inform long-term strategies.
- The Global Curriculum for Anticipatory Leadership (GCAL) – A training program backed by the Wellcome charity, equipping decision-makers with skills to integrate science anticipation into governance, business strategy, and multilateral negotiations. By partnering with leading universities, international organizations, and industry stakeholders, GCAL ensures present and future leaders are prepared for the future.
GESDA’s Expanding Global Footprint: Regional Leadership and Science Diplomacy
Looking ahead in 2025, GESDA is set to further expand its global presence with the fourth edition of Geneva Science Diplomacy Week in May and five GCAL leadership programs in Istanbul, Madrid, Pretoria, San José, and Singapore.
These initiatives will embed anticipatory thinking into regional policymaking, ensuring that science diplomacy is not confined to any one specific multilateral hub but deeply integrated into local governance structures worldwide.
By collaborating with local institutions and regional experts, GESDA is building a global network of anticipatory leaders — individuals who can translate scientific breakthroughs into actionable policies that drive equitable and sustainable progress.
Bridging Science and Action: The Role of Training and Engagement
Daria Robinson, GESDA’s Deputy CEO and Executive Director of the Solution Accelerator, highlights, says scientific foresight alone is insufficient — it must be translated into practical applications.
That’s why GESDA’s strategy recognizes awareness of emerging science and technology advances is only the first step. To drive meaningful action, decision-makers must be equipped with the tools, policy intelligence, and training necessary to integrate scientific anticipation into their daily work that leads to transformation.
“The first piece is awareness, the second is gathering intelligence and knowledge, and the third is being able to act,” Robinson says. “The way to be enabled to act is by learning how to integrate that into your everyday work — and that’s through training.”
This holistic approach — spanning research, public engagement, and capacity-building — lies at the heart of GESDA’s mission of using the future to build the present.
Science Anticipation as a Pillar of Global Governance
As a Swiss-backed foundation since 2019, GESDA has rapidly positioned itself as a pioneer in science and diplomacy anticipation, with groundbreaking initiatives such as:
- The GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar®, which identifies emerging scientific frontiers and their societal implications.
- The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Summit, convening global experts to shape the future of science policy.
- The Open Quantum Institute, facilitating multilateral collaboration in quantum research.
By connecting policymakers, scientists, and industry leaders worldwide, GESDA is embedding science anticipation into the fabric of global governance — ensuring that breakthrough innovations are harnessed responsibly and equitably.
The Future of Science Diplomacy: A Global Dialogue in Motion
Science anticipation involves turning the possibilities that scientists can see for the future into open debates about how we might shape the future, and what opportunities for action can be taken today.
This question is at the heart of GESDA’s global campaign. Through strategic foresight, international collaboration, and targeted training, the foundation is building a movement — one ensuring science is not just observed but actively shapes the world we want to create.
As GESDA plants the flag of science anticipation worldwide, its message is clear: the future is not something to react to — it is something to prepare for and proactively shape.
