“This report enables us to project our Purpose into the future”

What does this year’s report focus on?
In 2021, our study highlighted the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on three areas – climate, health, and the economy – by projecting different scenarios over the next two decades. This year, our work looks at the post-pandemic world where we discuss different visions of progress, how they coexist and sometimes compete, as well as how they affect some key socio-economic questions.
With Olivier Desbiey, who manages the Foresight Team, we chose to have a very different editorial line to tackle this theme of progress which is directly related to our Purpose. The Progress Land report comes in a magazine format and explores four lands of progress through analysis and futurist scenarios based on research and discussions with experts such as Kim Stanley Robinson, the world-renowned author of science-fiction novels.

What are the main takeaways of this edition?
The report discusses the absence of just one definition of progress but rather several visions based on historical, ideological, cultural, and geographic factors. We shed light on some of these visions that span defining dimensions such as the use of technology, reliance on human behavioral change, individualism, and collectivism.
Another key takeaway is that the need for new indicators for progress is more pressing than ever – both at national, supra-national and corporate levels. We discuss how GDP could be complemented by other types of indicators that consider the well-being of individuals. In the same way, at the corporate level, extra-financial indicators and regulatory pressure are rising to assess their social and environmental impact.

How can companies, and AXA in particular, use the findings?
We combine these visions of progress with areas of societal transformation that could impact the way companies operate: the future of work, climate change, the polarization of public debates and the evolution of extra-financial reporting. This foresight exploration enables to project our Purpose into the future, imagine the potential evolutions, and identify priorities to better calibrate our actions.

What is the role of the Foresight team at AXA?
We navigate through increasingly complex and inter-twined environments. This requires a better understanding of novel risks and their future impacts. Insurance and Foresight are both inherently based on a long-term vision and a future looking approach. As a business based on future events and long-term assets, the insurance industry relies on the understanding and modelling of potential events yet to come. Foresight provides us with the capacity for anticipation, adaptation, innovation, and solution building. While Foresight works on future trends, its analysis is firmly rooted in the present: it is key to not neglect more immediate issues of opportunity. This enables us to provoke discussions around solutions towards a “desirable” future based on what we stand for today.