MICHEL SALOFF-COSTE
Michel Saloff-Coste is an international integral and global futurist, researcher, business advisor, and entrepreneur. He works with individuals, corporations, universities, and governments to foster fast insights into alternative futures. As a respected analyst and keynote speaker, he has addressed many of the world’s leading organisations, raising global future issues and creating strategic awareness. Alongside his facilitation expertise, he delivers engaging, transformational, and inspirational speeches and workshops.
Operating professionally across Europe, America, and Asia, Michel has extensive experience in transition management, organisational culture, consumer behaviour, business development, and applied futures studies. He addresses a wide range of topics within the field of futures studies and innovation, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
In technology, Michel explores emerging uses and their significance for society and modern life. He enjoys envisioning the future with innovative and creative leaders across diverse sectors, translating these strategic insights into leading sustainable solutions and ecosystems.
Michel’s consulting work in management strategy and communication inspired his deeper research into alternative futures. Between 1985 and 1987, he directed a multidisciplinary workshop on societal change at the French Ministry of Research. His research has led to the publication of popular books and numerous papers on leadership, the 21st century, and the information society. Among his achievements is the founding of the Club of Budapest in France, an international non-profit organisation fostering dialogue on complex global issues.
In 1991, he joined the Bossard Consulting Group (now Capgemini) as Senior Consultant and Research Director. From 1993 to 2005, he created and led his own research and consultancy firm, MSC, focusing on futures studies, management, strategy, communication, and global governance. Concurrently, he taught avant-garde management at HEC Paris between 1995 and 2005. In 2011, he became Head of R&D and International Development at In Principo, an avant-garde consulting firm specialising in innovation and co-creation.
In 2012, Michel founded Design Me a Planet, an NGO dedicated to researching long-term solutions to global challenges. In 2013, he became International Development Associate at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. From September 2014, he served as Founder and Executive Director of the Future Innovation Institute at Lille Catholic University, later becoming Director of Future Studies in 2018, and Special Adviser to the Presidency in 2023. He is currently the initiator of the International Foresight Research Network.
Michel studied art and humanities at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris and continues to dedicate part of his time and talent to contemporary art. He has explored various mediums, including painting, photography, video, and music. His work has been exhibited and collected by private galleries and individuals, as well as major art institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and the Centre Georges Pompidou.
The focus of Michel Saloff-Coste’s research—and the theme of many of his books—is the paradigm shift within the information society, which he defines as a Creation-Communication Society. He maps the evolution of civilisation in four waves: hunting & gathering, agriculture & breeding, industry & commerce, and creation & communication. In collaboration with Carine Dartiguepeyrou, he further developed this framework into ten long-term futures visions called “horizons,” published in their co-authored book Les Horizons du Futur.
Today, Michel’s research passions include:
The major trends transforming the development of civilisation at a planetary level
The cultural, managerial, systemic, and structural changes countries and companies must undertake
How economic, social, and ecological development can be aligned for humanity’s future
The impact of artificial intelligence on education, including a start-up project in this field
His personal aspiration is to catalyse the emerging new civilisation, co-create world-sustainable business models, and bring beauty, truth, and ethics to build a better world. As an integral activist, he studies and promotes the political development of eco-villages and eco-towns based on collective systemic ecological intelligence and creativity.
Michel Saloff-Coste has collaborated with remarkable figures such as Ervin Laszlo, Gilles Deleuze, Andy Warhol, Thierry Gaudin, Philippe Starck, Karl Lagerfeld, and Jacques Delord, as well as pioneering organisations including 3Suisses, Apple, Bel, Bonduelle, CDC, Decathlon, EDF, ESSEC France, Télécom, HEC, Peugeot, PPR, Rand, Reebok, Kompass, L’Oréal, Sciences Po, Sodexo, the Ministry of Research, and the European Commission. He has taught at major academic institutions such as HEC, École des Mines, Sciences Po Paris, and Lille Catholic University. In the past decade, he has studied the seventeen most innovative ecosystems worldwide within the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and has attended courses at leading universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley.
An author of numerous bestselling books, Michel Saloff-Coste is regularly interviewed by press, radio, and television.
Principal publications include:
Vêpres Laquées (Baudouin, 1979); Paris la nuit (Balland, 1982); Le management systémique de la complexité(Aditech, Ministry of Research, 1990); Le management du troisième millénaire (Guy Trédaniel, 1991, 1999, 2005); The Information Revolution and the Arab World (ECSSR, 1999); Manifeste pour la technologie au service de l’homme(INP Grenoble, 2000); Les Horizons du Futur (Guy Trédaniel, 2001); Year in Perspective (World Business Academy, 2002); Trouver son génie (Guy Trédaniel, 2005); La société de l’information enjeu stratégique (Revue Agir, 2005); Le dirigeant du troisième millénaire (Éditions d’Organisation, 2006); Mimétisme et singularité, deux leviers de croissance(La Revue de Kea, 2006); La stratégie créative de singularisation (La Revue de Kea, 2007); Le DRH du troisième millénaire (Village Mondial Pearson, 2007, 2008); Réenchanter le futur (Village Mondial Pearson, 2009); Prospective d’un monde en mutation (L’Harmattan, 2010); Au-delà de la crise financière (L’Harmattan, 2011); Les voies de la résilience (L’Harmattan, 2012); La nouvelle avant-garde (L’Harmattan, 2013); Post-histoire (Amazon, 2014); Planetary Futures (Amazon, 2014); Design Me a Planet (Amazon, 2014); Quelle énergie à long terme pour le futur de la planète Terre ? (IFP, Amazon, 2014); L’arbre de la vie (Nextedition, 2014); Le secret de Julia (Nextedition, 2014); Le futur contemporain : une boîte à outils pour l’innovation intégrale (Nextedition, 2014); Panorama mondial des écosystèmes innovants (EAK, 2018); Les écosystèmes innovants (L’Harmattan, 2019); Écosystème Innovant (ISTE, 2021); Innovation Ecosystems (Wiley, 2022); Futurs (ISTE, 2022); Futurs (Wiley, 2023); La prospective en action (ISTE, 2022); Futures in Action (Wiley, 2024).
