Future Worlds Center

Future Worlds Center (FWC) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Cyprus. It works at the intersection of social innovation, technology, education, humanitarian affairs, peacebuilding, multicultural cooperation, and democratic participation. The organization describes itself as future-oriented and as an incubator for ideas, projects, social entrepreneurs, and organizations seeking social and sociotechnical reform. The institution began in 1991 as the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute. During the late 1990s it broadened its activities beyond neuroscience and technology into humanitarian, multicultural, reconciliation, and peace-related work. At the end of 2005, a new constitution formalized its development into a larger organization with an international orientation, bringing its humanitarian, peace, and multicultural activities under the Future Worlds Center umbrella. FWC's work has included the creation or development of initiatives and organizations such as CYBER KIDS, Technology for Peace, Cyprus's Safer Internet Center and related hotline and helpline, Youth Power, the Cyprus NGO Platform for Development, the Cyprus Community Media Centre, and the Cyprus Refugee Council. The organization has reported designing and implementing more than 100 projects and employing more than 200 young scientists. Its activities have combined practical service delivery with research, policy development, training, and participatory decision-making. Education and digital citizenship are important parts of its portfolio. FWC developed the CYBER KIDS curriculum, a network-based computer education initiative that began in Cyprus and expanded to seven countries during the 1990s. It has also participated in European projects concerned with safer internet use, online risks, and public awareness. Through Cyberethics, Cyprus's Safer Internet Center, the organization supported a national hotline and helpline. The organization has also been active in peace and reconciliation efforts connected with the division of Cyprus. Its Technology for Peace initiative, launched in 1997, sought to use the emerging internet to reduce communication barriers between communities in the northern and southern parts of the island. Other projects have addressed youth participation, civil-society dialogue, cross-border cooperation, and cultural exchange. Another field of activity has been development education and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. FWC helped establish Cyprus-wide development and civil-society networks and participated in European projects that assembled teaching resources on development education, global citizenship, human rights, and the Millennium Development Goals. Its Teach MDGs initiative aimed to involve teacher-training institutions, educators, and pupils in producing locally relevant educational resources, including material concerning Sub-Saharan Africa. FWC has applied Structured Dialogic Design and related participatory methods to peace and conflict resolution, public administration, accessibility, broadband policy, research priorities, local-government reform, and other societal challenges. The organization has reported implementing more than 120 structured democratic dialogues. Its researchers also contributed to methods for conducting such dialogues virtually. Humanitarian work has included support for refugees and asylum seekers in Cyprus. The organization's Humanitarian Affairs Unit has implemented projects intended to strengthen asylum systems and established a Unit of Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. In January 2018, the Cyprus Refugee Council was created as a spin-off from this work. FWC has also served as an implementing organization for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representation in Cyprus. Recognition associated with the organization and its collaborators includes awards and honors for structured dialogic design, peace work, social inclusion, and intercultural dialogue. FWC is best understood not as a conventional consumer brand but as a civil-society platform that combines research, project incubation, public-interest technology, humanitarian services, and participatory governance.

Future Worlds Center traces its origins to 1991, when it was founded as the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute. Its initial identity was associated with neuroscience, technology, and the use of scientific knowledge to address societal needs. During the late 1990s, the institution expanded into humanitarian, multicultural, and peace-related programs, reflecting the social and political environment of Cyprus and the growing importance of information and communication technologies in civic life. One of its notable early initiatives was Technology for Peace, established in 1997 by Yiannis Laouris and Harry Anastasiou, who were associated with the Cyprus Conflict Resolution Trainers Group. The initiative treated the internet as a practical instrument for overcoming communication barriers between the northern and southern parts of divided Cyprus. This work helped establish a pattern that continued throughout the organization's history: combining technical experimentation with dialogue, reconciliation, and social change. At the end of 2005, the organization adopted a new constitution and developed into Future Worlds Center. This transition brought its humanitarian, peacebuilding, multicultural, and technology-oriented activities together under a single institution with an explicitly international orientation. Under that framework, FWC operated as an incubator for projects, ideas, social entrepreneurs, and organizations concerned with sociotechnical reform. The organization subsequently developed or supported a broad portfolio of initiatives. In education, it created the CYBER KIDS curriculum and network of computer-learning centers. The program began in Cyprus and expanded into seven countries in the early 1990s, presenting digital education as a means of achieving broad social change. FWC later participated in European safer-internet programs, including Cyberethics, Cyprus's Safer Internet Center, with a national hotline and helpline. Peace and civil-society work remained central. Projects referenced in connection with FWC include Youth Promoting Peace, Civil Society Dialogue, Act Beyond Borders, Everybody's Song, and other initiatives supported by HasNa Inc. These programs addressed youth engagement, cross-community interaction, dialogue, and reconciliation in Cyprus and beyond. FWC also worked on development education and the Millennium Development Goals. It was involved in the Cyprus Islandwide Development NGO Platform and the Cyprus Community Media Centre, the latter receiving support from the United Nations. The Accessing Development Education project gathered teaching materials and guidance on development education, global citizenship, human rights, and the Millennium Development Goals. Teach MDGs sought to connect teacher-training institutions, teachers, and pupils with locally relevant educational resources, including material focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. A major methodological strand has been Structured Dialogic Design. FWC and associated scientists applied structured democratic dialogues to peace and conflict issues, government and community challenges, local-authority reform, accessibility, broadband access, European research priorities, and democratic renewal. The organization reported carrying out more than 120 such dialogues and contributing to the development of virtual dialogue methods, extending participatory design beyond face-to-face meetings. Humanitarian activity developed into a distinct area of work. FWC's Humanitarian Affairs Unit implemented projects for refugees and asylum seekers and worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representation in Cyprus. It also established a Unit of Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. In January 2018, the Cyprus Refugee Council was created as a separate spin-off, giving a more specialized institutional form to part of this humanitarian activity. The organization and people associated with it received recognition for peace work, structured dialogic design, social inclusion, and intercultural dialogue. Reported honors include a 2007 medal for Aleco Christakis, a 2008 award for Yiannis Laouris, a 2008 Cyprus civil-society award for social inclusion, and a 2011 Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures honorable mention. Across these stages, Future Worlds Center developed from a technology and neuroscience institute into a multidisciplinary civil-society organization linking research, public-interest technology, humanitarian support, education, and peacebuilding.

• 2018

  Cyprus Refugee Council spun off

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The Cyprus Refugee Council was created as a separate organization from the center's humanitarian work.

• 2011

  Euro-Med dialogue award honorable mention

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Future Worlds Center and several associated contributors received an honorable mention, ranked second, in the Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures.

• 2008

  Recognition for peace work and social inclusion

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Yiannis Laouris received recognition for peace work, while Future Worlds Center received a Cyprus civil-society award in the social-inclusion category.

• 2007

  Recognition for Structured Dialogic Design

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Aleco Christakis received a medal from the Hellenic Society for Systemic Studies for his role in founding the science of Structured Dialogic Design.

• 2005

  Future Worlds Center established under a new constitution

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  A constitutional reorganization consolidated the institution's humanitarian, multicultural, and peace-related work under a broader international organization.

• 1997

  Technology for Peace launched

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The initiative used internet-based communication to help reduce barriers between communities in northern and southern Cyprus.

• 1991

  Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute founded

  [1]Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The institution that later became Future Worlds Center was established as the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute.

An independent Cypriot civil-society organization and project incubator using technology, research, education, dialogue, and humanitarian practice to support peace, inclusion, social entrepreneurship, and positive social change.

• Digital education · 1991

  CYBER KIDS

  A computer-learning curriculum and network of learning centers developed by the organization. It began in Cyprus and expanded to seven countries in the early 1990s, using broad access to technology and digital skills as a vehicle for large-scale educational and social change.

• Peacebuilding and civic technology · 1997

  Technology for Peace

  A peace initiative launched in 1997 that explored how internet communication could connect communities separated by the division of Cyprus. It represents the center's early effort to combine information technology with conflict transformation and cross-community dialogue.

• Safer-internet services

  Cyberethics

  Cyprus's Safer Internet Center, associated with European-funded research and awareness projects concerning responsible and safer internet use. Its services included a national safer-internet hotline and helpline.

• Participatory governance and facilitation

  Structured Dialogic Design

  A structured, participatory approach used to help groups identify obstacles, establish priorities, and design collective actions. Future Worlds Center applied the method to peacebuilding, public administration, accessibility, broadband policy, research agendas, and democratic innovation, including virtual dialogue settings.

• Humanitarian services

  Humanitarian Affairs Unit

  A unit implementing projects for refugees and asylum seekers in Cyprus, including work intended to strengthen asylum support and assistance for vulnerable groups. It also established a Unit of Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture.

• 1997Technology for Peace

  Cyprus

  Used internet communication and technology to support contact and dialogue across the communities divided by the Cyprus conflict.

  Outcome. Became one of the center's notable peacebuilding initiatives and an example of technology-enabled reconciliation work.

  Source
• Youth Promoting Peace

  Cyprus

  A youth-oriented peace and reconciliation project associated with the center's broader effort to cultivate a culture of peace.

  Source
• Civil Society Dialogue

  Cyprus · Europe

  A civil-society dialogue effort addressing participation, cooperation, and communication among social groups and organizations.

  Source
• Accessing Development Education

  Europe

  Collected educational materials and guidance on development education, global citizenship, human rights, and the Millennium Development Goals into a shared resource base.

  Source
• Teach MDGs

  Europe · Sub-Saharan Africa

  Engaged teacher-training institutions, teachers, and pupils in creating locally relevant educational resources about the Millennium Development Goals, with particular attention to Sub-Saharan Africa.

  Source

• 2018

  Creation of the Cyprus Refugee CouncilStrategy

  Background

  The Humanitarian Affairs Unit had developed substantial work supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and victims of torture.

  Action taken

  The Cyprus Refugee Council was established as a spin-off from the center's humanitarian activities.

  Aftermath

  Part of the refugee-support work received a dedicated institutional structure.

  Source

• 2005

  Reorganization into Future Worlds CenterStrategy

  Background

  The original Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute had expanded into humanitarian, peace, multicultural, and international activities.

  Action taken

  A new constitution created a broader organizational framework under the Future Worlds Center identity and integrated the major program areas.

  Aftermath

  The organization operated as a multidisciplinary incubator for social innovation, peacebuilding, humanitarian action, and sociotechnical reform.

  Source

1. 1Future Worlds Centeren.wikipedia.org