15 years creating futures that rock: a journey through innovation systems

Fifteen years ago, Ideas for Change was born from endless conversations, passionate research, and an unwavering drive to create something truly unique: a vision of the future we now call Futures That Rock. On November 5, we celebrated this milestone at the Akasha Hub in Barcelona—a space as special as we are: decentralised, self-managed, and brimming with people and ideas dedicated to making the world a more sustainable and innovative place.

Amidst laughter, memories, and heartfelt moments, our founder, Javi Creus, took us on a journey through the key milestones that have defined our story and the projects that continue to inspire us. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned along the way, it’s that innovation truly comes to life when it serves people, businesses, and the planet.

Here’s a glimpse of that journey. And while we’re at it, we’d like to wish you happy holidays. Here’s to the first 15 years of many more together! 🎉

#ENERGY

How can CO2 savings become the business of the future? With Baxi, we explored how homes can reduce their impact over the next 10 years. At TwinERGY, we took this vision to five European cities, fostering energy communities to promote self-consumption and savings. And together with Repsol, we imagined businesses untethered from the price of gasoline. 

 #MOBILITY

What if cars cease to be what we know? With SEAT, we anticipated the shift towards mobility as a service, and with RENFE, we initiated a Pentagrowth process to envision the future of trains in a sustainable world.

Meanwhile, at WeCount, residents of Barcelona and Madrid took control with traffic sensors, mapping the most polluted areas of their cities. And across the pond, with COExport, we explored new business opportunities for logistics in El Salvador.

#HOUSING

Housing is not just a roof; it's also an opportunity to innovate. Together with Oxfam, we are rethinking care and housing models, creating a strategic framework, a vision for development, and a business action plan to redefine the housing and care model that the NGO offers. Meanwhile, with Leroy Merlín, we facilitated energy renovation in homes.  In El Prat, we collaborated with the Cooperativa Obrera de Viviendas (COV), where there are over 800 cooperative housing units. We organized a series of participatory workshops to envision what a neighbourhood co-housing might look like and to enhance community relations.

On the European scene, projects like One Click Reno and FACILITA are transforming building renovation, with passports as a promising a sustainable transition for owners.

#URBAN SPACES

From rethinking the Sants Station beyond architecture, to make it the metropolitan centre of bike lanes or future vertical drones, to the European project GreenInCities, which aims to bring more green spaces to our cities through co-creation with local communities, promoting inclusive and regenerative urbanism for people, animals, and the planet.

One of the landmark projects in this sector is Making Sense. The headline in El País stated clearly: Residents of Plaza del Sol armed with 25 sound meters. The project developed 9 citizen science pilots with communities facing environmental problems. The case of Plaça del Sol, in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, was the most significant as, after 20 years of protests, residents participated in the project measuring and collecting noise data with sensors that allowed them to change the urban planning of the square.

Furthermore, we carried out the communication strategy for HeritACT, a European project investigating how to enhance the cultural heritage in our cities through technology and social innovation. Lastly, in DNOSES, residents of Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, significantly affected by odour pollution from the sewage treatment plants, collected odour data with an app to try to change public policies on the matter. 

#HEALTH

The quality of air and its impact on our health was the core of CitieS-Health, a project where citizens investigated the effects of pollution. In ETAIN, we continue to bet on citizen science, exploring how electromagnetic fields affect us. In CIMTI, we assist in the conceptualization of a healthcare startup accelerator that maximizes the impact on public healthcare capacity.

In the care sector, Suara.coop has been a key ally in developing more personalized and innovative care models, fostering innovation and social transformation with Suara Living Labs.

#NATURAL SPACES

In Panama, we researched with the university the use of drones for environmental and social issues, anticipating how new technologies could help local development.

#CIRCULAR ECONOMY 

Can a T-shirt turn into fertilizer? With Thinking MU, we explore this idea to seek regenerative solutions that promote a positive environmental and social impact on the ecosystem. Meanwhile, we keep collaborating with Clean River Hubs to clean the rivers of the world. 

#TOURISM

Our commitment to regenerative tourism is one of our priorities and areas of action. We have been promoting FiturNext, the FITUR Observatory that seeks sustainable, replicable tourism practices, for over five years. Each year we set ourselves a challenge aligned with the SDGs, analyse initiatives that impact this system, and reward those with the greatest impact and replicability in different contexts. 

We also replicate these good practices in other projects like RurAll, where we have created a rural network for inclusive tourism in depopulated Spain. In this context, we have collaborated with Airbnb and explored how the platform can help create tourism in depopulated rural areas.

#FOOD 

We have discovered that, with 20 years of experience in the sector, Veritas is much more than a supermarket. We conducted a Pentagrowth process to identify how to continue promoting organic food with different business models. In the Food Mapping project, we analysed how the food environment and accessibility affect the diets of inhabitants in different areas of the city.

#EDUCATION 

We have also left our mark on training, courses, and degrees to promote social and participatory innovation. We helped conceptualize and design the Degree in transformative leadership and social impact at ESADE, participated in the co-design of the master's in emerging futures at IAAC, designed the impact strategy for Mondragon Team Academy, and collaborated with the BID to increase student access to scholarships and complementary study activities.

#KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION 

Collecting and analyzing knowledge on a topic is an intrinsic part of IFC. Among the projects carried out in this field, we highlight the drafting of the report and research on the ecosystem of open data in Catalonia that we conducted for the Generalitat. We also researched how to generate new business models that increase the engagement of readers with the publisher and its authors for Arpa Editorial and how to generate new business models through the magazine that contribute to the development of the social economy in our collaboration with Alternativas Económicas.

What was the digital divide like during the pandemic? We carried out a report on the digital divide during COVID for the Ajuntament de Barcelona and the Mobile World Capital Foundation. We also participated in the European project NGI, implementing criteria of equity, diversity, and inclusion in access to funding for the development of the New Generation Internet. 

We contributed to the project DATALOG, the first European Data Trust, in creating a platform where residents of Barcelona can interact and analyze their consumption data aimed at promoting energy savings and sustainability. Finally, we are part of the consortium for the project CROPS, which aims to promote citizen science initiatives that contribute to the five European missions. 

#PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Domo, an advertising agency that discovered its internal resources and opportunities through a Pentagrowth process, launched PS21, a creative agency that has been winning effectiveness awards for 3 years. 

We have also worked with the 5 main chambers of commerce in Colombia considering the possibilities they had if the mandatory currency registration was abolished. We rethought public procurement in Uruguay so that it is accessible not only to large companies and intermediaries that group offers, but that it truly aligns with social policy and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Finally, we continue working with ACCIÓ in various fields. In the past two years, we have had the opportunity to develop the Exponential Boot Camp, the business model validation sessions for the 30 finalists, bringing together people from all sectors with very different business models, open to rethink with entrepreneurial funds. 

This is the summary of the 15 years, here’s to 15 more!