In March 2005 the board of the KaosPilots decided on two strategic goals for the education:

The KaosPilots is to become Scandinavia’s most attractive, modern, value based educational

program. The KaosPilots, as educational program and competence milieu, is to significantly

strengthen its international profile and collaborative relations.

As the result of the work carried through to fulfill these strategic goals following has been

achieved: Three new KaosPilot programs have been initiated. And three new focus areas for

the education have been identified.

The three focus areas are: Sustainability, Cultural diversity and Social innovation.

This paper unfolds the three focus areas, explains which questions we asked ourselves in

the process of choosing them and unfolds the assumptions we base our world view on.

The world-view-paper is meant to be a statement by the KaosPilots of how we see the state

of the planet right now. It will be used as a way of structuring the dialogue between the

KaosPilot organization and the International Board. It will be used as a foundation for strate-

gic decision-making. And it will be used as a statement that can explain to the world in

which direction we are heading.

World-view-paper from the KaosPilots

Today the scenery has changed. And in thefollowing we describe our view of the mostimportant conflict-ridden questions the worldpresents today:

In relation to the planet earth the most insist-ent challenges and problems are:• The stress level of nature is rising: Exploi-

tation of resources, extermination of plantand animal species, global warming and themelting of the poles.

• Increasing economic inequality betweennorth and south (and especially Africa). Andas a consequence of that:

• Dramatic migrations on the continents andincreasing pressure from refugees to reach“global water-holes” (read: Europe and USA)

• Local and regional conflicts and wars aroundaccess and rights to natural resources.

• The increasing divide in the level of educa-tion and knowledge between the developed

world and the developing world.• Oppression of women, children and cultural

and sexual minorities and contempt ofhuman rights.

• Religious, criminal and radical-political con-flicts directed by dogmatic and fundament-alist forces.

• Lack of democratic control with the actionsof multinational companies and the dispro-portionate relationship between the globalinfluences of economic powers versus theabsence of global democratic institutions.

• The impact of mass media towards adevelopment of a global culture of massconsumption, which threatens to eradicatelocal cultures.

All abovementioned problems of the planetboth affect and are part of important regionalchallenges.

A bit of the historyThe KaosPilots started in 1991 as a newvisionary education for young creative out-siders who were attracted to the idea that thefuture is not something you can adapt to –you have to create it yourself!

Now 15 years later the KaosPilot educationhas graduated 283 students and the educa-tional program has been successfully export-ed to Norway, Sweden and soon also theNetherlands.

The pounding heart of the KaosPilot educationis an idea about what motivates people to learnand to create. And this idea was brought intolife in the shape of an educational program withthe purpose of creating positive social changethrough the development of human potential:Young, creative and social responsible entrepre-neurs and change agents who reach out for theopportunity to make a difference in the worldand shape the society of tomorrow.

That is why we say, that “our business ishope”.

15 years ago the scenery for the KaosPilotson a global scale was dominated by the emer-gence of a new world order with the fall ofthe iron curtain and the breakthrough of newparadigms with the incipient transformationfrom the industrial to the post-industrialsociety.

On a local scale the scenery of this new educa-tion was an increasing unemployment rateamong young people and a large number ofgovernmental social initiatives, which failed toaddress the rather large group of young people,who were unemployed and did not really fit intothe existing educational system, but who wereendowed with a talent and creativity.

Difficult trends in the world

In Europe the most insistent problems andchallenges are: • Increasing nationalism and violence against

minority groups in society (cultural, political,religious and sexual). In particular we see arising number of violent and coordinatedattacks against immigrants.

• Marginalization of an increasing number ofpeople, who do not fit into the economicrules of the new knowledge society shapedby globalization.

• Commercialism’s conquest of virtually allsocietal “spaces”: The family, the workplace,social communities, the public space, etc.

• Increasing individualization of society alongwith a weakening of social communities(the public sector, voluntary based societiesand idealistic organizations), which leads to:

• Increasing feeling of loneliness, stress.Increased focus on material goods andpersonal success. Factors which all con-tribute to a general weakening of the socialand cultural cohesiveness of society.

• A new political opportunism based on fearhas gained a solid foothold in Europeandemocracies.

In Denmark and Scandinavia the most insis-tent problems and challenges are:• The division between rich and poor,

between those who own real estate andthose who rent, between those who havean education and those who haven’t,

between “real Danes” and “not-realDanes”.

• Growth is concentrating in and around thebig cities. Differences within the countryincrease.

• The social changes that occur as a result ofthe transformation from industrial society toa post-industrial society: Traditional industri-al jobs disappear which leads to personalanxiety and insecurity regarding the future.

• Block-politics that break up traditions of dia-logue and a culture of consensus betweenpolitical parties.

• A weakening of the organizations that con-tributed most essentially to the creation ofthe welfare-system (the cooperative move-ment, the labor movement, women’s rightsmovement).

• Deterioration of the public sector and a cor-responding spreading of the “privatizationand insurance-culture”.

• Increasing individualization and a correspon-ding dislike of assuming a collective respon-sibility. In prolongation hereof:

• The individual might experience hope for hisown future but the society is lacking thehope that the future will bring positivechanges (a feeling that the development ofsociety and culture has peaked).

• Focus on own survival and success hereand now. And a corresponding absence oflong-term investments and strategies (bothon the individual and collective level).

The present situation in society also holds alot of potential for positive change and theabovementioned difficult trends are counter-balanced by new opportunities that can beharnessed for the benefit of the world:

On a global level the most important develop-ments are:• Globalization has created a new sense of

closeness and relatedness that can turnevents in a remote corner of Africa into theconcern of people in Berlin or Chicago.

• Social responsibility has become part of thenew vocabulary of the multinationalscorporations. The politically aware con-sumer is gaining power and influence.

• The general legitimacy of the UN as a globaldemocratic institution is increasing.

• Terrorism and the war against terror havecreated a new kind of dialogue and aware-ness around issues that concern humanity:Coexistence of civilizations and humanrights.

• The neo green wave has moved the focus

Positive trends in the world

of high-tech industries towards the creationof new solutions for a sustainable future.

• The developing world is gaining an increas-ing self-confidence in negotiations concern-ing global trade regulations.

On a European level the most importantdevelopments are:• The emergence of multicultural societies

has created new meetings between cul-tures and we see an increasing richness inthe diversity of traditions, food, arts, music,business and language.

• The disappearance of industrial jobs hasincreased the development of new jobs inmore creative sectors of the economy.

• There is an increasing flow of professionalsand students between the European coun-tries due to open borders and less nationalregulations.

• EU legislation protects the rights of minori-ties in the member countries.

• Old industrial areas of the cities are turnedinto new creative spaces for culture andbusiness.

On a Danish and Scandinavian level the mostimportant developments are:• There is an increasing political awareness

among young people that influences theirchoices in life.

• The entrepreneurial spirit is rising. More andmore people start their own business.

• A more holistic view of the world is findingits way into different sectors of society. Theindividual is adopting a more holisticapproach to healthcare. Companies areincreasingly concerned about values andthe quality of life for their employees.

• We see new ways for cooperation betweenthe three traditional sectors in society; pub-lic, private and non-profit sector.

• There is an increasing awareness aroundthe quality of food and the ethics aroundfood production.

• The state of our environment is generaly inbetter shape now than twenty years ago.Pollution of the sea has especially decreased.

• Scandinavian countries have a leading posi-tion in the development and production ofhigh-tech solutions for sustainable energy.Denmark is world leading in wind-energy.

• Society is becoming more international.Multiculturalism brings new food andculture, English has become an unofficialsecond language and there is a significantawareness around the issues of globaliza-tion and transformation from industrial topost-industrial society.

The KaosPilot education does not have theambition to be “the best school IN the world”.But we strive to become “the best schoolFOR the world”. Therefore we have askedourselves:

If the list of negative and positive trends forthe planet, for Europe and for Denmark andScandinavia is the question – how can theKaosPilot education be an answer? What isthe focus we have to choose in order to con-tribute to positive changes on this planet?

The answer we came up with is three newfocus areas of the KaosPilot education thatwill supplement the three main vocationalareas: Project design, process design andbusiness design:

The first focus area is “Sustainability”:And the question we have to ask ourselves inour work is: How can we develop the abilityof the students to think and design sustain-ability in all dimensions of their work, eco-logical, economical and social?

Focus areas of the KaosPilots

Because if we as civilization, society, compa-nies and individuals do not in an active andpurposeful way pursue and contribute to thereestablishment of a sustainable balance innature, the present global warming will makethe planet inhabitable for our children, grand-children and generations to come.

So the challenge for the KaosPilots is to createa new consciousness on the individual level(the student), in companies and in society, sothat the future will be met with a clear andempathetic respect towards the well being ofcoming generations, other organisms andspecies, the planet as such and the new tech-nology we bring into the world.

The second focus area is “Cultural diversity”:What we should work on is: How can wedevelop the student’s understanding of cul-tural diverse systems and societies? How tolead in cultural diversity? And how to createvalue of cultural diversity?

Because if we do not learn to live together ina peaceful way with many cultures under-neath the same roof, the present cultural andreligious front-lines will only become moreand more fundamentalist and violent. This pre-diction is not least based on the fact that inparticular the fundamentalist forces – bothwithin the Muslim and Christian world –manage to set the agenda during these days,weeks and months. Thereby rendering moder-ate forces on all sides increasingly passive andinvisible.

Until the day we realize that “feelings arefacts” for most of us, we will not be able to –

in a purposeful, bright and nuanced way –create a sustainable, respectful and therebyconflict resolving dialogue between theinvolved cultural and religious parties of a con-flict situation. And it matters not whether ithappens in your neighborhood, betweennations or between global value systems.

The third focus area is “Social innovation”:And the question is: How can we develop thestudent’s creativity towards new ways ofcooperating between the different sectors insociety? And how can we develop a newsense of community and ”re-negotiate” thecontract between individual and society.

Because if we cannot re-establish the interact-ion between on one side the increasing indi-vidualization of society and on the other sidethe necessity of a well-functioning communitybuilt on solidarity we loose the opportunitythat exists right now to create the next gene-ration of the Scandinavian welfare system.Which would also imply a discussion of therelationship, the dynamics and the division ofroles between the public, private and non-profit sector.

The three focus areas Sustainability, Culturaldiversity and Social innovation will be thelenses the KaosPilots see through in theirdaily work in the classroom, in the creation ofprojects and in the formation of new relation-ships with people, organizations and net-works around the globe.

They will determine the direction in which weare heading and they express our idea of howwe can be the best education for the world!