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Mini Track Chair:
The exploration (aiming, inherently, at some kind of, at least, intellectual exploitation) of the future, as well as of the past, while differing on their basic ingredients – “visions” and “vestiges”, respectively –, shares a couple of adamant blemishes – our “incomplete information” and “bounded rationality”. We stubbornly compose mosaics (by means of imagination) about a past which we did not witness; and we, more or less superficially, extrapolate tendencies/trends (with a historical basis) for a future which we may or may not be there to witness. Inspired by a plethora of both “path dependencies” and “disruptive revolutions”, we can project scenarios, with varying degrees of confidence, on both past and future. However, “what comes next” is sensibly more concerning.
Academics and laymen are all caught in such rituals of “futurizing”, differing only in rigor and realism. Foresights and forecasts (the former more liberal than the latter, which are assumed to be more scrupulous, but also more limited and stiff) look all the more engaging the easier they are to validate. One true way in which “futurology”/“futures studies” can aspire to be less of a bout of “play acting” is if the author “puts his skin in the game”, cashing the prize (or paying the price) of his “bet”. This may sound tough, but the industry of predictions/foretelling needs to be disciplined, for otherwise it risks to become inflationary in both over-optimistic and hyper-pessimistic assertions. But before raising the bar too high, any responsible glimpse onto the future is a must.
The main topics covered by the hereby call for papers are related to:
Octavian-Dragomir Jora
b. 1980, is economist, scholar, writer, editor, and a settled presence in the Romanian (as well as abroad) marketplace of academic and journalistic debates.
He is Professor, Ph.D., Habil. at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Faculty of International Business and Economics, where he has cultivated and developed interests in, among others, comparative economic systems, critical and creative thinking, and geo-politics and geo-economics of cultures and civilisations. Dr. Jora is active within epistemic communities – i.e., board member of the Romanian Economic Society (serving as director of the Œconomica journal), the Research Center in International Business and Economics, and president of Asociația Piața Ideilor [The Market for Ideas Association] (and founding editor-in-chief of The Market for Ideas magazine – a publication that currently gathers readers/writers from 215/50+ countries and territories of the world). He is (co-)author of numerous books and other published and/or presented scientific papers (more than 100 titles), as well as of journalistic op-eds, essays, pamphlets (more than 1000 titles). His true (a)vocation is the freedom of expression in writing and speaking outlets, graphic layouts, as well as football fields.
Dr. Jora was privileged by the attention paid to his works. A sample of academic distinctions: 2014 – 1st Prize, the Association of Economics Faculties from Romania (AFER), for the best economic book (Avatars of Multinational Corporation…); 2017 – The “Eugeniu Carada” Prize for Economics, granted by the National Grand Lodge of Romania and the Romanian Academy (for the volume Spirituality, Materiality and Property…); 2017 – The Best Paper in Economics Award at the 6th CUDES Congress, Istanbul, Turkey (for Is There a Market for Statehood or Ought It To Be?…); 2018 – The Management & Marketing Award, at the 12th ICBE, Bucharest, Romania (for Cultural Heritage Markets: Are Traders Traitors?…); 2019 – The Best Paper Presenter at 24th ICBELLP, Dubai, UAE (for Outer Space Incentives and Home Planet Institutions: Teleology, Thymology, Technology, and Tractology…). He received reputed prizes for journalism from guild associations (of economists and journalists) and from international organizations (e.g., Freedom House, the European Commission, the European Parliament etc.).
In 2022, between July 1 and September 30, he was visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., benefiting from a scholarship from the Romanian Cultural Institute, undertaking a research project entitled Creatorship and Craftsmanship 4.0. Afterthoughts and Foresights on Industrial Revolutions’ Cultural Economy.
Egle Radvile, born in 1985, is a distinguished scholar and professional with a PhD in Computer Engineering from Vilnius Tech. She has a strong presence in both academic and practical fields, with a career spanning over 17 years of professional experience and 2 years in academia. Her diverse background includes serving as the Head of Innovation for the Vilnius City Municipality from 2017 to 2023. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Vilnius University Business School, a role she has held since 2023.
Her academic work focuses on the intersection of social sciences and technology. Her research interests include entrepreneurship marketing, innovation and change management, and the digitalization of IT solutions in project management. She teaches courses on these subjects, including High-Tech Market and Business Models and Digitalization and IT Solutions in Project Management. Radvile has contributed to scholarly publications on topics such as emotions analysis in public spaces for urban planning and the use of electroencephalography and eye-gaze movement signals for estimating user interface usability.
Radvile is an active participant in professional and expert activities, particularly in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI). She has been involved in several AI-related projects, including the Horizon project AI for Green Transformation. Her work also extends to applied projects, such as a cybersecurity initiative aimed at teaching children through peer-to-peer knowledge transfer and involvement in innovation projects in Turkey with a focus on AI and energy solutions.
