ARE WE ON THE BRINK OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?

Peter Schwartz, cofounder and chairman of Global Business Network, will visit Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Dec. 4, 2003, as part of IIT’s continuing Thought Leaders Seminars. A specialist in scenario planning, Schwartz works with corporations and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world.

Schwartz is the author of Inevitable Surprises (Gotham, 2003), a provocative look at the dynamic forces at play in the world today and their implications for business and society. His first book, The Art of the Long View (Doubleday Currency, 1991; audio tape, 1995; paperback, 1996), is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning and has been translated into multiple languages. Schwartz has additionally served as script consultant on several motion pictures including "Minority Report," "Deep Impact," "Sneakers," and "War Games.”

His current research and scenario work encompasses energy resources and the environment, technology, financial services, telecommunications, media and entertainment, aerospace, national security, and the Asia-Pacific region. Schwartz is also a venture partner of Alta Partners, based in San Francisco, a partner of The Monitor Group, and serves on the advisory boards of numerous organizations and companies.

From 1982 to 1986, Schwartz headed scenario planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in London. His team conducted comprehensive analyses of the global business and political environment and worked with senior management to create successful strategies.

Schwartz’s lecture begins at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003, at IIT’s McCormick Tribune Campus Center Auditorium, 3201 S. State Street. He will focus on how new scientific tools like nanotechnology, the supercomputer and space telescopes are opening new frontiers on research, and the economic and political rewards gained from this new knowledge.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.