Nik Baerten

Nik Baerten was trained as a knowledge engineer. For several years he was active as a multidisciplinary researcher at the Digital Culture department of the Maastricht McLuhan Institute, where he blended insights across disciplines such as history, new media, philosophy, intelligent systems, architecture, organic systems, interaction design, etc. In 2004 he co-founded Pantopicon, a studio for futures exploration and envisioning, based in Antwerp (B) where he assists both public and private organizations in exploring long term challenges through alternative future scenarios, in building vision and strategies, as well in designing concepts for new products, services and experiences. With 'see, design & act' at the core of their approach, Pantopicon's toolbox is multidisciplinary in nature, tapping into fields such as scenario-analysis, design, integrative assessment, systems thinking, storytelling, etc. Nik is also a guest lecturer at the MAD Faculty (C-Mine, Genk, B) where he is responsible for the futurestudio atelier as well as - together with Virginia Tassinari - the design for togetherness course.