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Why JonasJonas Drechsel, futurist in Berlin: workshops, research and process facilitation

Jonas Drechsel is a futurist based in Berlin, self-employed since 2012 and working on futures commissions since 2018, with an MA in Futures Studies from FU Berlin. He facilitates workshops, writes research and guides processes for organisations, foundations and collectives. He has started four projects of his own: Missionswerkstatt, the Critical Futures Studies community, youngk and White Mirror.

Berlin Symposium on Cultural Education, 2025
Berlin Symposium on Cultural Education, 2025

My mission: making desirable futures
more likely.

At a glance

100+
workshops facilitated
  • Six methods of my own
  • Texts from the Journal of Futures Studies to Einbildungskanal

As of October 2026

What I stand for

Under my mission of making desirable futures more likely, I work as a generalist on very different projects, often with workshops and research. I'm a nerd with an urge to make a difference and connect the theory of critical futures studies with formats in which people start shaping things themselves. Paid futures activism, then, my coping mechanism for the state of the world.

Where I come from

My path led from the social media hype through strategic communication in my own startup to futures studies. I have been self-employed since 2012. In 2013 I co-founded the startup that demanded a minimum day rate of 300 euros for freelancers, and I left it in 2017. After that I wanted to look at all of this with more distance, did an MA in Futures Studies at FU Berlin and got my first commissions in 2018. Today I'm a consultant for clients, a researcher out of curiosity, an activist on grant money.

When I get called in

I get called in when an organisation has no clear picture yet of where to go. Directly with me under Working together, as a team under youngk.

I get called in when someone says

“AI is changing our industry, but what does that actually mean?”
“We want to talk about 2035 without doing yet another trend workshop.”
“We have a vision, but it isn't leading to action yet.”
“Our people have very different implicit images of the future.”
“We need scenarios that actually get used afterwards.”

How I think: three pairs

Thinking and doing
Doing, instead of just overthinking a stance in public.
Critical futures studies and real utopias
Shaping the future as a mix of designing possibilities and designing reality.
Stance and impact
I understand impact broadly. It happens in the field of futures studies, in infrastructures such as the Critical Futures Studies community, youngk and the Missionswerkstatt handbook and when explaining the basics.

What has come out of it

Six methods of my own
From the Missionswerkstatt to the CustomGPT scenario tool, collected on the Methods page.
Publications
All texts are on the Publications page, each with a summary, from the Journal of Futures Studies to Einbildungskanal.

Profile: Jonas Drechsel

Experience
Futurist since 2018, self-employed since 2012
Education
MA in Futures Studies, FU Berlin, 2020. Robert Jungk scholarship, Salzburg 2020
Roles
  • Board member, D2030 e.V.
  • Project lead, Missionswerkstatt
  • Co-founder, youngk
  • Co-initiator, Critical Futures Studies community
  • Lecturer, HS Niederrhein
Before
Co-founder of a startup for creative freelancers, 2013 to 2017, exit in 2017. Our demand: a day rate of at least 300 euros. My startup story (in German)
Funded by
White Mirror by Media Lab Bayern, the Missionswerkstatt by Postcode Lotterie, E.ON Foundation, DFL Stiftung and Stiftung Bürgermut, D2030 by DSEE
Currently

As of October 2026

Let's talk

Got a question on your mind and not sure yet whether I'm the right person for it? A free 30-minute first call.

Book a first call ↗

hallo@jonas-drechsel.info