Blaž Golob
Blaž Golob is the Founding President of the Foresight Europe Network (FEN), Chairman and Strategic Foresight Program Leader at the GoForeSight (GFS) Institute, and the South Eastern Europe and Slovenia Node Chair for The Millennium Project, with over two decades of experience in strategic foresight, smart city development, digital governance, and EU policy.
He is a Slovenian foresight practitioner, digital entrepreneur, and policy advisor recognized for bridging urban planning with foresight methodologies to shape sustainable, resilient cities across Europe and beyond.
Blaž is the Chairman and Curator of the Ljubljana Forum on Future of Cities, a leading European foresight platform he cofounded in 2011 with Miran Gajšek, Chief Urban Planner of the City of Ljubljana. Over 15 editions, the Forum has convened 1,600+ participants and 400+ mayors, city leaders, and experts from around the world, producing over 700 pages of synthesis reports and recommendations that have informed investment and policy initiatives exceeding €300 million in referenced projects.
The Forum has become a European and global platform connecting city mayors, international organizations, the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, the European Parliament, industry, academia, and civil society to explore how cities can anticipate change and translate long-term visions into concrete projects. Watch Ljubljana Forum on Future Cities – interview with Blaž Golob.
As Chairman of the GFS Institute since 2011, Blaž designs and delivers strategic foresight and scenario programs for EU institutions, governments, and international partners. He has led end-to-end delivery of scenario-based workshops, advised policymakers on the long-term economic and regulatory implications of AI, digital finance, and emerging technologies, and built and managed Europe–Asia policy and investment partnerships.
Through the GFS Institute, he launched the European Blockchain Hub, coordinating expert inputs and policy dialogue with national regulators and EU-level institutions across 19 European and South East Asian cities.
Blaž is the author of the Smart City Platform concept composed of five pillars, which has had a significant impact on smart city solution development in the region of South East Europe. As a Planning Committee Member and Senior Contributor at The Millennium Project since 2003, Blaž helps shape the strategic direction and methodology of a global futures network with over 70 nodes worldwide.
He is a coauthor of Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and Actions, where he led the development of three global scenarios examining AI-driven economic change, labor market disruption, and institutional adaptation. He has contributed to scenario frameworks translating emerging technologies into plausible economic futures and policy implications, and participated in high-level scenario workshops engaging economists, technologists, and policymakers. Read Shaping Cities of Well-Being at the Ljubljana Forum.
In 2014, Blaž founded the Foresight Europe Network (FEN) at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, serving as its Founding President from 2015 to 2016 and Vice President from 2017 to 2018. FEN is an open network of individuals active in futures and foresight research, education, and practice across Europe, with over 340 members. Several of its members are also active in The Millennium Project, serving as nodes for this international foresight-oriented think tank.
In February 2014, he became a member of the European Commission EU Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship, and in March 2015, he joined the European Commission Expert Group Foresight Leaders for Research, Science and Innovation Policies (FLEG). As a consultant in the EU project Digital Cities Challenge, he influenced the digital transformation of European cities.
Between January 2020 and April 2024, Blaž served as Managing Director of Heliot Europe, where he spearheaded cloud-connected utility deployments in five European markets, enhancing IoT infrastructure. He developed Slovenia’s foreign direct investment strategy promoting digital transformation and smart logistics, and established a cross-border smart city ecosystem integrating innovative IoT solutions for urban development.
Between 2014 and 2019, he was Managing Director of SmartIScity in Ljubljana, where he spearheaded initiatives for smart city development and digital governance in Southeast Europe, enhanced ERP and enterprise technology adoption in Slovenia and Croatia’s critical infrastructure sectors, and cultivated a global network of over 3,500 stakeholders across public, private, and academic sectors.
Between 1996 and 2014, Blaž was the Founder and Chairman of the Bled Forum on Europe, an international multi-stakeholder platform on futures scenarios for Europe. Over 15 editions were held in Bled, Ljubljana, and at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he designed and facilitated strategic dialogues and scenario discussions with senior policymakers and institutional leaders, producing policy-oriented outputs and recommendations contributing to EU-level debates, including early advocacy linked to the International Criminal Court and the Lisbon Agenda.
Between 2008 and 2013, he served as Managing Director of the Center for eGovernance Development for South East Europe (CeGD) in Ljubljana and Sarajevo. In this role, he oversaw the establishment of a leading public-private partnership among multinational ICT companies including Microsoft, Siemens, SAP, and Cisco, civil society associations, and 13 governments for eGovernment development.
Blaž championed the development of an innovative e-Governance model to drive digital transformation across Europe, the Gulf region, and Africa, and identified and commissioned 11 applied research studies to support the initiative, including the establishment of the Estonian e-Governance Academy. Read Preparing for the Future.
Between 1997 and 2007, Blaž served as Advisor and Undersecretary at the Government of Slovenia, where he oversaw the strategic direction of science, technology, and innovation policy during Slovenia’s EU integration. He directed the Slovenian National Foresight Exercise to establish long-term investment priorities in innovation and negotiated EU funding while coordinating Slovenia’s participation in the EU Research and Development Framework Programme.
Between 2001 and 2003, he was seconded as a Detached Expert to the European Commission Joint Research Centre – Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC/IPTS) in Seville, Spain, where he led the EU Candidate Countries Science and Technology Policy Assessment Project, shaping the European Commission’s flagship report on S&T potential for accelerating the Knowledge-Based Economy.
Blaž earned his law degree from the University of Ljubljana in 2000. He completed postgraduate study in European EC Law at the University of Cambridge in 2000 and a Specialization in management courses at the IEDC – Bled School of Management between 2004 and 2006, where he became a Member of the IEDC Leadership Forum.
Early in his career, in 1996, Blaž served as President of ELSA International (European Law Students’ Association), the largest law students association in the world, represented in 41 European countries with its International Board in Brussels. During his presidency, he led initiatives advancing human rights and justice across Africa, New York, and Japan, and fostered international cooperation to establish new institutions, such as the International Criminal Court.
He also helped establish the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court, cofounded the Asian and African Law Students Associations, and organized a summer law school on peace in Sarajevo. Prior to that, between 1993 and 1996, Blaž worked as an Editor and Legal Advisor at GV Publishing House in Ljubljana, where he played a pivotal role in establishing IUS-Info, Slovenia’s first legal information system. He also served as an EU economic affairs correspondent in Brussels in 1996.
Blaž is also Co-Chairman of the Zagreb Forum on Creative Cities and launched a video series, Foresight Talks, in 2021, a platform that engages global experts in discussions on societal challenges, technological trends, and industry solutions.
Read Challenges of cooperation in the field of common security and foreign policy in the EU.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, IoT Tech Expo profile, Ljubljana Forum profile, and Foresight Europe Network profile. Follow him on Facebook and YouTube.