New technologies can substantially improve our quality of life, but they may also have a "dark side". What if technologies that we have not yet imagined end up being inadequately used or even intentionally abused? The objectives of the project “Foresight of Evolving Security Threats Posed by Emerging Technologies” (FESTOS) are to identify and assess evolving security threats posed by the abuse or inadequate use. This includes terrorism and organised crime.

The project staff intends to promote awareness to identify emerging risks at an early stage and evaluate them. The project team prepares guidelines and approaches. They should reduce possible risks as much as possible.

The scope of FESTOS encompasses the following areas: new materials, nanotech, biotech, ICT, robotics and converging technologies. The FESTOS foresight study will focus on the time-horizon of 20 years up to the year 2030.

The nexus Institute and the Center for Technology and Society (CTS) at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) conducts together scenarios for detection of technological security threats. Bases are interviews, current research result and narrative scenarios.