The EDITS-ARTS Competition called for submissions to imagine "life in 2050 with much less energy" into art, challenging positive-minded people to imagine a low energy future.

Sixteen artists were selected as finalists and met the EDITS Community online on a Friday afternoon, 20 May 2022, during the EDITS Annual Meeting 2022.. They presented a broad variety of arts ranging from thoughtful poems, exciting short stories, through lively videos and detailed cartoons, to beautiful paintings and even an innovative technological visual solution. Yet the vision of a positive future is similar, with some common threads including generational interactions, free time, wellbeing and equality, green living, etc. This was an inspirational meeting that will surely bud into ideas on both sides.

The Evaluation Committee found all submissions unique and highly valuable and it was an extreme challenge to select the winner.

  • The winner of the first prize is Futuregram2050, who created a powerful 2-minute video to portray a positive transformative future and has clearly adhered to the three evaluation criteria. The production has a compelling narrative that presents a balance between having access to modern technologies and services using modern digital solutions, while at the same time being also willing to limit the demand.  Using an Instagram-like future magical ball, they tell us the story of people living in 2050, with much less energy and with competitions to lower individuals' impact on the environment using digital and circular solutions. Watch the video below or on Youtube.
Video file

 

Three other submissions were awarded with a special mention, as they distinguished themselves for the way they pictured a low energy future:

Video file

 

Other finalists were:

Video file
Video file

 

Special thanks go to the Evaluation Committee for their dedication, engagement and hard work: 

  • Keigo Akimoto, RITE;
  • Joyee S. Chatterjee, AIT-EDITS;
  • Poornima Kumar, CSTEP/University of Oxford;
  • Masa Sugiyama, University of Tokyo;
  • Elena Verdolini, University of Brescia and RFF-CMCC;
  • Charlie Wilson, University of Oxford;
  • Caroline Zimm, IIASA.

News

Climate science

24 June 2026

IIASA experts among the world’s most highly cited climate scientists

Eight IIASA experts have been included in Carbon Brief’s latest ranking of the world’s 500 most highly cited climate scientists, while IIASA itself ranks among the world’s leading institutions for climate research, highlighting the Institute’s continued leadership in advancing climate and sustainability science.
Group photo of the Barbados delegation with IIASA representatives at IIASA

24 June 2026

Small island, big systems: Barbados and IIASA sign letter of intent to pioneer regenerative economy partnership

The Government of Barbados and IIASA have signed a letter of intent, formally launching Barbados’ path toward membership in the Institute and establishing a new partnership to apply advanced systems analysis and global modeling to the design of a regenerative economy.
Using less, living better

19 June 2026

Using less, living better: Demand-side climate action wins public support

A new IIASA-led study finds that climate strategies that cut energy and resource demand tend to improve quality of life across a broader range of dimensions than supply-side alternatives and shows that communicating these wider benefits can strengthen public support.