Beyond Tomorrow
Founder/ Chief Futurist
São Paulo, Brazil
Intro
Chico Araújo is an anthropologist, futurist, systems thinker, and impact catalyst with over two decades of experience at the intersection of exponential technologies, innovative financial and business models, and deep anthropological insights. As the founder of Beyond Tomorrow, he focuses on integrating human and machine intelligences, new consensus mechanisms, and diverse stakeholder perspectives to drive organizational innovation, systemic change, and social prosperity.
Chico’s most cherished projects and dreams concentrates on creating regenerative futures by aligning the strengths of technology and ancestral knowledge to drive transformative change. In essence, he seeks to hack our systems (legal structures, financial models, and business frameworks, but also imaginations and thought) into regenerative futures.
Bio
Chico Araújo, Ph.D., is an anthropologist, futurist, systems thinker, and impact catalyst, with over two decades of experience at the crossroads of exponential technologies, innovative financial and business models, and anthropological insights.
As the founder of Beyond Tomorrow, Chico advises organizations on strategy, foresight, innovation, and social impact. He specializes in integrating human and machine intelligences and new consensus mechanisms (leveraging AI and blockchain) across multiple stakeholders and diverse cultural frameworks to drive transformation in business, finance, sustainability, and social prosperity. One of his key initiatives, developed with the Instituto Rever, involves creating regenerative metrics based on indigenous worldviews in collaboration with 14 indigenous communities in Acre, supported by the Amazon Fund – this initiative have the potential to develop into something even bigger, a catalyst for connecting indigenous groups globally and hacking western paradigm into regeneration.
Chico is also a co-founder of The Long Game, a Futuretainment project aimed at counter-colonizing the collective Western imagination by developing immersive experiences that allow people to envision alternative futures. The first concept introduced was BioSingularity, exploring the intersection of technology, biology, and consciousness, to envision a future where human systems integrate with nature’s intelligence.
Renowned for his ability to bridge diverse social groups, Chico is passionate about unlocking the untapped potential of individuals and organizations through knowledge, skills, mindsets, and tools. Throughout his career, he has led and implemented conflict resolution programs and complex negotiations, engaging with multinational corporations, local governments, universities, financial institutions, foundations, NGOs, and grassroots communities—consistently promoting social prosperity and organizational innovation.
Chico served as Senior Head of Futures, Innovation Strategy, and Open Innovation at Santander Brazil, where he led teams to identify trends, develop future scenarios, and restructure major operations to foster financial innovation. At Viva Rio, as Chief Innovation Officer, he spearheaded transformative initiatives like the Favela Hub—an innovation center supporting entrepreneurship in marginalized communities—and launched the Viva Primeira Infância program, focusing on early childhood development alongside various initiatives in education, health, environment, and human security.
As a senior researcher at the Public Policy Analysis Directorate (DAPP) at FGV, Chico also served as an innovation consultant for FGV Projetos, contributing to policy development across several governmental initiatives. He directed pivotal research on the evaluation and mitigation of socio-environmental impacts on indigenous communities for the Jirau Hydroelectric Plant. Chico was also a collaborating expeditionary for the Genographic Project Brazil, a National Geographic initiative mapping human migration through mitochondrial DNA analysis. His hands-on work with indigenous groups includes experiences with Kaxarari, Oro-Wari, Uru-eu-wau-wau, Amondawa, Kayapó, Xavante, Baniwa, Tariano, Wanano, Desana, Dâw, Hupda, Guarani, and Kaingang.
Chico has been a guest lecturer for the Global MBA in Business Management and other MBA programs at IBMEC, as well as for the Leadership, Innovation and 4.0 Management and Digital Transformation and Future of Business MBAs at PUC-RS and UoL EdTech. He has lectured at prestigious institutions, including the Global Solutions Program at Singularity University, the Prince of Wales Business and Sustainability Programme at Cambridge University, and the 20th Latin American Conference at MIT Sloan School of Management.
Academically, Chico holds a Ph.D. in History of Science and Technology & Epistemology from UFRJ, a Master’s in Social Anthropology from the Museu Nacional-UFRJ, a Master’s in International Business Management from the Université Pierre Mendès-France/IAE-Grenoble, and an MBA in Marketing from IAG/PUC-RJ. He is a graduate of the Singularity University’s Graduate Studies Program, supported by a full scholarship from Google. He has also completed the Environmental and Resource Economics Training Course in Impact Evaluation through LACEEP and the Executive Leadership in Early Childhood Development program at Harvard University.
Chico’s career is defined by his ability to connect diverse perspectives and intelligences to foster collaboration across sectors. His leadership is rooted in building bridges between corporations, communities, governments, and grassroots organizations, always striving to combine cultural knowledge with cutting-edge technologies to address complex societal challenges. He firmly believes that addressing emerging global challenges requires mobilizing humanity’s cultural heritage and harmonizing traditional wisdom with the exploration of new possibilities created by exponential technologies.
Chico is deeply invested in meta-learning strategies and continually explores new fields of knowledge as challenges emerge, always approaching them with a beginner's mindset and a commitment to continuous growth.
Outside of his professional life, Chico is a dedicated practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and is currently navigating the transformative journey of fatherhood with his daughter, Malu.
Offer
Niche & Function in the Impact Ecosystem: I operate at the intersection of exponential technologies, financial innovation, and indigenous wisdom. My role bridges multiple sectors—corporations, governments, research institutions, NGOs, and grassroots communities—to create regenerative and desirable futures. I aim to align technology with ancestral knowledge to drive transformative change, or as I like to describe it, “hacking” legal structures, financial models, and business frameworks into regenerative and prosperous futures. Theory of Change: True systemic change will occur when modern technological innovations are integrated with ancient cultural cosmovisions, fostering systems that are regenerative, equitable, and abundant. Unique Skills/Expertise: Extensive experience with indigenous and grassroots communities: Integrating their knowledge systems into impactful social and environmental projects. Multidisciplinary expertise: Drawing from anthropology, history of science, and financial innovation. Strategic leadership: Proven success in connecting diverse stakeholders and cultural frameworks. Expertise in futures and systems thinking: Applying strategic foresight and systems design to drive meaningful transformation. What the Community Can Learn from Me: Insights on creating systemic impact and regeneration by integrating diverse stakeholder perspectives and worldviews. Practical perspectives on merging emerging technologies with ancestral wisdom to build regenerative, future-oriented systems. Co-creating diegetic prototypes, immersive narratives, and rituals to boost imagination, problematize existing systems, and/or facilitate change. Using dreams and mythic imagination as tools to create emotional pacts, shared symbols, and collective visions that facilitate transformative change. Support for Expanding Projects to Brazil: Guidance on how to adapt and scale projects to the Brazilian context, navigating its unique regulatory, cultural, and environmental landscapes, and connecting with relevant stakeholders for meaningful impact.
NEED
Lack of Community and Support in Brazil: Finding a network that fully embodies and advocates for regeneration and systemic change (from the inside-out) can be challenging, limiting the potential for coalition-building and the momentum needed for transformational projects. Access to Cutting-Edge Technology Developers: Limited access to skilled developers in key technologies, such as AI and blockchain, slows the integration of advanced solutions that are crucial for systemic change. Global Scalability: Building a global partner network is essential for expanding the project's impact. This requires identifying stakeholders who share the commitment and can help connect, adapt, and scale these initiatives across different regions.
Call-to-Action
We do not need to invent, out of thin air, new models of sociability that harmonize with sustainability and regeneration—these systems already exist, deeply embedded in the ways of life of over 476 million indigenous people across more than 5,000 distinct groups worldwide, representing roughly 6.2% of the global population, according to the United Nations and Amnesty International. These communities play a vital role in preserving 80% of the planet’s biodiversity while occupying just 25% of the world's surface. For millennia, they have mastered the art of living in balance with their ecosystems, preserving biodiversity, and nurturing regenerative relationships with nature. Just as the Renaissance rediscovered the philosophical wisdom of Ancient Greece, breathing new life into Western thought, we now need an Indigenous Renaissance—a revival of indigenous wisdom that can guide us toward regenerative futures. The task ahead is not only to connect these countless worldviews, but to strengthen their mutual connections and find creative ways to infuse the Western paradigm with these essential principles of coexistence, preservation, and regeneration. Indigenous models are not simply survival mechanisms; they represent holistic systems for human flourishing, encompassing the social, environmental, and spiritual dimensions of life. By bridging ancestral knowledge with exponential technologies, we can build on centuries of wisdom about sustainable living and regenerative practices, offering crucial pathways to combat both environmental and societal crises. This process allows us to reimagine modern systems through the lens of harmony with nature—where innovation is not about domination, but about regeneration. I call upon the Earth One Community to join me in this mission. Let us collaborate to merge diverse knowledge systems, facilitate the exchange of regenerative practices, and integrate these insights into Western structures—whether through new financial models, consensus mechanisms, or collaborative technologies like. Together, we can co-create a world where economies, social systems, and legal frameworks work to regenerate both human communities and the planetary ecosystems that sustain us.
