Future perfect: Young European changemakers dream of a just economy by 2040

“AI will take over routine and administrative tasks, freeing up time for care work, creativity, community engagement and democratic participation.”

This is a vision for how artificial intelligence could contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive economy across Europe in 2040, derived from a new survey of young social entrepreneurs across the continent.

The Future Economy Report was published last week by The Possibilists, an alliance of global youth social innovation networks, including Ashoka, Aspen Institute, ChangemakerXchange, We Are Family Foundation and Yunus & Youth. It aimed to discover how young ‘changemakers’ envision and are actively contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive economic future.

Instead of AI becoming the monster that so many currently fear, when asked to imagine the European economy in 2040, the social entrepreneurs took a more optimistic view, imagining that AI could support democracy and decision-making by offering data-driven simulations. It could also help to push forward recycling by managing logistics to minimise waste. 

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“By redistributing productivity gains through mechanisms such as a universal basic dividend, AI enables a more balanced, creative and socially resilient European economy,” they suggest.

The role of AI in the European economy of 2040 is placed alongside several other areas that those surveyed feel could be transformational, including circularity becoming the norm rather than the exception; moving beyond GDP as the primary measure of success; and the continent becoming a powerhouse of clean energy and technological innovation. The researchers mapped the respondents’ ideas into what they call the ‘Future Economy Compass’.

Pessimism about today 

However, this optimistic view of how Europe’s economy could function in 2040 contrasts sharply with the social entrepreneurs’ view of today’s reality.

“The first and maybe key message of the report is that the respondents expressed serious and widespread concern about the current state and near-time trajectory of the European economy,” said Matthias Scheffelmeier, managing director of The Possibilists, at the report’s online launch.

“At the same time, they are able to articulate a strikingly hopeful, inspiring and powerful vision for 2040.

“They remain super hopeful for the future. They believe that we as Europe have what it takes to move from incremental reform to deeper systemic change that can enable a more sustainable and resilient European economy.”

Systemic barriers to social and environmental progress 

The report was compiled following a survey of more than 400 social entrepreneurs from 29 countries across Europe (including the UK) carried out at the end of 2025. Ultimately, 156 valid responses were analysed alongside 20 more in-depth interviews. The average age of the respondents was just over 33 years old.

It was supported by the foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung, the European Investment Bank Institute, and the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation at Vienna University of Economics and Business. 

Nearly half (48%) of the social entrepreneurs assess Europe’s near-term economic development as bad or very bad, highlighting a swathe of systemic barriers that hinder social and environmental progress. 

Tej Gonza (pictured), director of the Institute for Economic Democracy in Slovenia, was one of the social entrepreneurs interviewed for the research. He said: “Capital ownership is extremely concentrated around the world, and Europe is no exception. Current institutional arrangements perpetuate economic inequalities, hinder sustainable development, and undermine the functioning of political democracies.”

Businesses externalise their risks but privatise their profits

Johanna Kühner, founder of GenoDigital in Germany which supports cooperatives, said: “The current economic system incentivises businesses to maximise shareholder value, often at the expense of other stakeholders such as society and the environment. Social and environmental costs remain hidden, leading to a situation where businesses externalise their risks but privatise their profits. As a result, wealth inequality deepens: those with most power and capital gain disproportionately, while the many shoulder the costs.”

Barriers to success

The report points out that the social entrepreneurs surveyed are already contributing towards creating a better future economy, but that they face barriers. They most frequently complain about struggling to access suitable funding (56%). Many also highlight the challenge of juggling the multiple responsibilities of work, family or studies (37%), alongside a high risk of burnout (32%) and a lack of personal financial stability (32%).

In order to reach their 2040 vision, the respondents want to see businesses integrate circularity as a core business practice, embed true-cost accounting into their processes and enable democratic and alternative ownership models.

They call upon policymakers to reduce bureaucratic barriers to social entrepreneurship. They also want funders to move from short-term, project based grants to multi-year, capacity-building funding.

‘Change can totally happen’ 

“There’s no generation that’s more ambitious,” said Josh Babarinde, a former social entrepreneur and now a Liberal Democrat MP in the UK, speaking at the report launch. 

“This is a generation of young people that is refusing to accept the status quo, who have transformed changemaking from a pipe dream into a discipline and are willing not to just talk about it, but to create the accountability for achieving it.” 

Speaking alongside Babarinde, Jo Swinson, director of the funder Partners for a New Economy and former UK Liberal Democrat party leader, urged people not to be frightened by the scale of the task ahead.

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“The report suggests a significant set of changes to the way our economy works. That can feel quite big and ambitious. There’s always the risk that it gets dismissed as too idealistic or it can’t possibly be done because things have always been this way,” she said. 

“I want to encourage people to recognise that a lot of people do understand that the current system isn’t working…Change can totally happen. The way the economy works is not like the laws of physics. It’s something that we as human beings have decided how it works, and we can decide that it can work so that it is properly prioritising people’s wellbeing within a healthy planet.”

Header image: A meeting of European social entrepreneurs, courtesy The Possibilists