N Square brings new energy and a fresh approach to tackling one of the world’s wickedest problems: the deepening threat posed by nuclear weapons. The nuclear landscape is a jumble of many overlapping challenges, from political dilemmas to technological puzzles to conflicts between belief systems. We recognize these complexities without being daunted by them, employing a range of tactics to create conditions that enable new solutions, ideas, and partnerships.


We advance foresight.
We teach and practice futurism, a core competency for strategists tackling wicked problems.
We map opportunity.
We analyze systems to identify the most promising drivers of innovation and impact.
We facilitate solutions.
We help changemakers prototype and launch innovative projects addressing real-world problems.
We cultivate partnerships.
We help nuclear experts and new partners collaborate on real-world nuclear challenges.
We build skills.
We offer a portfolio of courses for current and rising leaders eager to improve outcomes.
We knit community.
We create inviting spaces for cross-sector learning and problem-solving.
We advance foresight.
We advance foresight.
Because we believe that futures thinking is a core competency for anyone looking to tackle wicked problems, we train our network members in horizon scanning, scenario planning, and other essential tools of strategic foresight. We connect the nuclear field with a diverse community of futurists highly practiced in imagining and evoking narratives about the far side of major structural change. We actively use these tools ourselves to articulate a more compelling, ambitious, and optimistic vision for a future beyond nuclear weapons while specifying the types of innovation and engagement it will require.
We map opportunity.
We map opportunity.
N Square and our partners are pioneering the use of systems mapping to gain a top view of the entire nuclear problem space. We identify leverage points and opportunities for innovation, mapping connections so that nuclear experts can see how their work relates to other issue spaces, and we sponsor projects that strengthen the field and advance creative problem-solving. Our ability to visualize the system lets us analyze its dynamics: the mental models, behaviors, and interactions that buoy it up and the points of fragility where we can intervene to greatest effect.
We facilitate solutions.
We facilitate solutions.
Based on thoughtful analysis of the system in which we’re working, we facilitate the development, testing, refinement, and evaluation of concrete solutions. We bring a variety of problem-solving methods and organizational development techniques to this task, forming powerfully diverse teams and equipping them to distinguish between different problem types—from complexities to dilemmas, from technological innovation to service design—each of which benefits from a different approach.
We cultivate partnerships.
We cultivate partnerships.
We act as strategic matchmakers, facilitating opportunity-rich connections, often among organizations and individuals that might otherwise never connect. We introduce nuclear experts and cross-sector partners to new ways of working—including design thinking, rapid prototyping, and more—in order to shake loose new ideas and encourage bold thinking. We also partner with organizations ourselves, including established agencies seeking a deeper understanding of the future of an issue, access to a cognitively diverse network, or support in conceiving, convening, and facilitating creative problem-solving sessions.
We build skills.
We build skills.
We offer a range of training on critical competencies aimed at getting to better outcomes. Through both synchronous and asynchronous courses, we equip our network members with methods like strategic foresight, human-centered design, and systems thinking. Our Innovation Fellows work in cohorts to apply their new skills to current nuclear challenges. In a field that has recently struggled to achieve consensus on vision or strategy, and is facing generational shifts and the effects of implicit bias, we provide a shared toolkit for acting collectively on our boldest, most audacious goals.
We knit community.
NASA
We knit community.
We’re building a vibrant community of motivated cross-sector thinkers working together in new ways—because we know the most robust solutions often emerge at the point of “creative abrasion” between domains of knowledge and expertise. Much like a public square, we create accessible, inviting spaces where shared community is fostered and diverse groups converge. Through brown bag lunches, “nuclear mixers,” and other interactive events, we create opportunities for like-minded experts inside and outside the nuclear space to connect, learn from one another, and form relationships, inspiring a new level of cooperation and esprit de corps.

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