An initiative to determine the next scientific or technological breakthrough for humankind is being unveiled by the EU via the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) program at the European Future Technologies Conference in Budapest.

There are six candidates in the running; in 2012 two will be granted funding for the next decade. Among the six contenders is the futurICT (also called “Futurist”) initiative. The group plans to develop “planetary-scale computing facilities” that can equip governments, scientists, and ordinary people with a massive computational system the group calls the “Living Earth Platform” to provide a basis for predicting natural disasters or managing and responding to man-made disasters that cross national borders or even continents.

Steve Bishop from University College in London said that if realized, this will create a future of “better decision making.”