The first decade of the second millennium has emphatically shown that we need to prepare for the non-preparable, and we need to foresee the unforeseen. The world is changing rapidly and in greater levels of complexity (Harari, 2015), thus quick reaction and resilient strategies are a necessity for businesses and policymakers.
Companies and other organisations as well as whole industrial sectors need to anticipate future developments in order to be prepared for them (Dufva et al., 2015). And while it is relatively easy to prepare for short term linear changes, longer-term shifts in the socio-technical system and the impacts of the exponential technological disruptions are harder to cope with and are regarded as the “black hole of strategy” (Uotila, Melkas, & Harmaakorpi, 2005).
Check out here some of our projects and scenario planning services to support the longer-term anticipation of alternative futures and for triggering responses to them.
Trends are signposts for the future. Organisations must track them if they want to see” the future and create their preferred futures.
Gremlin is a unique easy-to-use web-based platform for collaborative trendspotting developed by the Foresight Unit of PRAXI Network/FORTH.
With Gremlin you can easily gather and share ideas for trends, weak signals, and other forces of change.
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In the context of the RIS3 support project implemented by the Region of Central Macedonia, the Foresight unit has set up a mechanism for monitoring trends and weak signals with an impact on pre-selected RIS3 priority areas: Building materials; Tourism; Agri-food; Textiles and clothing;
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This EU funded project (Horizon 2020) aims :
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Four scenarios were developed for the future of Thessaloniki towards 2030.
This study is building upon “The Future of Cities” report of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which highlights drivers shaping the urban future. Moving forward the team has performed extensive desktop research work, as well as consultation with the project partners to collect city-specific information, as well as information on the specific air quality challenges. Following the extensive desk research, the research team has designed an overall scenario template (Cities scenarios board), as presented in the next section, and composed 4 plausible scenarios. All scenarios present several, equally plausible, future images of the cities, while in all cases there are specific references on the environmental situation.
4 Scenarios for the innovation landscape in China by 2030
This report presents the outcome of a cooperative foresight work that took place simultaneously in EU and China, aiming to produce scenarios for the Chinese innovation environment in 2030, drawing special focus in the cooperation potential between EU and China.
The objective of the report was to investigate changes in China’s innovation landscape and outline different possible trajectories for innovation in China toward 2030.
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The report aimed to produce plausible versions of the future for the research and innovation environment in China in 2025 and contribute to the bilateral dialogue between the EU, the Member States and China, towards setting up a long- term cooperation strategy for mutual benefi.
The overall work was structured around a single focal question: “What are the main factors that will affect the Research (R) & Innovation (I) Environment in China until 2025?”.
Check the report