Facts on Foresight 1994-2002

Aim: to increase UK exploitation of science.

The Foresight programme will identify potential opportunities for the economy or society from new science and technologies, and actions to help realise those opportunities.

History and Structure

  • Announced in the 1993 White Paper, "Realising Our Potential"
  • First Round: 1994 -1999. Sixteen sector - based panels, reporting in 1995.
  • Second Round: 1999 -2002. Eleven sector-based and three thematic panels, reporting in 2000. Sixty-five Task Forces established.
  • Next Phase: 2002 -. A rolling programme of issue-based projects.

Activities During the Second Round

  • Number of seminars/workshops: 160 (This does not include panel and task force meetings)
  • Regional Seminars held: 52
  • Website visitor sessions: 46 500 monthly average
  • Papers/reports published: 103, including each panel's main report in December 2000.
  • Over five hundred people were actively involved in this round of the programme through membership of panels and/or task forces.

Achievements and Impacts

  1. The most significant impact of the Chemicals Panel's work has been the support given to Green Technology, where the Panel's recommendations have helped both the gestation and the subsequent funding of the Crystal Faraday Partnership.
  2. The Materials Panel played a key role in gaining acceptance of nanotechnology as one, if not the, key area of technology for the future. For example it has encouraged support by the EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and MoD for two Interdisciplinary Research Centres in nanotechnology.
  3. The Energy & Natural Environment Panel inspired the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Biology and the Institute of Physics to collaborate on a series of workshops on future sources of energy. Its reports "energy for tomorrow", 'the transition to zero carbon emissions' and "power without pollution" were source documents for the Policy & Innovation Unit's energy review.
  4. Thirty-two Associate Programmes, undertaken by other organisations (mainly professional institutions and research and technology organisations) have supported the central programme. Associate Programmes investigate the future of a particular topic, within the framework of the national programme.
  5. £30m of Government funding has gone into the Foresight Challenge Awards, supporting twenty-four consortia. There have been three rounds of Foresight LINK Awards (FLAs), involving funding of ˆ£29M to 39 projects (FLA1 - 18 projects; FLA2 - 14 projects; FLA3 - 7 projects). Altogether, with industry support, these projects are worth a total of ˆ£152M.
  6. The appointment of Regional Foresight Coordinators has enabled Foresight Panel recommendations to be integrated into regional innovation and economic strategies and cluster development. The Co-ordinators have brought together business, and academia by using existing networks and establishing new ones. Five coordinators are continuing their work, supported by their local Regional Development Agency or national equivalent. Three other RDAs have incorporated Foresight activities into their work on innovation.
  7. The Foresight Toolkit, sponsored by Foresight in 2000, allowed the benefits of Foresight to be delivered to SMEs. The Toolkit is a training tool now being used by trained facilitators to encourage companies to plan towards a future vision and anticipate challenges and opportunities. In 2001 five Foresight Training Centres were appointed to train facilitators and to monitor quality in delivery.
  8. In partnership with the Department for Education and Science, Foresight has supported the Young Foresight initiative. This project is aimed at giving students direct experience in all the skills needed to create a successful product or service: from conceptualisation, to design, to adaptability in the market place. Much of the early work took place in the North East of England, where the scheme is now well established, and fifty teacher / mentor partnerships are in place.
  9. All reports published by Foresight, along with information about the programme past, present and future, are available on the Foresight website (www.foresight.gov.uk).

Foresight Panels

1994-1999
  • Agriculture, Horticulture & Forestry
  • Chemicals
  • Construction
  • Defence & Aerospace
  • Energy
  • Financial Services
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Life Sciences
  • IT, Electronics & Communications
  • Leisure & Learning
  • Manufacturing, Production & Business Processes
  • Marine
  • Materials
  • Natural Resources & Environment
  • Retail & Distribution
  • Transport
1999-2002
  • Ageing Population
  • Built Environment & Transport
  • Chemicals
  • Crime Prevention
  • Defence, Aerospace & Systems
  • Energy & Natural Environment
  • Ffinancial Services
  • Food Chain & Crops for Industry
  • Healthcare
  • Information, Communications & Media
  • Manufacturing 2020
  • Marine
  • Materials
  • Retail & Consumer Services

Foresight Directorate
April 2002