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ForeSight

Welcome to the Horizon Scanning Centre

hsc

In its Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014, the Government committed to establishing a Centre of Excellence in Horizon Scanning, to be based in the Foresight directorate of the Government Office for Science. Work on establishing the Centre started in November 2004. Its output is feeding directly into cross-government priority-setting and strategy formation. The work of the Centre is strongly informed by the science base and by the best of existing work in Government, the private sector and elsewhere.

Aim and Scope: The Centre's aims are:

  • To inform departmental and cross-departmental decision-making
  • To support horizon scanning carried out by others inside government
  • To spot the implications of emerging science and technology and enable others to act on them
The three work-streams of the Centre are:
  • Producing a broad horizon scan - the Sigma Scan - looking at potential future issues and trends that may have an impact on public policy, to inform Government strategy and policy-making.
  • Project work with stakeholders: demand-led opportunities for joint working on specific issues with stakeholders (departments or groups of departments)
  • Provision of tools and support to spread good practice in departmental horizon scanning, including coaching, providing advice, brokering agreements and creating synergies that make the best use of resources and facilitate capacity-building.

Our Work

The HSC covers a wide range of activities. Examples of our work include the following:

Good Practice: we have published a toolkit which is based on the work of the Foresight programme since 2002.

The Sigma Scan: The Sigma Scan is a set of 271 brief papers exploring potential future issues and trends over the next 50 years which may have an impact on UK public policy. For more on how the Sigma Scan has been developed, click here. To go to the Scan, click here.

Wider Implications of Science and Technology (WIST): an expert and stakeholder appraisal combined with a public-facing engagement process, to explore the wider implications of new and emerging areas of science and technology.

FAN Club: the Futures' Analysts Network. The FAN Club is a forum where those who have an interest in horizon scanning and futures analysis can meet to exchange new ideas, innovative thinking and good practice. Meetings, which are open to all, are held four times a year.

Contact us on this project

Tel: 020 3300 8837
Contact by email

e-Sight digial newsletter

e-Sight is a quarterly newsletter providing you with all the latest news about the UK Foresight programme.