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News about the Uk Foresight Programme

Issue 15 - December 2006

esight newletter Dec 06

Horizons, Scanned

On 20 December, a challenging set of research papers looking up to 50 years ahead, and commissioned by Foresight's Horizon Scanning Centre (HSC), were released by the futures contractors, the Outsights-Ipsos MORI partnership and the American-based Institute for the Future (IFTF). These scans were the first major work commissioned by the HSC, and we are pleased that they are now in the public domain, and available for general use.

The Sigma Scan is a synthesis of some of the world's best Horizon Scanning sources. In 146 short papers, it covers future issues and trends across the full public policy agenda. It is drawn from a range of sources including think tanks, academic publications, mainstream media, corporate foresight, expert / strategic thinkers, government sources, alternative journals, charities / NGOs, blogs, minority communities, and futurists. The Delta Scan is an overview, in 100 short papers, of future science and technology issues and trends, with contributions by over 200 science and technology experts from the worlds of government, business, academia and communication in the UK and US.

For more information, and access to the Scans, please click here. You may also be interested in the article in the Financial Times reporting on the scans - see here

Project News

General Clusters

The HSC have also published reports on eight science and technology "clusters". The purpose of the clusters is to provide a high level framework to stimulate and test thinking across government, and they cover such areas as body & mind sciences, nanotechnologies, and security. They have already been used in a number of departmental and cross-departmental pieces of analysis by, for example, HM Treasury, and used to inform the Government Office for Science's own work on, for example, public engagement on the wider implications of science and technology. For access to these reports, please click here.

Energy Reviews Published

As part of the build up to our current project on Sustainable Energy management in the Built Environment (SEMBE), we expect to publish on 4 January 2007 a set of study papers which provide a body of evidence about the state-of-the-art science and technology, and future possibilities, across a wide range of technical disciplines related to energy use and supply. They include social science evidence about behaviours related to energy use, as well as an overview of existing futures work on energy from the UK and around the world. For access to these reports, please visit the Foresight website in the new year.

News from the projects

As well as SEMBE, two other Foresight projects are underway. For the latest news and information on all three, please visit their web pages at:

As well as SEMBE, two other Foresight projects are underway. For the latest news and information on all three, please visit their web pages at:

Other links

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