"The UK’s Foresight Programme aims to bridge the gap in policy making between the short and the long term."
Professor John Beddington, Government Chief Scientific Adviser
Individuals and governments hope that their actions help to shape the world into one that we all want to live in. To do that effectively, we really have to understand the future, uncertain as that may be.
The UK Government's Foresight Programme and its Horizon Scanning Centre use the best evidence from science and other areas to provide visions of the future. While no one can predict what will happen, ‘futures research’ can help us to identify potential risks and opportunities. In this way, Foresight can assist policymakers in developing strategies to manage our future better.
As the Government's ‘think tank’ on science and technology issues Foresight operates through projects that investigate the challenges and opportunities arising from emerging areas of science and technology or that address major issues for society where science and technology have an important role to play.
By drawing on experts from many disciplines in the natural and social sciences, and through the use of proven futures techniques, Foresight can help the Government to strike the right balance between long-term thinking and tackling issues that need immediate attention. Foresight works across Government, supporting strategic thinking and helping departments to formulate innovative policies that can withstand the inevitable changes that the future throws at us.
The Foresight Programme and its Horizon Scanning Centre are a part of the Government Office for Science within the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.
Latest news
8th June 2009: World Trade Scenarios published
The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre has looked ahead to 2020 to understand how world trade might change. Commissioned by the Government's Trade Policy Unit as part of World Trade Week UK, the scenarios were used to stimulate discussion and debate at the opening conference.
Click here to find out more about World Trade Week.
Click here to download the scenarios. (pdf format)
Click below to view the video presentations of the scenarios shown at the World Trade Week UK Conference (on YouTube)
Scenarios 1 and 2 (Global Innovation and Global Citizen)
Scenarios 3 and 4 (Fragile Alliances and Deglobalisation)
6th May 2009: Foresight invited to the Strategy Unit
Lead experts from the project Mental Capital and Wellbeing were invited to the Strategy Unit to present some of the key findings from the report.
The presentation can be accessed here.
For more news click here.