FORESIGHT IDEA
Foresight means a systematic method of building medium and long-term vision of development of the scientific and technical policy, its directions and priorities, used as a tool for making on-going decisions and mobilizing joint efforts.
Foresight was applied for the first time in Japan in 1970 and was made popular outside of it at the turn of the 20 th and 21 st century in countries such as: the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Sweden as well as Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The term “foresight” has no Polish counterpart. It can be understood as a look at the future which makes it possible to forecast various developments and to affect their course. The aim of foresight is to indicate future needs, opportunities and threats associated with the social and economic growth and to plan appropriate measures in the field of science and technology. Panel discussions, target workshops, the Delphi method, area development scenarios, seminars, etc. are used in the foresight performance process.
Expert opinions developed while performing the foresight process can provide information about the current market niches and abilities to take advantage of them as well as about new development trends and how they are perceived by the society. Usually all social groups are involved in the foresight process, for instance: scientists, entrepreneurs, representatives of the government, non-government and social groups and journalists. Thanks to this its results can prove useful for the decision-makers involved in the creation and then realization of the country's scientific, technical and innovative policy as well as the beneficiaries of this process, for instance, directors of scientific and research institutes, entrepreneurs and financiers.
Other effects of the foresight process include harmonization of the efforts of social partners involved in this process and creation of a public debate language and culture of thinking about the future.
Do you know?
In Poland, first foresight-type activities on the national level started in 2003 with the launching of the Pilot Foresight Project in the research field “Health and Life”.