Documentation: EFP-Kickoff Conference

Documentation of Conference: Foresight and Forward Looking Activities – Exploring New European Perspectives

Vienna French Cultural Institute

Venue: Währinger Straße 30, 1090 Vienna, Austria,  Date: 14/15 July, 2010
Forward looking approaches aim at building shared visions of the future European challenges and evaluating the impacts of alternative policies. Foresight combines qualitative and participatory methods with quantitative and operational methods such as Forecasting to support better long-term policies – such as those in regard to the European research and innovation policies.
Summary of major findings (EFP Consortium)


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DAY 1    14th of June 2010
10:00   Registration with Welcome Tea, Coffee and Snack
11:00   Welcome Remarks and Opening of the Conference

  • Raoul Mille, Scientific Attaché of the French Embassy in Vienna
  • Josef Fröhlich, AIT,  Head of Foresight & Policy Development Department
  • Susanne Giesecke, AIT, Project Leader of EFP

11:30   Session 1: Looking back and looking forward: Thinking, debating and shaping the future

  • Robby Berloznik, IST, Institute Society and Techno-logy, Flemish Parliament, (former member of the STRATA High Level Expert Group)
  • Riel Miller, Sciences Po & xperidox

Chair: Petra Schaper-Rinkel, AIT
13:00     Lunch Break
14:00   Session 2:  The future of foresight and related forward looking activities: Shared  visions & research agendas of the future & requirements

Chair: Susanne Giesecke, AIT
15:30     Tea and Coffee Break
15:45     Interactive session 3: Foresight Café (Concept)

  • Table A   Vicente Carabias
  • Table B   Fabiana Scapolo
  • Table C   Miriam Leis
  • Table D   Rafael Popper
  • Table E   Karl-Heinz Leitner
  • Chair: Cristiano Cagnin, JRC-IPTS

17:45 – 18:00     Summary

End of DAY 1

19:00     Joint evening at Viennese “Heuriger Mayer am Pfarrplatz” (typical traditional restaurant)

DAY 2    15th of June 2010
08:30   Welcome tea, coffee and snack
09:00   Recapitulating day 1: Results of the Foresight Café

  • Hosts of the tables

Chair: Vicente Carabias, JRC-IPTS

09:30   Session 4: Foresight and forward looking activities between local acting  and global thinking

Chair: Rafael Popper, UNIMAN

11:00     Tea and Coffee Break
11:30   Session 5:  How to anticipate the grand challenges to turn them into new opportunities: Foresight for priority-setting and identifying ways  of shaping the future

Members of the Blue Sky projects:

Chair: Matthias Weber, AIT

13:00     Feedback  & Outlook     Chair: Susanne Giesecke, AIT

13:30 –  14:30     Farewell Lunch

End of Conference

Objectives of the Sessions

Session 1:

Looking back and looking forward: Thinking, debating and shaping the future  Nearly one decade ago the STRATA High Level Expert Group (HLEG) of the European Commission worked out a framework for foresight, that was published in the report “Thinking, debating and best online casino shaping the future. “Foresight for Europe”.  We would like to use the EFP kick-off conference to look back and to look forward from the perspective of that report. What are demands on foresight to address a broad range of policy needs, from research agendas to more general agendas for the future?

Session 2:

The future of foresight and related forward looking activities: emerging issues and subjects    How could Foresight and Forward-looking Activities support the creation of shared vision about the “great societal challenges” which should drive the European and national research agendas? What are the achievements of Foresight and Forward-looking Activities in regard to the identification and in-depth analysis of grand challenges? How will the European Foresight Platform support forward looking decision making in regard to issues such as the research agenda of the future? The discussion of foresight at the meta-level will certainly help to better understand the evolution of foresight in the future (i.e. foresight on foresight).

Session 3 – Interactive:

Foresight Café “The future of foresight”  In the interactive Foresight Café event the participants explore the topic of “Foresight of Foresight”. Members of the EFP consortium will develop and choose questions that matter in regard to the future of exploring and shaping the future. These can be questions of methods (for example the use of online tools, methods for future requirements, e.g. linking quantitative and qualitative approaches) or questions of subjects (grand challenges) or other topics such as embedded foresight, horizon scanning and issues related to policy support.

Session 4:

Foresight and forward looking activities in a global context. The aim of the session is to explore new perspectives of Foresight and forward looking activities in the international context by confronting foresight experience from different continents. The focus of the discussion is the use of foresight as a resource to support policymaking on different levels especially in regard to Grand Challenges in other regions.

Session 5:

How to anticipate the grand challenges to turn them into new opportuni-ties: Foresight for priority-setting and identifying ways in shaping the future   The „Blue Sky Research on Emerging Issues Affecting European Science and Technology” aims to identify emerging issues which could have an important role in shaping the European research system in the future. Partners of some of the projects will present results, focusing on the subject how foresight (including both quantitative and qualitative analysis) can provide strategic intelligence that will serve as an input for planning the 8th Framework Program and beyond this, for anticipating the grand challenges to turn them into new opportunities.