Institutul de Prospectiva is one of the core partners in a €20m framework contract on foresight services recently signed with the European Commission. The Foresight on Demand consultancy contract runs for the next four years.
The Foresight on Demand (FoD) consortium is supporting the European Commission and fourteen other EU organisations on science and technology programming from now until 2028, after a successful cooperation between 2019-2023. This framework agreement enables the European Commission to promptly call up required forward-looking expertise and build up anticipatory capacities in its own organisations. Knowledge is developed in participatory processes to orientate and underpin Europe’s investment plans for science, research, technology and innovation.
Strategic support for the European Commission during previous framework contract
Institutul de Prospectiva has also been part of the Foresight on Demand consortium that delivered, between 2019 – 2023, timely and effective inputs to policy-making. Previous Foresight on Demand projects have helped develop a variety of policy instruments and measures, including EC directives, awareness-raising measures, information platforms, stakeholder networks and other research funding tools. One notable example is the FoD project “Foresight towards the 2nd Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe”, which has helped underpin Horizon Europe’s upcoming Strategic Plan.
Customers of Foresight-on-Demand projects in the past have included various Directorates-General of the European Commission (Research and Innovation, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Justice and Consumers, Internal Market), as well as agencies and bodies of the European Union (European Environment Agency, Mission Boards).
“Throughout the previous framework contract, Institutul de Prospectiva has contributed to numerous projects, on components related to horizon scanning, large scale Delphi consultations, scenario and vision building, speculative design. These projects addressed a wealth of themes, among which the future of food, of retail, of ecosystems’ flourishing We also explored the human condition transformed by technology and created fictional artifacts regarding our future selves and our expanded perception”, says Bianca Dragomir, vice-president at Institutul de Prospectiva.
Shaping the future with foresight
In addition to concrete results, such as scenarios, visions of the future and recommendations for action, which are disseminated in the form of in-depth case studies and reports, policy briefs and even futures stories and ‘artefacts from the future’, foresight processes also have indirect effects. In participatory settings, such as workshops, discussion and information events (panels, webinars), but also by means of Delphi surveys or interviews, foresight activities have a positive effect on the consolidation of stakeholder networks and on strengthening the anticipatory skills and capacities of political decision-makers, both crucial elements for long-term, coordinated and transformative policy-making.
A growing foresight community hosted by futures4europe.eu
The futures4europe.eu platform will continue to serve as the online home of the European foresight community. The work to be carried out by the Foresight on Demand consortium in the next four years will be featured on the platform along other European, national and even regional foresight activities and their diverse results.
Institutul de Prospectiva will continue to contribute to the enrichment of the platform futures4europe, not only by showcasing our foresight work and results, but also by creating content for non-expert audiences interested in forward-looking knowledge. With its planned upgrade in autumn 2024, futures4europe.eu will strengthen its position as the heart of a collective intelligence that aims at contributing significantly to shaping future-oriented policy decisions and to fueling conversations around futures”, adds Bianca Dragomir.
More information:
Bianca Dragomir; bianca.dragomir@prospectiva.ro