Nordic Foresight Forum

1

• Nordic Foresight Forum
• the short version
• Per Dannemand Andersen
• Risø DTU
• Presentation at Nordic Foresight Seminar
• 18 September 2007, North Atlantic House,
  Copenhagen

2
Nordic Foresight Forum the Need

• The need for a Nordic Foresight Forum as
  expressed by a ministerial civil servant at the
  initial planning meeting
• A meeting place where Nordic Technology Foresight
  practitioners can exchange, learn and identify
  "good practices for prioritising in science and
  technology
• And some money for preparing small reports and
  investigations between the meetings of the forum

3
Contents and Detailed Objectives

• WP 1. Nordic Foresight Forum Secretariat and
  Meetings
• Exchange of experience and learning.
• WP 2. Mapping of Nordic Foresight Actors and
  Foresight Activities
• Update mapping of Nordic foresight actors and
  description of foresight activities in the Nordic
  countries (incl. new NICe projects).
• WP 3. Mapping of Nordic national research and
  innovation council systems
• Describe national (and Nordic) research and
  innovation councils and similar system and
  organisations.
• WP 4. Identifying fields of science and
  technology for possible future Nordic (i.e. NICe)
  initiatives.
• Policy advice to Nordic bodies (i.e. NICe) on
  future initiatives within Science, Technology and
  Innovation (STI).
• Best practices for identifying possible future
  fields of STI.

4
Nordic Foresight Forum Workshops

• Workshop I, 26-27 October 2005 at Risø National
  Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark. 39 persons
  participated. 9 participants came from Denmark, 6
  from Finland, 4 from Iceland, 14 from Norway, 5
  from Sweden and 1 from EU.
• Workshop II, 13-14 March 2006, at University of
  Tampere, Finland. 27 persons participated. 2 from
  Denmark, 6 from Finland, 3 from Iceland, 8 from
  Norway, 5 from Sweden and 1 person from the
  European Commission and 1 from NICe.
• Workshop III, 12 (and 13) October at the IVA,
  Stockholm, Sweden. 20 persons participated. 3
  from Denmark, 4 from Finland, 1 from Iceland, 7
  from Norway, and 1 person from the European
  Commission.

5
Nordic Foresight Forum - Partners

• Risø National Laboratory, DTU, DK
• (Per Dannemand Andersen, Kristian Borch)
• FFRC (Finland Futures Research Centre), FIN
• (Jari Kaivo-Oja)
• VTT, FIN
• (Annele Eerola)
• RANNIS (Consult), IS
• (Thorvald Finnbjørnsson)
• SUBITO! ResearchFutures, N
• (Erik Øverland)
• FOI, Swedish Defence Research Institute, S
• (E. Anders Eriksson)
• IVA, Kungl. Ingenjörsakademien, S (Thomas Malmér,
  Bengt Mölleryd)

• Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation,
  DK
• (Allan Skårup Kristensen)
• Teknologirådet, DK
• (Lars Klüver)
• Ministry of Trade and Industry, FIN
• (Seppo Kangaspunta)
• SITRA, FIN
• (Antti Haukamaki, Timo Hämäläinen)
• RANNIS (Ministry), IS
• (Thorvald Finnbjørnsson)
• Norges Forskningsråd, N
• (Lars Ødegård)
• Innovation Norway, N
• (Svein H. Steien / Olav Bardalen)
• VINNOVA, S
• (Göran Pagels-Fick, Lennart Elg)

6
Any special Nordic definition of Foresight? - 1

• If there is any Nordicness in foresight it could
  include the following three elements
• participatory approaches, based on the traditions
  of parliamentarian technology assessment
• stakeholder discussions, based on the traditions
  for consensus processes between industry, science
  and policy-making
• an advanced understanding of innovation systems
  and of the interaction between these systems and
  foresight exercises

7
Any special Nordic definition of Foresight? - 2

• A systematic, future-oriented, analytical and
  interactive process contributing to shared
  visions concerning long-term developments.
• In foresight exercises dynamics in the innovation
  system (market and industrial structure,
  knowledge-production structure, forms of
  interaction and wider framing conditions) are
  examined in their real-world, economic and
  societal context.
• The purpose is to facilitate interaction between
  the interest groups and to increase the knowledge
  base of key actors, so that desirable
  developments can be supported with relevant
  strategies, decisions and actions.

8
Further information and outreach

• Project (very cheap) homepage
• http//nff.risoe.dk/index.htm
• Final report
• http//www.nordicinnovation.net/prosjekt.cfm?Id1-
  4415-254
• International outreach
• Dannemand Andersen, P. Borup, M. Finnbjörnsson,
  T. Vals, E. Malmér, T., Foresight in the
  Nordic Countries' Research and Innovation
  Councils, presentation at the COST A22
  Conference From Oracles to Dialogue Exploring
  New Ways to Explore the Future, Athens, July 9-11
  2007
• Eerola, A. Jørgensen, B. H., Technology
  Foresight in the Nordic Countries. Chapter to
  appear a book edited by M. Keenan.