This paper supports the government of Ireland in developing its capacity for strategic foresight in the context of Anticipatory Innovation Governance, needed to prepare for and respond to futures that demand radically new approaches in the public service.
Global: Anticipatory Innovation & Foresight
As a devoted fan of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) for over 20 years, the coronavirus pandemic brought a big disappointment for me in 2020: the cancellation of the most important week of my year. As I had done in Kyiv, Lisbon, and Tel Aviv, I planned to travel to Rotterdam to see the live shows and embrace dear friends from all over the world in this joyful and camp annual extravaganza of music and...
Futures Frequency is a workshop method for groups of 8–20 people. This website provides tools for facilitating the workshop either online or in person. There are videos that introduce each theme and the facilitator’s handbook includes detailed steps for facilitating the group assignments.
Futures Frequency was developed by Sitra based on input from a development team in various fields. It's purpose is to increase participants’ ability to envisage different futures and take action towards…
On March 11-12, 2021, more than 450 futures, foresight and innovation experts from 72 countries around the world gathered digitally to discuss the latest on anticipatory innovation governance. Over three sessions, the emerging Anticipatory Innovation Governance (AIG) model was explored, together with the future of the public sector, and tools and methods for anticipation. The series of sessions were co-hosted with the Government of Finland and supported by the European Commission’s Horizon…
Anticipatory innovation governance model – humble, yet ambitious Governments tend to look like powerful, overwhelming forces that are difficult to stop or change. Juggernauts if you will. Yet governments over decades have reformed a lot: they adopted new (and given away) services and tasks together with technological and societal development. They have taken on different public administration paradigms, successful and otherwise. The change, however, has been slow and, at times, painful. We all…
Tools and methods for innovation, anticipation, and strategic foresight are a perennially popular topic and several hundred members of the global public sector anticipatory innovation tools community gathered to take stock of promise and pitfalls of future-oriented tool and method landscape. On Friday 12 March, OECD OPSI organised the session as part of a workshop on Anticipatory Innovation Governance hosted by the Government of Finland with the support of the European Commission’s…
In April 1912, an icon set sail from Southampton, heading into the future and making history at the same time. The Titanic, “ship of dreams”, was the height of technological achievement. Retrospectively referred to as “unsinkable”, she might as well have been called “future-proof”, such was the confidence she commanded. We all know what happened. We also know the main lessons learned: lack of lifeboats, a chaotic evacuation, and doubts over whether a floating wooden...
The imIN-hub aims to envision health services for the citizen of tomorrow. It focuses on developing and adapting towards innovation products, services and training in the areas of eHealth, ICT, Mobile, AI, and Robotics. The project aims to take targeted actions to achieve a digital health model closer to citizens at every stage of their life. The imIN-hub seeks to be the backbone of health innovation in Portugal while working on internal innovation of the national public health company (SPMS)…
On 15 October 1987, renowned British meteorologist Michael Fish presented his usual television weather forecast, jovially remarking: “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t!” He proceeded to give his analysis, which acknowledged the possibility of high winds but gave no major cause for alarm. That night, an extratropical cyclone with gusts exceeding…
Editor’s note: This guest blog was written by Katju Holkeri, Head of Unit for Governance Policy in The Public Governance Department in the Finnish Ministry of Finance. This post was written following a February 2021 collaboration session between three OECD teams to join up intersecting work on trust, civic space, and anticipatory innovation governance in Finland. Anticipating the trust of citizens is not easy. What is possible for us in Finland however is to strengthen...