Futures research (including Foresight and Horizon Scanning) has emerged as a key instrument for the development and implementation of research and innovation policy. The main focus of activity has been at the national level. Governments have sought to set priorities, to build networks between science and industry and, in some cases, to change their research system and administrative culture. Foresight has been used as a set of technical tools, or as a way to encourage more structured debate with wider participation leading to the shared understanding of long-term issues. There are many definitions of Foresight and Horizon Scanning in the futures literature, so in this blog I would like to share my own (2011) definitions: Foresight is a systematic, participatory, prospective and policy-or...

Since January 2009 we have been building the iKNOW Community. We have further developed Web 2.0 platforms aimed to interconnect and share knowledge of people who care about science, technology and innovation (STI). If you think you belong to one or more of the following groups, please join us and share your knowledge about emerging issues (e.g. wild cards or weak signals) shaping or shaking the future of science, technology and innovation (STI) Are you a policymaker? (dealing with local, national, EC, IGOs or INGO issues) Are you a decisionmaker? (dealing with SMEs and large corporations issues) Are you a researcher? (dealing with RTD or STI-related issues) Are you a foresight or futures research practitioner ? For further information about the iKNOW Community, please clic...

The iKNOW project has successfully developed a dynamic three dimensional (3D) tag cloud to visualise keywords associated to more than 400 wild cards and weak signals (wi-we) potentially shaping or shaking the future of science, technology and innovation in Europe and the world. To visit iKNOW's tag cloud, please click here. A Yellow tag/keyword indicates that we have more wild cards associated to that tag. A Green tag/keyword indicates that we have more weak signals associated to that tag. A Blue tag/keyword indicates that we have a balanced number of wild cards and weak signals associated to that tag. ...