Speaker
Description
WHY FORESIGHT?
The Science and Technology Foresight Project has carried out initiatives of great relevance, in order to define research strategies able to address crucial social problems related to energy, food, health, water, as well as the cross-sectoral topic of breakthrough innovative materials, complexity of systems and data science. Both, the holistic approach applied to the analysis of the topics, as well as the innovative format of the invitation only workshops, enticed the participation of internationally acknowledged experts. This framework guaranteed all participants the necessary conditions to carry out an open interactive debate, consolidating a collective intelligence, which assisted in achieving a consensus on research priorities, knowledge gaps, and funding needs.
ACTIVITY
The Foresight Project has involved the international scientific community in the effort of identifying innovative, scientifically based, medium/long term solutions of problems within the four areas mentioned above. The current social needs have been identified as the drivers for change and the proposed solutions must address them. Each problem is a big challenge by itself, and it becomes even more substantial when considering that all issues are connected. Looking for a proper identification of both the relevant features of each problem, as well as the current knowledge gaps, which must be overcome, we adopted a systems approach. The goal is to move beyond a linear view of cause and effect, towards the development of a systemic and integrated view.
