2018 Course on The ART of Foresight & Sustainable Futures

Interested in shaping the future? Join our 5-day course (2-6 July) on ‘The ART of Foresight & Sustainable Futures’ in the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR). Since 2018 the course runs in partnership with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, a leading global research & technology development organization.

• To download the 2018 course brochure, please click here
• To visit the webpage of the 2018 course, please click here

Anticipating, Recommending and Transforming Research and Innovation Futures

The world is experiencing great uncertainties about the unfolding economic crisis and its aftershocks. Many countries, industries and public services face challenging futures where the quest for opportunities is increasingly competitive. Economic discontent has combined with existing political stresses to catch many institutions – and countries – wrong-footed. Meanwhile, globalisation, migration, environmental, political and technological trends are reshaping the rules of the game. This calls for critical reflections on existing assumptions, plans and strategies for the long-term future. Our foresight course explores ways in which decision-makers can address uncertainties. How to produce sound and forward looking results that are useful for decision-makers?

The Manchester Institute of Innovation Research has been running an annual foresight training course since 1999. Building on over twenty years of foresight experience, we are able to call upon a wealth of expertise, from staff with know-how of the practice of foresight, as well as from sponsors and practitioners. The course now runs in partnership with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, a leading global research and technology development organisation. Future-oriented innovation policy research is a key focus for VTT, supported by the Centre’s competencies in qualitative and quantitative methods.

Course staff and invited experts/speakers

2018 Foresight Course Speakers

Torino Process Expert Roundtable On Policy Evaluation

Relevant policy assessment and evaluation frameworks

The European Training Foundation (ETF) has initiated a reflection on how the Torino Process (TRP) can be used to introduce and promote an evaluation dimension in the exercise.  

To that end, on February 26th an expert roundtable has been organised in Torino (Italy) to share knowledge and practices in the area of policy evaluation, and discuss their applicability in line with the specificities of the TRP and its partner countries.

The expert meeting aims to provide an opportunity to get acquainted with selected aspects of the TRP, and benefit from the knowledge and advice of renowned experts in evaluation concerning key questions, such as whether evaluation could add value to the TRP and if yes, how.

The outcomes of the meeting will inform the preparation of the next cycle of the TRP and help to adjust accordingly the framework and modalities of TRP implementation.

The Torino Process

The Torino expert meeting offers an excellent opportunity to share lessons learned from state-of-the-art evaluation experiences, such as the twelve (12) key performance indicators (KPIs) considered in VTT’s Strategic and Sound Evaluation Approach (see Hiltunen et al., 2017/forthcoming), the four (4) dimensions and ten (10) key aspects used in the CASI-F Framework for the Assessment and Management of Sustainable Innovation (see Popper et al., 2017) and twenty (20) fully-fledged evaluation criteria used in the (“old but gold”) MIOIR‘s Evaluating Foresight study (Popper et al., 2010).

Relevant reports

CASI-F

Evaluating Foresight

Horizon scanning: why and how to launch it in Lithuania?

The Healthcare Innovation Forum in Vilnius (Lithuania) provides an excellent opportunity to share how VTT‘s Lighthouses research and innovation activities can help to promote ‘Good Life’ in Finland and the World through ‘citizen-centric care’ solutions. In the panel discussion and short keynote I showcased good practices, as well as recent experiences and lessons learned from the UK Horizon Scanning on Healthcare. To download the slides please click here  

The first panel debate at the LAWG’s Healthcare Innovation Forum 2018 on “Horizon scanning: why & how to launch it in Lithuania?” featured the following speakers:

• Dr. Alvydas Česas, Chief of Oncology & Chemotherapy Clinic at Klaipeda University Hospital. Dr. Česas is a certified physician and medical oncologist with over 20 yrs of experience in the field of oncology. He is also the President of Lithuanian Society for Medical Oncology.
• Per Troein from VP Strategic Partners, IQVIA, UK. Mr. Troein has been with QI for 19 years and is responsible for the relationship with suppliers and associations. He has deep insight around pharmaceutical pricing and how this issue is handled in different markets.
• Prof. Dr. Rafael Popper from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finland/Venezuela/UK. His main areas of work include: ‘foresight’ as an instrument of innovation policy, the development of foresight and horizon scanning methodology, the design of forward-looking activities and their evaluation with a focus on technological and social innovation policies, and the assessment and management of sustainable innovations.

To see the full programme, please click here.

PS. In case you don’t know where Vilnius is, you may find the following controvertial and cheeky, yet impactful, campaign/news interesting 😉