HSE Becomes Coordinator of International Foresight Centers Network

HSE and the Center for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE, Brazil) have established an International Foresight Centers Network. A letter of intent was signed on November 20, 2015, which was the final day of the International Academic Conference ‘Foresight and STI Policy’.

 Letter of Intent (PDF, 46 Kb)

The International Foresight Centers Network will bring together the world’s leading foresight centres, universities, and research organizations for the purpose of conducting joint research. It aims to implement joint initiatives in long-term forecasting and define priorities for socio-economic, science and technology, and innovation development through the use of foresight technology.

HSE will coordinate the Network through its Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge and Foresight Centre. The following tasks will be performed:

• Conducting joint research in foresight and S&T forecasting;
• Developing educational courses, including continuing education, full-time and long-distance courses;
• Holding academic and broker events;
• Providing expert and analytical support for government agencies in science, technology, and innovation;
• Offering internships to doctoral students and young researchers.

A website and joint database will be established to bring together unique knowledge repositories created by the consortium’s participants and will link them to other international resources, such as iKnow, FORwiki, the online foresight guide FOR-LEARN, the European Foresight Platform EFP, and the European Foresight Monitoring Network.

The Center for Strategic Studies and Management CGEE in Brazil has been HSE’s partner for many years. From 2012 to 2015, the institutions took part in the International Foresight Academy project as part of the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for research and technological development. This cooperation serves as an example of network interaction between S&T forecasting centres. In June 2013, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding that broadened the range of topics for cooperation. They expressed mutual interest in conducting research on STI policy and foresight; evaluating the socio-economic effects of public policy, programmes, projects and organizations in the area of STI; and strategic planning in STI. In summer 2015, HSE and CGEE ran a joint Russian-Brazilian summer school on foresight and STI policy.