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The paper discusses foresight as a dynamic strategic practice and theorises the connections of foresight and strategic management. The paper argues that organisations have a rising need to foster relevant future-oriented knowledge in a continuous process that builds on the systemic understanding of the operational environment. For this purpose, the paper outlines a conceptual framework for continuous organisational foresight practice. The framework is based on two conceptual bedrocks. The first is the idea of continuity, referring to the long-term accumulation of organisational practices. The second bedrock is the notion of discontinuity as an organisational transformation factor. Furthermore, the framework builds on the notion of four knowledge spaces in an organisation, and it is constructed through six layers depicted in detail. The paper demonstrates this framework through a case study of a Finnish research and technology organisation, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foresight is currently perceived as a critical activity in the development of innovation policies and corporate strategies. While there are many descriptions of the benefits of foresight, there is little research into how these benefits are created. In addition, although the view of innovations has shifted towards a systems understanding, the same has not happened with foresight, which is largely seen as a process. The process view and focus on the outcomes has created a situation where the dynamics between agents involved in foresight is still not well understood. One emerging approach to improve the understanding of the dynamics of foresight, and to embed foresight more closely with innovation management and policy, is the systems view. In this paper, we build on the systems view of foresight, and study what the elements in foresight as a system are and how they contribute to the creation of futures knowledge. Based on the literature, we propose six elements that are useful for understanding a foresight system and the creation of futures knowledge: agents, cognitive schemes, strategic objects, mediating events, memory objects and metaphors. We illustrate the systems view, the elements and their interaction with two case examples: one on creating future-orientation in a research and technology organisation and one on renewing a forest industry through roadmapping. Based on the elements and the case studies, we argue that the strategic objects and mediating events are important leverage points when steering foresight as a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that, in the current interlinked innovation meta-system, research and technology organisations (RTOs) would benefit from developing two systemic capacities: partial structural openness enabling flexibility in organisation and an anticipatory culture that builds on an anticipatory agency, that is, a proactive participatory approach that leads to action. In this article, we explore the questions of systemic transformations and the building of an anticipatory culture in the context of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. First, we discuss the strategic development paths, anticipatory culture and systemic transformation capacities in the context of RTOs. Second, we show how process-based roadmapping can be applied in building the systemic transformation capacities and anticipatory culture. Third, we illustrate these notions by analysing four roadmapping projects as case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The systemic characteristics of science, technology and innovation policies have been much discussed recently. This paper presents innovation policy roadmapping (IPRM) as a methodological framework for linking R&D results to systemic policy contexts and to forward-looking policy design. The paper explores the methodological background of the IPRM method and outlines its policy rationale. It also illustrates IPRM with two case studies from Australia and Finland. The case studies reflect on how the policy perspectives can be constructed in a dynamic context of societal drivers, solution and market development, and enabling technologies. The paper concludes by assessing the policy implications of the IPRM approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Along with increasing significance of innovation in socio-economic development grows the need to utilize future-oriented knowledge in innovation policy-making. Foresight and road-map exercises are aimed at supporting planning and priority-setting of R&D and have become indispensable elements of policy-making. Besides technological development decision-makers need all-inclusive knowledge of future developments of society, economy and impacts of science and technology. When the worldwide competition is about the attractiveness of innovation systems, such knowledge is important for comparing the innovation performance of nations to other economies. Finland is among the countries improving her position in worldwide performance comparisons since the late 1990s and reached leading nations in early 2000s. This attainment raised national interest and critical debate of the reliability of the data basis and methodologies used in comparisons. In The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK) this discussion led to a decision to develop an own comparative exercise together with VTT. In addition to performance analysis based on ex-post indicators the barometer includes the questionnaire of the views and visions of the future development by relevant national actors. The theoretical framework of the barometer is based on the evolution of economies from industrial development phase to sustainable knowledge society. The barometer has been undertaken in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and a wide interest and emerged discussion of barometer proves that a social interest and order exists for the barometer. The article presents the background, methodology and results of technology barometer, discusses its impacts on national discussion, and gives perspectives for the future development of barometer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]