International Seminar on Governmental Foresight

The aim of this seminar, organised by CETC and CIDOB, is to reflect upon the conditions, requirements, and challenges of incorporating strategic foresight into political decision-making and the orientation and definition of public policies. Attending the seminar will be policy makers and technical experts from various European countries, who will offer guidance regarding the structural, procedural, and cultural needs for establishing and consolidating strategic foresight in the public sector.

2024
10
May
09:00h
Location:

CIDOB, sala Jordi Maragall room, Elisabets, 12, 08001 Barcelona

Organized by:

Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and the Centre for Contemporary Studies (CETC) with the support of the Government of Catalonia and the collaboration of the European Commission Representation in Barcelona

In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, tasked vice-president Maroš Šefčovič with incorporating strategic foresight into the European Union’s public policymaking process. A year later, the first strategic foresight report was published and, by 2023, strategic foresight had been included in the Better Regulation Toolbox, the kit of principles, concepts and instruments that aim to improve policies and regulation in the European Union. 

Meanwhile, some governments, both national and regional, have also started to acquire strategic foresight capabilities, while others have begun to reorder already existing processes and initiatives. The Government of Catalonia, through its Analysis and Foresight Division, Analysis and Economic Foresight Division, and other bodies, has also adopted this long-term perspective. The Centre for Contemporary Studies (CETC), under the auspices of the Ministry for Foreign Action and European Union of the Government of Catalonia, now includes among its mandated functions that of promoting strategic foresight as a tool for guiding and defining the decisions and policies of the Generalitat in matters of foreign affairs. 

CETC and CIDOB are organising a First International Seminar on Governmental Foresight. The aim of this first seminar is to reflect upon the conditions, requirements, and challenges of incorporating strategic foresight into political decision-making and the orientation and definition of public policies. 

Attending the seminar will be policy makers and technical experts from various European countries, who will offer guidance regarding the structural, procedural, and cultural needs for establishing and consolidating strategic foresight in the public sector. The seminar programme is divided into three panels. The first will discuss the reasons why governmental strategic foresight is needed and what for. The second will consider the requirements, conditioning factors, and challenges of including foresight in the orientation and definition of public policies. Finally, the third panel will highlight strategic foresight practices in Europe. 

The panels will be unified by means of an opening session with a thirty-minute keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion where speakers will make an initial presentation (fifteen minutes) before opening the discussion to the rest of the participants (forty-five minutes). The working language will be English.

>> The seminar will be streamed live at the Ministry for Foreign Action and European Union YouTube channel.

Participants