Foresight in relation Sample Clauses

Foresight in relation to policy making‌ Foresight is usually applied in policy making, to support the decision makers in different ways. Foresight programs in EU, covering different fields, are often organized to analyse public policy issues, and give recommendations (see chapter …). However, as already reported earlier, the application of normative foresight has its own issues and characteristics, which are dictating the structure and goal of the foresight process and tools selection. One way to address this issue is to identify the functions of Foresight for policy making, and try to understand how foresight can meet the decision-makers expectations in one or more functions. The FORLEARN project (xxxx://xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.xxxxxx.xx/guide/1_why-foresight/objectives.htm) produced a set of documents and knowledge about foresight methodologies and tools, in particular regarding the relationship with policy making. Da Xxxxx et al. (2008) published a paper on this topic. The identified functions are: - Informing policy: it means to provide decision makers with knowledge about changes, trends, risks and opportunities, costs and benefits, in a specific policy topic. This is considered one of the main function of foresight, which results in reports including priority lists, scenarios, critical technologies, recommendations for action plans; - Facilitating policy implementation: this function is related to the change of the attitude of engaged actors toward the change of policy linked to the foresight process. The engagement of stakeholders in the policy making process can provide an agreed vision toward required policy changes, involving also actors usually outside the decision process. This network and increased understanding of the future promote the smoothness of new policy implementation; - Embedding participation in policy making: this function is linked to the previous one, and it concerns the involvement of civil society in the decision making process, increasing the transparency and credibility of the policy actions; - Supporting policy definition: this function is related to the conversion of information to policy actions, which is often not so simple because of the barrier in communication between the foresight experts and the political world. An added function can be performed by involving relevant policy makers early on in the process and options discussion, and by including some specific tools; - Reconfiguring the policy system: Foresight exercise may highlight the inadequac...