Which seeds of change are currently emerging and how can they be observed? The OBSERVE project set up an Observatory: Novel emerging needs, practices, collaborations and solutions were screened using a set of quantitative and qualitative methods of prospective analysis. In line with the mission of the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies programme (FET), the project pointed to new directions for interdisciplinary research towards visionary technology of any kind. The overarching aim was to support Europe in grasping leadership early on in new and emerging technology areas. Therefore, developments were observed that promise to renew the basis for European competitiveness and growth while making a difference for society in the decades to come. 

The project was structured into four work packages:

1. Horizon Scanning: OBSERVE implemented a bottom-up horizon scanning process to identify emerging topics.

 The process was based on four pillars:
- Publication analysis
- FET Portfolio analysis
- Web mining
- Manual scouting

2. Multi-stakeholder Dialogue for Sense-making: OBSERVE set up a multi-stakeholder dialogue for interpreting and sense-making, thereby condensing the emerging topics into a list of candidates for “hotspots”.

3. Assessment: OBSERVE subjected the hotspot candidates to a multi-criteria assessment within an online expert dialogue to evaluate their potential for the FET programme. OBSERVE carefully captured the lessons learned in terms of methodology as a basis for establishing a rolling process that could be continued by the FET group beyond the project’s duration.

4. Dissemination: OBSERVE strengthened futures literacy, responsiveness and resilience for diverse actors across Europe through a tailored dissemination program. 

An Advisory Board of outstanding foresight experts – Elena Hiltunen, Tatsuro Yoda, Anne Stenros and Radu Gheorghiu – supported the project by reviewing the methodology and findings at two critical junctures: after the end of the Horizon Scanning phase and upon delivery of the first potential hotspots. OBSERVE delivered project results ranging from a Horizon Scanning report to a one-page radar and a deck of cards capturing the emerging seeds of change.

The Parliament of Finland’s Committee for the Future has developed the Radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) methodology since 2012 to anticipate how technological transformation will reshape society over the next 20 years. The methodological development has been made through a series of commissioned projects, the most recent one ending in May 2026. The method is tailored to foresee how technological development will change the core functions of our society: what we eat, how we move, how we stay connected, how we work, how we acquire information, how we learn, how we make decisions, how we maintain our health, and how we entertain ourselves.

Report and other materials: https://www.eduskunta.fi/en/members-and-parliamentary-bodies/committees/committee-for-the-future/radical-technology-inquirer-rti

Link to RTI-GPT interface for interactive access to the project results: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-69f61028643c819194e7765805384657-radical-technology-inquirer-gpt-eng 

The RTI methodology is built around identifying 100 emerging radical technologies and anticipating their potential societal impacts on a 20-year timeframe. RTI was originally created in 2013 and reported in "100 Opportunities for Finland and the world: radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) for anticipation/evaluation of technological breakthroughs" (TuVJ 11/2014). This was followed by report "Technological change 2013–2016: preliminary investigation of the development of radical technologies after the 2013 review (TuVJ 2/2016)".

Second full report with improved methodology and updated results was published in 2018 under the name "Societal transformation 2018–2037: 100 anticipated radical technologies, 20 regimes, case Finland" (TuVJ 10/2018). The second full report was followed by a number of RTI application reports: ​Development of Genetic Engineering in Different Areas of Application 2018-2020 (TuVJ 3/2020), Towards a better future: technological opportunities and threats to the promotion of sustainable development (TuVJ 1/2021) and, in Finnish only, a report assessing the role of technologies in the Codiv-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic on the development of technology (TuVJ 4/2020).

A peer-review RTI methodology paper "Radical Technology Inquirer: a methodology for holistic, transparent and participatory technology foresight" came out in European Journal of Futures Research 10, 18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-022-00206-6.

In 2024, a pilot project was launched to test generative AI as part of RTI methodology, especially in societal impact assessment. The pilot tested impact assessment only in the case of one radical technology, humanoid robots. The results are reported in Humanoid robots from now to 2040’s – AI assisted societal impact analysis using radical technology inquirer methodology (TuVJ 1/2025).

During the pilot project 2024-2025, generative AI had developed in a way that enabled its use (in deep research mode) also in systematic technology scanning according to RTI principles. The latest project in the RTI project series (carried out in 2025-2026) utilised generative AI in most steps of the RTI method in order to produce an updated assessment of the societal impacts of 100 most radical technologies. The results are reported in Societal transformations 2026 – 2045: 100 anticipated radical technologies, 20 regimes. The first AI-assisted Radical Technology Inquiry (TuVJ 2/2025). The report includes a 90-page summary and over 2000 pages of appendices, where the actual results can be found. The extensive report is readable for a human, but primarily intended to be read through AI queries. Therefore it is also published as zipped data package with a readme.file to help the reader to create ones own GPT interface to the results. This data package is on the project pages, together with a link to one ready-made RTI-GPT enabling the user to test whether it is useful to interactively access and discuss with the RTI results.