From Leaf to Root - Deepening Conversations with Causal Layered Analysis

A new series of 'Foresight Starter Sets' is an an essential part of Finland Futures Research Centre's (FFRC) contribution to the Eye of Europe project. One starter set component is a set of short videos. The videos introduce and clarify futures thinking and foresight, what to expect from a foresight workshop, and a variety of foresight workshop methods. The videos could serve as promotional material but also help organizers calibrate participants expectations prior to their participation in a foresight workshop.

Finland Futures Research Centre is developing the video series to help participants prepare to participate in foresight workshops. The videos immediate use is related to the Eye of Europe Pilot Foresight Activities which will run through 2025 and 2026, but the videos will be freely available as a useful resource for foresight organizers outside the scope, and beyond the lifetime, of the project. 

Reaching target audiences with foresight beyond text

As the Work Package lead of Eye of Europe, the FFRC targets two unofficial ambitions underpinning all project activities: First, lowering the bar for organizing and participating in foresight workshops. Second, moving foresight beyond text. That is, finding new audiences via new formats compared to the classic domain of long text-based foresight reports. The set of Foresight Starter Videos aims to achieve both of these premises, as it uses a format of short videos (3-8 minutes per video) to introduce foresight, futures thinking, and futures methods to new audiences with a playful and welcoming tone. 

The video set has two introductory videos that can be used in advance of any foresight workshop, while the ambition for the following videos relate to specific methods and approaches. The presumed use case is that foresight organizers can provide links to the introductory videos for foresight workshop participants in advance of their participation. We have found at the FFRC that sometimes people, even if they are domain experts in other fields, can be apprehensive prior to foresight workshops, as this may be unfamiliar territory for them (and for people used to being experts, unfamiliar can mean uncomfortable). 

Foresight Starter Set Video Roadmap

Launching the first videos

The series of videos are developed by Martyn Richards and Zainab Yasin at the Finland Futures Research Centre. The videos will be hosted on the Finland Futures Research Centre’s YouTube Channel as well as feature on the Futures4Europe platform’s upcoming Toolbox, a set of useful methodologies and resources for advancing R&I foresight.