International foresight exercises are characterised by geographical dispersion, organisational and cultural differences, and the diversity arising from a large number of participants with different expectations and needs. Building on the experience of designing and managing the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) 2020 project, this article develops four principles for the design and management of global foresight exercises.
The first principle, understanding interconnected innovation systems, ensures that participants position the foresight exercise and their own activities in a global context. The second, responsiveness towards diverse languages and cultures, strengthens commitment and encourages learning and creative problem solving. The third, capacity to reconfigure international networks, takes advantage of existing organisational structures and facilitates the timely and efficient mobilisation of stakeholder communities. The fourth, 'glocal' impact orientation, connects foresight activities to both local and international decision-making structures. Because global projects are heterogeneous, all four principles need to be implemented with a scalable design approach.
IMS2020 combined scenarios, vision-building and roadmapping on intelligent and sustainable manufacturing systems. Four scenario snapshots for 2025 informed a shared vision, and research topics were refined through an open wiki and prioritised in an online survey with 359 participants.
Cagnin, C., & Könnölä, T. (2014). Global foresight: Lessons from a scenario and roadmapping exercise on manufacturing systems. Futures, 59, 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.01.007