Introduction to a Special Section: Impacts and Implications of Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) for Policy and Decision-making

Recent global crises and rising challenges ranging from climate change to global security threats show a rising need to incorporate more forward-looking approaches in decision-making processes of public and private organisations and stakeholders around the world. However there is no clear evidence yet that this dynamic context has led to a significant increase in the use of such approaches. It is the believe of the authors of this special issue that forward-looking approaches need further tailoring in order to suit better the needs of decision-makers and their changing environment, and that there is an urgent need to inform decision-makers of the potential value of future-oriented analysis (FTA) approaches. This paper introduces a special issue aiming to refine FTA methodologies in view of increasing their impact in policy-making. With this purpose in mind, this introductory article sets up a general framework for methodology refinement, by suggesting a specific definition for FTA, by identifying its different possible roles for policy and decision-making, by formulating a set of general recommendations for improving the policy impact of FTA, and by highlighting how the different articles in this special issue propose to redefine FTA in different specific policy-making contexts.

HAEGEMAN Karel;  HARPER Jennifer Casingena;  JOHNSTON Ron; 

2010-07-26

BEECH TREE PUBLISHING

JRC56851

0302-3427,   

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC56851,   

10.3152/030234210X484766,