The inaugural School of International Futures started yesterday at Wilton Park, Britain’s foremost global policy centre, on the theme of Strategic Foresight.
Interest in foresight among the international policy community has grown in this period of financial and geopolitical turbulence. Foresight provides a way of apprehending and addressing uncertainties associated with demographic, environmental, economic and resource challenges, and the increasing interconnectedness of societies and nations. In such a context, it is clear that we must build resilience in the face of new and often complex risks.
The School has enlisted a top team of futurists, strategists and scenario experts to develop awareness of global trends. The School of international futures aims to engage participants in a deep exploration of global scenarios, and to provide participants with the tools and techniques to think through the future of their organisation and policy area.
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Lord Peter Hennessy, David Gordon, Michael Oppenheimer, and Peter Apps will be speaking supported by a faculty of futures and horizon scanning experts. Other participants come from governments and civil society across the world, along with some private sector foresight experts policy planners, business leaders, analysts and activists.
As researcher-in-residence I’ll be providing commentary on some of the issues and ideas discussed.