Image: Paul Skorupskas

By Dr Wendy Schultz, Futurist & Co-Founder of Jigsaw Foresight.

Foresight comprises a wide variety of theories, frameworks, methods and processes drawn from over 50 years of conceptual development and applied practice, which are extensively documented in the peer-reviewed literature.

Foresight is not about predicting the future, nor is it freeform speculative imagination. It is a structured approach to make sense of future challenges and to inform decision-making and priority-setting, taking a long-term view to make short- and medium-term decisions. Foresight also prompts us to critically assess our current assumptions and what we take for granted in a context of evolving change.

Most simply, foresight focuses our attention on change and its impacts over time. Foresight can be thought of as a set of reflective questions that engage us in thinking critically and systemically about change and its implications – both emerging risks and emerging opportunities. It helps reduce blind spots regarding potential changes and impacts. It widens our sense of the positive potential of the future. At its most effective, it is a systematic survey of developments relevant to our roles and functions that are likely to result in the greatest health, social, and economic benefits in the future.

Social change, technological and scientific advancement and innovation of any kind are characterised by complex, dynamic interactions, serendipity and inherent unpredictability. Limits to knowledge require continuous re-evaluation of options and strategic choices. Foresight enables us to respond more rapidly and rigorously to upcoming changes that overturn our assumptions and current ways of working.

Foresight helps us to understand how much more we can ask of the future in setting our goals and imagining better futures.