Facing an accelerating technological development and a plethora of possibilities the Research Council of Norway have no fewer than 6 foresight processes running in parallel at the moment. The overall goal is making a better research policy for Norway by having realistic expectations whilst not forgetting the “wild ideas”.
Cientifica was present and doing the opening keynote for the opening of the process on ‘Advanced Materials 2020‘ last week. 80 participants from government, business and academia got together and started the process of fleshing out scenarios for materials research as applied to “transport and mobility”, “health, welfare and lifestyle”, and “future products and production methods”.
Other foresight areas at the Research Council include biotechnology, energy, sea farming, ICT, and a related group on Ethics.