The role of foresight in shaping the next production revolution

Foresight can be a highly useful tool to address the opportunities and challenges triggered by the next production revolution. As shown by the various country cases considered in this chapter, foresight facilitates debate and systemic thinking about multiple futures and helps to shape the future through processes of participation and engagement. Given its participatory nature, key actors are mobilised to form shared views about the future, negotiate their future stakes and interests, and agree on actions aligned with their shared vision. The next production revolution requires quick and proactive policy making, as well as better orchestration across different policy domains. Foresight can assist policy makers by providing foundations for robust policies, reframing policy issues, and translating long-term concerns into aligned policy priorities. Furthermore, policy implementation is likely to be faster and more effective when key stakeholders are involved early on in shaping the policies. Foresight benefits, however, are far from being automatic: the chapter considers eight factors critical to achieving the benefits. Ultimately, beyond just foresight recommendations, policy makers must be prepared to act.