Technology foresight

Is a participative activity that makes use of (expert) panels to anticipate technological developments. Some practitioners have divided the field into two categories: - exploratory studies which seek to identify the changes to come and their impacts, usually in conjunction with policy studies designed to find important corporate or national targets. -normative exercises aimed at defining the S & T policy of a country or an organization to achieve a more desirable future. The first national foresight study was performed by Japan in 1970 and brought together experts from industry, government and academia. The Delphi process was used to collect opinions, but it differed from earlier studies in that the sample size was very large. Further, the study was conducted in Japanese. Since that time many countries have performed similar studies using national experts to provide judgments about seminal future seminal developments in many fields. This information has been useful in establishing national goals and allocating resources the promising technological avenues. Some of the fields covered in these studies are listed below: Agriculture, Natural Resources, & Environment Chemicals Communications Construction Defense & Aerospace Energy Financial Services Food & Drink Health & Life Sciences IT, Electronics Leisure & Learning Manufacturing, Production & Business Processes Materials Retail & Distribution Transport In recent years national foresight studies have become quite elaborate; for example, in a recent study, following widespread consultation involving some 10,000 people the panels identified 360+ recommendations for action and identified the likely social, economic and market trends over the next 10–20 years and the developments in science, engineering, technology and infrastructure required to best address future needs.