Background

Anticipation improves preparedness to foresee and influence future developments and new phenomena.

 

Decisions by the ministries and the Government are based on analyses of the current state of affairs and anticipation of potential trends.

 

Information about the future is never absolutely certain. Nevertheless, well-grounded foresight information helps decision-makers outline the essence of the existing problem and anticipate possible consequences. Through timely decisions it may be possible to change the course of the expected development and obtain positive results.

 

National and international organisations, companies, research institutes and public sector units, to mention a few, engage in efforts to provide visions of the future. Universities are developing the methods of futures studies. Ministries carry out foresight activities in cooperation with various stakeholders depending on the issue at hand. In their activities, they also draw on national and international research results.

 

Each ministry prepares development projections and related strategies under its own administrative branch. In addition, the Prime Minister’s Office prepares a report on the long-term future once during each parliamentary term. The Government submitted a foresight report on climate and energy policy to Parliament in October 2009.

Government foresight report on climate and energy policy

 

The Government Foresight Network functioned also during Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s first government.

Final report on the website of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (in Finnish)