Finlands government s work & report on the future Ulla Rosenström Chief Senior Specialist
Finnish government looks into the future 1. Description of the Finnish policy-making environment for the ministries future reviews 2. The ministries future reviews 3. Finnish Government Future Report 4. New: National Foresight Approach
Finnish government work on future National Foresight Approach Influence GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME Influence ELECTIONS Leads to GOVERNMENT Submits to Parliament The ministries future reviews Description of the Finnish policy-making environment for the ministries future reviews Finnish Government Future Report Kirsi Kanslialainen, Unit
Description of the Finnish policy-making environment for the ministries future reviews Joint effort of all ministries, coordinated by the Prime Minister s Office Crowd sourcing in April 2014 Published June 2014 as HTML5 with active promotion and communication Kirsi Kanslialainen, Unit
Contents of the 2014 descpription of the Finnish policy making environment 1. Global situation, where is the world going 2. Economy 3. Environment and natural resources 4. Education, learning and innovations 5. People and well-being 6. Enabling state Kirsi Kanslialainen, Unit
Ministries future reviews Produced regurly before elections since 2003 Each ministry makes them independently PMO coordinates: common structure, visual style and promotion Publication in September 2014 Further analysis of the common themes for 2015 Kirsi Kanslialainen, Unit
Finnish Government Future Reports Once during each electoral period, the Government submits to Parliament a report on Finland s future challenges and prospects. Parliament Committee for the Future responds to the Government Future Reports. Finland has had this tradition for past 20 years. Previous Government Report on Future was completed in 2009: Government Foresight Report on Long-term Climate and Energy Policy: Towards a Low-carbon Finland The preparation of Government Report on the Future: well-being through sustainable growth started in 2011, the dialogue is going on right now. 7
Future report process Foresight phase Strategy phase Research and evalutions Foresight themes from experts Regional hearings 2030-website Analysis: Questionnaires Workshops Online discussions Other national strategies and programmes Foresight themes Foresight Future report Implementation 2012 2013 Experimentation
Interactive web-report in Finnish, Swedish, and English tulevaisuus.2030.fi Since its publication by June 2013, around 6,500 people have looked at the report, some 1,000 of whom have visited the report website over five times. 9
Different products from the process The foresight report www.2030.fi The future report International research group (Prof Himanen et co) The future we want through working towards it together The ministries future reviews Civil society, NGOs, regions Companies, global networks Next government and its programme National Foresight Approach Kirsi Kanslialainen, Unit
New perspectives to promote well-being through sustainable growth 2030 Present situation Future development as a set of trends Stable social development Success for all enterprises Coping at work, on-the-job learning High level of knowledge Sense of community Stability of government, certainty of the rule of law Guidelines and project work Challenges Breaking points, uncertainty Ability to renew Global growth enterprises of the digital age Stages of life interwoven between learning, working and relearning Education Mosaic of life styles and partnerships Agility, openness to new ideas Experimenting approach in shaping future 11 models
Building blocks and customers of the national foresight approach The Tulevaisuuskartasto.fi future atlas Education SOCIETY ACTORS PARTICIPATING IN THE FORESIGHT APPROACH Foresight reviews POLITICAL DECISION- MAKING Forums Picture of international situation commissioned from experts 12
1. Foresight Group The Government appoints a Foresight Group comprising permanent and non-permanent members. The Government Foresight Group is tasked with coordination and innovation relating to Finnish foresight activities. A General Secretary assigned to the Prime Minister s Office performs preparatory work for and supports the group s decision-making. The results are regularly reported to permanent secretaries.
2. National foresight network National foresight network will be extensive in scope and have a concrete mandate. Network members will form networks of their own according to need. Such networks can be either organisation- or theme-based and include representatives of various parties.
WE WANT EVERYBODY IN! UNIVERSITIES GOVERNMENT FORESIGHT GROUP CHAIRPERSON Permanent and non-permanent members Meeting of the Permanent Secretaries TEKES Theme SECRETARIAT General Secretary + X FORESIGHT NETWORK Ministry of x TEA working group Ministry of y FUTURE WATCH SITRA THE ACADEMY OF FINLAND Theme Businesse s Theme Regions MEDIA MINISTRIES PARLIAMENT OF FINLAND Theme RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS XXX
3. Regular foresight forums Foresight actors will be invited to convene at regular foresight forums in order to share and discuss topical, future-related themes and create new perspectives. Forum results will be widely communicated and foresight actors will form a tight, actively communicating network.
4. Include the global views and research results In addition to national level foresight, an international foresight report will be regularly produced by commissioning Finnish or foreign research. Such research may be based on a predefined theme, or explore new phenomena.
5. Share training National foresight expertise will be supported by training organised and provided on an extensive basis. The foresight secretariat of the Prime Minister s Office will be responsible for organising this training.
6. Foresight reviews for political actors The primary target audience of the understanding and perspectives generated by the new foresight approach will be the political actors regularly provided with foresight reviews. These foresight reviews will not aim to generate an understanding between actors, but to provide an overall picture of future possibilities and risks.
7. Share knowledge > portal? The possibility will be explored of creating an online portal known as Tulevaisuuskartasto.fi ( the future atlas ), for the distribution of foresight data, analysis and discussion. This portal may be built on the basis of an existing portal.
8. Regular evaluation of the approach The effectiveness, topicality, objectivity and quality of the foresight approach must be regularly monitored and assessed.
Take home messages Consider the user needs: what, how, when? Communication No need to re-invent the wheel!
Thank you for your attention!