From Russia with Foresight — ISSEK expert on Hawaiian TV

Can we do without genetically modified organisms in the future? Will smart drugs and 3D bioprinting provide immortality for humans? How are Russian and American (USA) Foresight models different? These are only few topics of those discussed at the TV feature show called “From Russia with Foresight” — a programme that the Hawaii non-profit organisation “ThinkTech Hawaii” shot specifically to acquaint the audience with the Russian Foresight, presented by Head of the HSE ISSEK department of S&T Foresight Alexander Chulok.

Hosts: Jay Fidell, President of ThinkTech Hawaii, and John Sweeney, researcher at ThinkTech Hawaii

Guest: Alexander Chulok, Head of the HSE ISSEK department of S&T Foresight

John Sweeney and Alexander Chulok speak about Russia’s being on the cutting edge of finding ways to leverage the strengths of different sectors of economy. They are looking at the private sector, the government, how one can bring in universities, and discover what seems to be a national push towards the conversation about developing policies in Russia. How does one incubate science and technology and leverage them to solve specifically what is clearly seen as global challenges?

Another topic covered is bringing all of the stakeholders together to discuss some of the issues based on using nanotech, biotech and GMO. How do Russian Foresight communities navigate these changes and move from having a forecast to having the real social change?

The final part of the conversation concerns the way Foresighters connect with the government in Asian, European countries and in the US, and why these ways vary so much. Having spoken about the differences, the speakers remind of a universal truth, in the end, Foresight is not about predicting the future, it’s about doing it, and doing it together.

About ThinkTech Hawaii: a Hawaii non-profit corporation, was founded in 2000 in order to raise public awareness about the importance of tech, energy, diversification and globalism  to the diversification of Hawaii's economy and future. ThinkTech Hawaii pays much attention to educational media projects.

Alfia Maksutova