ISSEK and NISTEP: moving towards each other
ISSEK executives Leonid Gokhberg and Alexander Sokolov took part in the 5th International Conference on foresight: Foresight Activities for Solving Societal Issues, which took place in mid-February in Tokyo. Memorandum on cooperation was signed with the conference’s host, the Japanese National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) — a prominent global Foresight centre.
The National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) has been conducting long-term S&T foresight studies in Japan for more than 40 years, being a pioneer of such national-level research and a recognised global foresight “trend setter”. Since 1971 the institute implements major foresight projects every five years, based mostly on Delphi methodology. Their results are published in a series of NISTEP’s national reports. E.g. when in 2010 the 9th Japanese foresight study was completed, the conclusions were published in three reports describing 1) the results of the Delphi survey; 2) S&T development scenarios; and 3) recommendations on sustainable development for various regions, based on S&T innovations. Currently the 10th anniversary foresight study is nearing the final stage; the results will be published in 2015.
The NISTEP is affiliated with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); the results of the institute’s foresight studies are directly integrated into the decision-making system.
The conference’s agenda was centred around three main long-term vectors of foresight studies, namely 1) government authorities, 2) innovation companies, and 3) international think tanks. Interaction with each of these “consumers”/customers of foresight studies defined the topics of the conference's three sections. The final (fourth) one was devoted to specific case studies.
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| Leonid Gokhberg spoke about setting up the national S&T foresight system |
The opening presentation at the first (“governmental”) session was made by Leonid Gokhberg, first vice rector of NRU HSE and director of ISSEK. He spoke about setting up the Russian national S&T foresight system established in 2013 by the RF presidential decree № 596 “On long-term national economic policy” of 7 May, 2012. The system’s establishment was on the one hand due to rapid growth of foresight studies in Russia, and on the other, to increasingly important emerging challenges meeting which requires consolidated efforts by all participants of the national innovation system. Professor Gokhberg noted that Russian S&T Foresight 2030 served as the common platform for discussing future-oriented aspects by all innovation actors, and for developing strategies, targeted programmes, and planning documents. Russian S&T Foresight 2030 was commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to NRU HSE experts, and approved by the RF Government in January. Leonid Gokhberg provided a detailed description of the document, told about specific aspects of its development, and presented its main results and validation procedures, including discussions by international expert community.
Alexander Sokolov spoke about links between national foresight studies and sectoral and corporate projects, usually resulting in development of roadmaps. His presentation “Foresight studies for business and industry” opened the second session of the NISTEP conference. The director of the HSE’s Foresight Centre, drawing from its rich experience of implementing company-commissioned foresight projects, has demonstrated, using various industries such as shipbuilding and aerospace as examples, how roadmaps help to optimise marketing of new products and technologies, and simplify making strategic decisions taking into account different scenarios for industries’ long-term development, and the current and projected national and global market situation.
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| ISSEK director Leonid Gokhberg and NISTEP general director Yuji Sakakibara |
Judging by the number of questions, the ISSEK representatives’ presentations made quite an impression; many members of the audience admitted in the lobby that they never imagined Russia was conducting such large-scale and high-quality foresight projects. Mainly the audience asked for comments on particular aspects of working with experts, and on practical issues of setting up the national S&T foresight system. Discussing the latter topic in the context of the Japanese experience was particularly productive, since a similar national foresight system is already quite highly developed in the Land of the Rising Sun — primarily thanks to the NISTEP’s efforts.
During this business trip a memorandum on cooperation in S&T policy research was signed between the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy and the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge. The agreement provides for regular contacts, and establishes a framework for implementing joint projects. Both institutes have similar specialisation, not just regarding foresight studies but other projects in the field of statistics and S&T indicators. Heads of the ISSEK and the NISTEP have already outlined the scope for launching several comparative studies in the nearest future. The Japanese colleagues were particularly interested in joint research initiatives in the energy field. The NISTEP experts enthusiastically accepted an invitation to participate in the ISSEK’s English-language Master's Programme “Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation”, and indicated their willingness to regularly come to Moscow to deliver lectures.
Material composed by Elena Gutaruk
See related publications:
Denisov Yu. (2007) Japan Looks Through Delphi. Foresight-Russia, vol. 1, no 1. pp. 62—67. (in Russian)