Seminar on ‘Foresight and S&T and innovation policy: best practices’

From October 13-14 a seminar on ‘Foresight and S&T and innovation policy: best practices’ took place at the HSE. The event was organized by the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge. The first day of the seminar was dedicated to relevant problems of Foresight studies, and the second one to the problems of innovation policy in different countries. Below are some comments from the seminar’s organizers and participants.

Alexander Sokolov, Deputy Director of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, Director of the HSE international Foresight Center:

— I would like to praise the high quality of content in almost all the presentations on Foresight. In particular, Ian Miles, Professor of the University of Manchester and Head of the ISSEK Laboratory for Economics of Innovation, who has a great experience in Foresight, economics of innovation and economics of the service sector, spoke about the measurements of effectiveness and influence of Foresight studies on politics. Raphael Popper, Research Fellow at the Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester, presented a paper on some new Foresight methods and tools and some new spheres of application for Foresight studies. The presentation by Dirk Meissner, Deputy Head at the HSE Research Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, was dedicated to methodological approaches in the evaluation of Foresight projects.

Luke Georgiou, Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of Manchester and Chairman of the International Supervisory Council at the HSE Foresight Center:

— The key task of the seminar was to compare the experience and research potential at the HSE ISSEK with the developments of European and American institutions. During the first day we discussed Foresight and innovation policy projects and tried to identify the most promising areas and develop a strategy for their future intensification. The second day of the seminar involved a discussion about innovative systems in various countries, means for their further advancement and effective national and international practices.

Michael Keenan, OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry:

— I am very impressed with the work of the seminar both in terms of organization and the contents. Our colleagues’ presentations were constantly interesting, and the discussion was lively and full of important questions. Probably it would make sense to cut the number of presentations in order to give the participants an opportunity to give more detailed comments during the debates. In all the other respects the seminar deserves the highest compliments. Speaking about my presentation, it was about an OECD project related to the development of an innovation policy platform which has become an open internet tool for the development of this sphere and a deeper understanding of contemporary problems in the innovation process.

Programme

Presentations:

Dirk Meissner"Methodological Approach for Evaluating Foresight Projects"

Jennifer Cassingena Harper "Implementing Foresight Study Results in Policy Action and Measures: EU Experience"

Alexander Sokolov "Foresight in Russia: Implications for Policy Making"

Ozcan Saritas "National Foresight for a Small Country"

Ricardo Seidl da Fonseca "Concept and Experience on Multi‐country Foresight"

Jonathan Calof "Integration of Intelligence and Foresight for Policy Development"

Pavel Rudnik "New Instruments for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Russia"

Philip Shapira"Evaluation of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies"

Vladimir Mayer "Development of the Science and Innovation Policy in Russia in the Light of the Recent Evolutions in France"

Marc Boden "Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies: IPTS Experience"