Inter-Departmental Commission on Technology Foresight Commenced Work
On 7 June, 2013 the RF Ministry of Education and Science hosted the first meeting of the Inter-Departmental Commission on Technology Foresight. The participants discussed initial steps to launch nation-wide systematic activity in this area. The Commission members included Leonid Gokhberg, first vice-rector of the HSE and director of the ISSEK, and Alexander Sokolov, director of the ISSEK’s Foresight Centre.
The Inter-Departmental Commission on Technology Foresight of the RF Presidential Council for Economic Modernisation and Innovative Development’s Presidium was established to support the technology Foresight system, which must be developed according to the RF Presidential Decree of 7 May, 2012 #596 “On Long-Term National Economic Policy”.
The meeting was attended by representatives of six government ministries (Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, and Ministry of Energy), representatives of various federal government agencies, public corporations and development institutes including the Federal Space Agency (Ruscosmos), Rusatom, Rustechnologies, Rusnano and RVC, and experts from leading research centres and universities.
The participants discussed issues related to adopting a uniform approach to setting S&T development priorities, to serve as a basis for the technology Foresight system being created. The agenda also included establishing cooperation of various stakeholders (public authorities, development institutes, science, universities and companies); agreeing organisational procedures and methodology; and other aspects of S&T Foresight.
The Commission is expected to deal with a wide range of issues including approval of a uniform Foresight methodology; harmonising results of monitoring global challenges and windows of opportunity for Russian companies; more precise identification of priority S&T development areas; identification of critical technologies; dissemination of Foresight projects' results; development of communication platforms for experts, etc.
At the end of the meeting the participants approved a work plan for the Commission for 2013, and set priority areas for the period until 2018. They also agreed to have regular meetings to discuss and validate the results produced by the technology Foresight system.
Material composed by Sergey Zhikharev