SESTI
Scanning for Emerging Science & Technology Issues (SESTI)
Today’s societal developments are often influenced by improbable events with possibly high impact. This increasing complexity and uncertainty is reflected in the growing demand for tools and approaches for anticipatory or strategic intelligence, such as scenario analysis, Delphi surveys and modeling and simulation tools. Several countries, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands, have initiated horizon scanning projects to identify disruptive events that are not on the RADAR of policy yet.
SESTI is about identifying “Emerging Issues” that…
- …could have a potentially significant impact on society until 2030
- …are still not sufficiently recognized by policy makers
- …should (perhaps) get more attention by policy makers
SESTI is also a research project for exploring different methods like:
- Weak Signal Scanning (forums, news, blogs, text-mining)
- Expert survey for identifying emerging issues
- Theory, methodology and evaluation
- Workshops with policy makers and experts
- Methodology for identifying Weak Signals & Emerging Issues
- Relationship between Weak Signals & Emerging Issues
- Assessment and reliability check
- Translation for policy makers
Who can benefit from SESTI?
- Policy-makers
- Strategists
- Business analysts
- Consultants
- Researchers
- NGOs
- General public
Often important events are preceded by a number of weak signals, that individually have been observed and noticed by different people, but not been put together to a larger picture. This means that often only from hindsight pieces of the puzzle are put together.
SESTI aims to develop a mechanism for the early identification of newly emerging issues of importance to the European research infrastructure. By collecting weak signals and developing anticipatory intelligence, SESTI will provide the means for proactively addressing these challenges at European and national level.
