The aim of the course is to introduce students to the theoretical foundation and methods of strategic foresight. The course is targeting doctoral students within engineering and design who intent to apply elements of strategic foresight or prospective analyses in their research. The focus is set on strategic foresight within specific scientific disciplines, technological domains and industrial sectors. Regional foresight and wider national foresight exercises are not dealt with specifically.
Læringsmål:
En studerende, der fuldt ud har opfyldt kursets mål, vil kunne:
identify and describe quantitative and qualitative methods of strategic foresight and their foundation
understand the societal context in which strategic foresight is practised
understand foresight’s role in public science, technology and innovation policy
understand foresight's role in corporate strategy and innovation mangement
interpret and analyse the relation between context, conditions and outcomes of foresight
compare, select and apply concepts or methods of strategic foresight, e.g. megatrend analyses, simple scenario processes, and simple Delphi surveys
assess and discuss the implementation of strategic foresight results in engineering
Kursusindhold:
The course contains partly discussion of literature and of theoretical perspectives and partly practical and instrumental introduction to strategic foresight methods. The course comprises five days of lectures combined with plenum and group discussions. The course is organized around concrete cases covering three main headlines: • Introduction to foresight. • Foresight in public science, technology and innovation policy and in corporate strategy. • Methods in foresight, especially of scenarios, Delphi studies and road-mapping.
For each subject the lecturer will give a short introduction, mostly based on the lecturers’ own research and consulting activities in the area. Based on the introduction the students will guided through a critical discussion of the issue and conclude on its relevance to their PhD project.
Bemærkninger:
Prior to the course the participants will be asked to distribute a short presentation of their PhD project reflecting the actual stage of the project but with emphasis on the core object or problem studied and the approach taken. The course concludes with discussion of related objects and research questions relevant to each participant’s own research and discussion of how to choose relevant methodologies to cover the research questions.
