Final Conference of FORESEC project took place in Brussels (11.12.2009)

CMI organized the Conference “How can Europe cope with global change?” in Brussels on 9 November 2009 to discuss and disseminate the findings of the  FORESEC project. The Conference was attended by representatives from the EU institutions, research organizations, EU and US governments, OECD and NATO.

The conference addressed the challenges and strategies for the EU as a global security actor and discussed the use of participatory foresight methods to support decision-making, and creating a shared understanding on how best to prepare for the contingencies and uncertainties resulting from the inter-play of future developments in science, technology, economy and society.

Key issues highlighted in discussions were the need for joint forward looking assessments to enable joint policies and actions, necessity of multi-disciplinary approaches, learning from good practices in embedding foresight in decision-making and new means and ways to develop more open foresight culture.

The final report of the FORESEC project is available for download at www.foresec.eu, or through this link.

FORESEC - Europe’s evolving security: drivers, trends and scenarios (www.foresec.eu) is the first pan-European security foresight project conducted by a consortium of six research organizations. It started about 2 years ago with objective of tying together multiple threads of existing work on the future of European Security. Through a participatory foresight approach, the project facilitated the emergence of a shared vision and coherent and holistic approach to current and future threats and challenges for European Security. In doing so, a further aim of the project was to assess whether a shared European concept of Security could be identified. The project provides policy support and advice for researchers and decision-makers with a view to offer recommendations on European foresight and research priorities. FORESEC is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and coordinated closely with the European Security and Research Innovation Forum (ESRIF) throughout its activities.