Corporate Foresight

Corporate foresight comprises the employment of foresight methods for strategic development of firms with the aim to increase organisational responsiveness and to create a consolidated future outlook. Looking systematically in the future has a long tradition and was established by the US defence sector during the 1950s and adopted by large companies such as Shell for the energy sector in the 1970s. In late 1980s foresight has gained importance for the definition and promotion of technological priorities by governments and for the long-term planning of technological development by industry associations. Think tanks and futurists have played a vital role for establishing foresight for diverse public and private institutions. Typical foresight methods used by companies are scenario planning, weak signal scanning, delphi, visioning, roadmapping and trend analysis. The definition of factors which shape the future development of technology, market and society is a fundamental task of corporate foresight and thereby contribute to strategic, innovation and technology management of corporations. Identifying emerging and future opportunities and risks is a key challenge of innovation management for which foresight can deliver important information and long term perspectives. Finally, foresight activities are used to develop and achieve a coherent organisational vision of the future.