About the Competence Centre on Foresight

Strategic Foresight

About us

The Competence Centre on Foresight (CCFOR) was launched in June 2018 to support the integration of strategic foresight in EU policymaking.

European Commission President von der Leyen is further strengthening a culture of anticipation and evidence-informed policymaking in her drive to make the Commission’s work more future-oriented, while delivering for the present and preparing a stronger Union for the future, navigating a world full of uncertainties. The use of evidence in policymaking and foresight are two dimensions of EU policymaking for which the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and its Competence Centre on Foresight are key players in the European Commission.

Foresight is integrated into EU policymaking, for example, as part of the Better Regulation Toolbox, where it can be used to strengthen policy proposals and enhance collaboration. It is also a key skill in the Commission’s Competence framework for innovative policymaking.

The CCFOR works by facilitating collaboration across Commission services, and by showing the advantages of a more forward-looking policy cycle where future challenges are better explored together with the stakeholders. We apply our know-how in foresight specifically for the benefit of EU policymaking, but many of the tools and approaches we have developed have shown their usefulness in wider contexts. A special effort has also been made to make foresight practical and its results accessible. We focus our foresight work on three thematic areas which reflect EU policy priorities: Future Risks, Technology Foresight, and Sustainability Transitions.

The CCFOR is part of the EU Policy Lab, a collaborative and experimental space for innovative policymaking.

Goals

The overarching goals of the CCFOR are:

Generating anticipatory knowledge through continuous information-gathering and analysis, contributing to the JRC's anticipatory culture through carrying out, in a structured and continuous manner, identification and monitoring of emerging issues, weak signals of change and events that might have significant future implications for the EU, but are not yet on the policy radar or addressed adequately (early warning).
Shaping and running in-depth foresight processes & on-demand short future-oriented policy support formats for policy DGs. These studies are tailored to the needs of policy DGs and usually carried out in close collaboration with other JRC units, and, if appropriate, external organisations. Foresight processes use different approaches, such as development of foresight scenarios, vision building, and Delphi surveys. The future-oriented policy support formats can be also short engagements based on the tools developed by the CCFOR (e.g. horizon scanning exercises, megatrends analysis sessions, reference foresight scenarios, adapted scenario exploration system).
Contributing to the European Commission’s Strategic Foresight activities such as contributing to the Commission’s Strategic Foresight report, providing input to the strategic foresight networks organized by the Secretariat General (the EU-wide Foresight Network, the Commission’s Strategic Foresight Network), and participating in the activities of the inter-institutional ESPAS network.
Establishing and animating communities of practice on foresight to foster the advancement and use of foresight for EU policy making, share knowledge on and experience with foresight approaches and reflect and build on best practices for foresight for policy making.
Increasing futures literacy, which is one of the cross-cutting competencies for innovative policymaking. The CCFOR offers foresight trainings, engagement tools and practices to develop skills and competences that foster futures literacy. We also conduct a variety of participative foresight projects to engage policymakers and citizens in futures thinking.

Our Foresight Menu showcases the various goals and approaches of foresight in policy contexts, featuring tools and processes CCFOR uses in its foresight projects. The extended version of the Foresight Menu includes also case examples on different foresight project.

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Originally Published \| Last Updated	20 Sep 2018 \| 29 Jan 2026
Related organisation(s)	JRC - Joint Research Centre
Knowledge service \| Metadata	Strategic Foresight
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)	European Commission foresight policymaking