Harnessing Foresight for Future-Oriented Policymaking is an ongoing joint project by the European Commission Reform and Investment Task Force (SG REFORM) and the EU Policy Lab of the Joint Research Centre. 

In a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), decision-makers must enhance their ability to anticipate and navigate change. This calls for a more proactive, systemic, and creative approach - anchored in a deep sense of responsibility for long-term outcomes and impact. 

 "There's common sense to the legislation that we need to do the right thing for our children and our grandchildren. We can no longer be taking sticking plaster approaches and short-term solutions. We also need to be focusing on the big issues of our time.” - Derek Walker, Wales Future Generations Commissioner 

The project supports foresight capacity building in EU Member States and integrating future-oriented thinking into decision-making. It underpins the implementation of the ComPAct - Enhancing the European Administrative Space and its ʺPublic Administration Skills Agendaʺ pillar. Through this pillar the Commission aims to support EU Member States in their efforts to build resilient, attractive, transparent, and high performing public administrations by equipping them with a wide range of tools to upskill and reskill their workforce. 

" For me, what is always important when it comes to really making steps forward is just being practical. Focus, start with one or two things. There are so many examples and good practices in other countries. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, build on what you already have and what has proved to be working and then slowly build up the movement." - Yoka Brandt, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Former Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations