The Federal Foresight Community of Interest (FFCOI) is a forum based on the discipline and application of foresight. It provides an opportunity for federal employees, think tanks, and industry to network, learn, analyze, develop, and communicate foresight methods and best practices to decision-makers and strategic planners. The FFCOI is a centralized connection point for agencies to share best practices, foster cross-agency support, and develop new and innovative ways to apply and improve the use of Strategic Foresight within the Federal Government. The FFCOI does not attempt to predict the future but seeks to understand the implications of various scenarios their agencies might reasonably face in a longer time frame.
Mission: FFCoI is an interagency group of foresight and strategy practitioners that provides expertise and information sharing in order to educate and enable better decision-making across the Federal Government.
Vision: FFCoI makes foresight an essential element of leadership to drive change in the US Government.
WEBINARS: Quarterly meetings are being postponed until further notice. However, FFCOI will be featuring monthly webinars on topics relevant to the community. RSVPs are required for each webinar. Thanks for your patience.
News and Events
Join us at 8am (EST) on April 19-20, 2023, as we host our first in person, U.S. Government Foresight Symposium hosted by FFCoI and Air Force Futures. This will be a two-day in person event held in the BRICC in Arlington, VA, and will feature a series of speakers, panels, and workshops. The workshop's two tracks will introduce foresight concepts and methods to newcomers, and seek to improve knowledge, skills, abilities, and coordination of practitioners. Space is limited. RSVP by 4/3/2023!
Be sure to RSVP by 4/3/2023!
TO RSVP click the black box above - the "RSVP" text is a hyperlink.
FFCOI CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY:
POC: Sharaelle Grzesiak
Join us at 8am (EST) on April 19-20, 2023, as we host our first in person, U.S. Government Foresight Symposium hosted by FFCoI and Air Force Futures. This will be a two-day in person event held in the BRICC in Arlington, VA, and will feature a series of speakers, panels, and workshops. The workshop's two tracks will introduce foresight concepts and methods to newcomers, and seek to improve knowledge, skills, abilities, and coordination of practitioners. Space is limited.
WOLRD FUTURES DAY 10th YEAR - MARCH 1st:
POC: Jerome Glenn
The Millennium Project and Association of Professional Futurist are celebrating the 10th year of World Futures Day, where futurists and the general public will conduct a 24-hour, round-the-world conversation on the future at 12 noon in whatever time zone they are in. Each year, futurists discuss ideas about possible worlds of tomorrow in a relaxed, open, no-agenda conversation. Futures research and studies are shared, new ideas are generated, and collaborations and friendships are made. Be sure to register and kick off the year with some insightful knowledge.
POC: NIOSH Office of Research Integration
Please join NIOSH on April 7th at 11am ET, as they host Cole Oman from the Office for the Future at Deloitte who will explain why understanding and practicing strategic foresight is necessary for navigating uncertainty, managing across time horizons, and building agility and resiliency within organizations to ensure long-term success.
THINKING ABOUT BUILDING YOUR STRATEGIC FORESIGHT CAPABILITY AND SKILLS IN 2023?
POC: Mudabbir Maajid
Take advantage of the early bird offers on SOIF's courses and join a global community of practice. The SOIF retreat (24-28 July, UK) is a five-day, face-to-face intensive course for emerging and senior leaders in strategy, policy, and analysis roles. The upcoming May virtual training course is an eight-week online course designed for those that lead a team to deliver long-term strategy, innovation, or risk management programs. Save $600 dollars with the early bird discount on both courses.
POC: Cindy Baskin
Have you ever wanted to tell someone about a forecast, but couldn't get them to pay attention? Try an "Artifact from the Future"—a creative representation of how everyday life might be different in the future. Learn about this effective and persuasive technique in bringing the future alive in the present, and compelling people to action. Enroll in this NEW "Fast Futures" online class with award-winning design futurists from Institute for the Future. 90 minutes, $99, and limited to 30 participants.
INTERVIEW: FEDNEWS WITH ERIC POPIEL:
POC: Tom Temin
Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with OPM’s strategic foresight program analyst, Eric Popiel and the Commerce Department’s deputy chief financial officer, Steve Kunze to discuss their award-winning program. The effort, led by the Office of Personnel Management, leveraged foresight tools to determine futures skills needed for the financial profession.
Developing AND APPLYING STRATEGIC FORESIGHT FOR BETTER HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (OPM):
POC: Eric Popiel
OPM has recently, released its guidebook designed to provide Federal agencies with a systematic approach to applying foresight to their unique challenges and missions. Agencies may apply the process and methods presented in this guide to a diverse set of internal and external challenges. The Framework Foresight process is a method to systematically apply foresight.
UNCERTAINTY AND FORESIGHT GUIDE:
POC: Maria Bothwell
As practitioners, we recognize that greater uncertainty means an increased need for foresight as it offers a structured approach to analyze and prepare for uncertainty. While we have seen an increased interest, the list of potential disruptors is fairly daunting—long-term impacts of the pandemic, economic cycles and inflation, climate issues, policy-making, consumer attitudes, societal shifts, supply chain restructuring, and geopolitics. Unfortunately, we have not seen associated changes in planning behavior. This guide may help you communicate to leaders the value of Foresight.
POC: Jeannette Bruno
GSA’s Center of Excellence (CoE) Innovation Adoption (IA) practice created this resource to help orient you to strategic foresight and design futures methods to better anticipate risk and prepare for the future. In this guide you will find useful examples of methods and their feasibility.
BLOG: DISILLUSIONED YOUTH: A DANGER TO DEMOCRACY:
POC: Steve Gale and Mat Burrows
This blog examines the evidence that youth disillusionment is a growing and serious threat to democracy. Challenges today play out in a landscape of immense political instability. Leaving youth wanting to “opt out.” Youth disengagement will ultimately have negative impacts beyond democratic engagement with potential shockwaves on social stability, and more.
POC: Melissa Smallwood
A white paper by the Solve Long Covid Initiative estimates Long Covid may affect 22-43 million Americans, with 7-14 million of these cases causing new or worsening disability. This paper explores the economic impact of Long Covid on
Center for Strategic Foresight Trends Report 2022:
POC: Sharaelle Grzesiak
In 2022, GAO staff worked with experts including the Center’s Fellows to identify 12 trends affecting government and society. Read the report here, check out our press release, or watch the video . These trends explore what will likely affect government and society in the next 5 to 15 years—including science and technology in an innovation economy, global supply chains, racial and ethnic disparities, and national security threats.
ARTICLE: STRATEGIC FORESIGHT IN U.S. AGENCIES:
POC: J. Peter Scoblic
U.S. public policy has often been myopic, sacrificing long-term needs to short-term interests. This short-termism not only reduces economic performance, threatens the environment, and undermines national security—to name but a few consequences—it also leaves the United States vulnerable to surprise and limits its ability to manage crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The question is, what to do about it? This report argues that it is, in part, a mechanism for coping with the uncertainty of the future and that reducing myopia requires providing policymakers tools for managing that uncertainty. Specifically, it maintains that the practice of strategic foresight—the rigorous examination of imagined alternative futures to better sense, shape, and adapt to the emerging future—can put boundaries around future uncertainty while enabling better strategy in the present.
ARTICLE: A FUTURIST'S GUIDE TO PREPARING YOUR COMPANY FOR CONSTANT CHANGE:
POC: April Rinne
While finding “the right time” to prepare for change can be difficult, there are myriad ways to get started. A recent article by the Harvard Business Review, “A Futurist’s Guide to Preparing Your Company for Constant Change” looks back at 2020 and 2021 as wake up calls for how quickly things can change. It is important to consider past experiences as warning for what’s ahead – not necessarily a pandemic but more disruptions.
SOIF CASE STUDY - GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR SCIENCE:
POC: Ruth Beveridge
The School of International Futures (SOIF) recently published its Government Office for the Science case study report. The report discusses building effective foresight governance systems, and contains a blog summarizing the work. The report explores how governments in eight countries use foresight and futures techniques – with examples from FFCOI, VA, USCG, GAO, and more.
FUTURE OF GOVERNMENT IN 2030:
POC: Maria Bothwell
ViWhat will the Future of Government in 2030 look like 24 futurists were interviewed about how the world might look in 2030. To get a sense of what the coming decade might mean for state and local governments, they asked futurists, including thought leaders, public officials, academics, and tech experts for their ideas on the trends that will have the greatest impact on the public sector over the next 10 years. Their responses, condensed and in this article, provide a glimpse into what may happen in the years ahead.
ARTICLE - THE FUTURE OF WORK POST-PANDEMIC: WE'RE NOT GOING BACK:
POC: John Kamensky
It is estimated that many private sector companies jumped three to four years ahead into the future workplace in the space of a few weeks due to the pandemic. Government areas also adapted to the new normal by transitioning services online that had been traditionally reluctant to redesign. While many kinks need to be worked out, government will have to adapt to many challenges, and look ahead to a new normal.
COVID SCENARIOS - MILLENNIUM PROJECT:
POC: Jerome Glenn
The Millennium Project and the American Red Cross present scenarios integrating medical, health, socio-economic, and psychological factors of the possible future courses of the COVID pandemic.