The targeted and unforeseen impacts of foresight on innovation policy: the eFORESEE Malta case study

Abstract

The paper assesses the impacts of a foresight exercise carried out in Malta in 2002–2004. An evaluation framework is applied which seeks to account for the dynamic and possibly turbulent environment of an accession country's emergent innovation system and to capture and assess those effects of foresight potentially extending well beyond those initially targeted. Three foresight pilots are described, with an emphasis upon an ICT and Education Pilot, and used to illustrate that in addition to targeted effects, important changes were stimulated in terms of tackling broader challenges related to the socio-cultural context. These included the engagement of a broader range of stakeholders in the innovation system and the generation of sustainable policy learning processes. It is concluded that an evaluation framework for foresight should be sensitive to these unforeseen process benefits which have broader societal impacts, even if the lines of attribution are blurred and not easy to trace.