© EPTA, version 20 Oct 2012; provided by ITA The Committee for the Future was established in 1993 from the very beginning as a committee in the Finnish Parliament. The creation at almost the same time of the Finland Futures Research Centre in Turku University and the Committee for the Future had the same motivation: to develop a national foresight system against the background of the recession that was afflicting Finland in the early 1990s. In the intervening period, thinking in relation to the future has become broadly and deeply rooted in Finnish society. The Finnish foresight system is of a versatility that is rare anywhere in the world.
Giving a standing committee within the Finnish parliamentary system a new, future-oriented role of this kind was not at all easy, for many reasons. What has been remarkable in light of this is that the initiative came from the legislators themselves.
Science, technology and creation of new concepts and ideas as well as revitalisation of institutions has been important, but so is the ability to recognise what will be permanent in the future and what ought to be.
Chapter Institutionalisation - all countries
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| © EPTA, version 20 Oct 2012; provided by ITA |