The Ideactio Centre for Foresight Research and Consulting (CFRC) is a Singapore-based but internationally operating strategic foresight consultancy that conducts research at the forefront of foresight practices and processes and supports organizations in their different foresight journeys, deeply informed by the latest developments in applied foresight.

We produce regular cutting edge content in different media outlets, from YouTube Videos to scientific articles to practitioners’ magazines commentaries, to help and inform practitioners in their foresight practice. Thanks to the expertise accumulated over years of foresight research and consulting and through a variety of ad-hoc foresight services, we support clients of different levels of foresight capability, from startups looking at the futures of their industry, to multinational corporations with several foresight units, to tertiary educational institutions wishing to teach foresight to university students. 

CFRC conducts both for profit (e.g., foresight consulting and trainings) as well as not-for-profit initiatives (e.g., action research). Our ethos is that research and consulting feed into each other. We do research to better understand foresight processes and how to leverage them to bring benefits to our clients. In turn, foresight trainings and consulting provide opportunities to enrich our research agenda.

Our vision & Mission

Our world is unraveling fast, with different interlocking geopolitical, ideological and humanitarian crises, sharp turns in economic and consumer trends, and systems of values and working practices overturned in the span of months. Forecasting the most likely future is only viable in the very short term, and organizations have now the imperative to develop foresight capabilities, systematically creating and evaluating complex scenarios of the environment where they are operating, and translating those scenarios into strategic insight.

In this context, CFRC’s vision is to drive thought leadership in the field of futures studies and applied foresight in the Asian region and beyond, eventually providing the best all-in-one platform for foresight content globally. To achieve this, our mission is to keep  inspiring the next generation of foresight professionals, and keep excelling in our offerings of rigorous, evidence-based, and culturally conscious foresight services to organizations.

Benefits of foresight

Any claim that foresight will “future-proof” your organization is probably exaggerate. However, foresight has a number of benefits for organizations that practice it. Practicing foresight will allow your organization to be on the top of current and potential future changes and trends not only in your industry, but in the social, technological, economic, political and legal environment around it. By looking at the future through scenarios, it will make your organization more forward looking, more aware of a range of possibilities ahead (including crises), it will clarify its role and purpose in the future (strategic identity), and it will make its strategy more robust to a turbulent  business environment. 

The members of your organization who will develop foresight skills will deeply understand what business complexity and change means and how it impacts their business, they will be more comfortable with uncertainty and more prone to innovate, both in terms of product and services and in terms of the modus operandi of the organization itself (double loop learning). For more information about the benefits of foresight, you can check the article Corporate Foresight in an Ever-Turbulent Era.

our philosophy

Our philosophy to which we strive to attain in each research and consulting project, is based on three pillars.

  • In everything we do, we strive to abide by the highest standards of rigor in the practice of foresight. This means that our foresight processes are ethically conscious of the importance of consent by our participants (see our upcoming article: “Do you consent to foresight?”), that the foresight methods we apply are tailored to the specificity of the context and the expectations of the client, and that the combination of the foresight methods used is parsimonious.

    It also means that our research and consulting is deeply informed by scientific evidence not only from the futures studies and foresight literature, but also from the adjacent fields of organizational behavior, psychology, political science, strategic management, and philosophy. All of this without losing sight of the most important objective: the relevance of foresight for an organization’s decision making. These concepts are treated at length in our article: The Resistance to Science in Futures and Foresight.

  • In everything we do, we aim to bring back Asian wisdom into our practice of foresight. Indeed, at its the very origins, foresight in corporate contexts was derived from the travels of Pierre Wack, one of the founding fathers of scenario planning, to Japan and India, and from the insights he obtained from these experiences. Yet this connection has unfortunately been lost in modern foresight literature and practice. The parallelisms between foresight and Asian philosophies, including but not limited to Neoconfucianism, Zen Buddhism, and Hinduism are many, and they are tremendously helpful to convey the essence of foresight to beginners and advanced learners alike. These range from the realization that, like thoughts in Zen practice, trends in the external environment are transitory patterns of change that manifest on an underlying immanent structure, i.e., a multiplicity of futures; to the realization that, like Kung Fu, mastery of foresight capability is hard work that cannot be obtained in one day. These concepts are treated at length in our signature Playbook, The Dao of Foresight (upcoming).

  • Metamodernism refers to new cultural, spiritual, political, scientific, and social movements reflecting a post-ideological, open source, globally responsive, and paradox resolving grand narrative. One of the key features of metamodernism is that it aims to transcend ideological and political positions. This is very relevant for foresight practice because any investigation into the futures risks carrying over current ideological positions. Thus, following metamodernism, in our foresight practice we aim to approach every foresight project non-ideologically. This means that we pay extra attention to reflecting on our values as foresight facilitators and experts, and to not injecting such values into our foresight work. Additionally, when we notice ideological positions coloring our clients’ views of the future, we do not counter them or debate them, but aim to transcend them with metamodern foresight. These concepts are treated at length in our upcoming article Metamodern Futures: Prescriptions for Metamodern Foresight.

Services

  • Organization-specific executive foresight trainings are on demand, workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to develop ad-hoc foresight capabilities in executives or managerial teams from one organization. All participants are from the same organization. The number of participants can vary between 7 up to about 50.

    Participants are walked through a series of participatory foresight exercises in the three major components of foresight, i.e., scanning, futuring, and reconfiguring (see this article), by one or more expert facilitators. Each training can last from two days/half days up to several non-consecutive weeks. Project framing (see this article) may occur prior to the training or during the training, depending on the specific case. The combination of foresight methods used as well as the subject matter (focal issue) of the scenarios are catered to the specific needs of the organization.

    The strengths of organization-specific foresight trainings is that they are tailored to the specificity of the client, and that they allow the organization to develop their advanced foresight capabilities.

  • Open executive foresight trainings are workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to develop general foresight capabilities in executive or managerial teams from several organizations at once. They are held twice a year, in January and May (tbd). The number of participants can vary between 25 up to about 80.

    Participants are walked through a series of participatory foresight exercises in the three major components of foresight, i.e., scanning, futuring, and reconfiguring (see article here), by several expert facilitators. Each training lasts from two to five non consecutive days/half days. Project framing (see article here) occurs during the training. These trainings cover the most common and foundational foresight methods. Each participating organization may choose to focus on a different subject matter for the scenarios, which best aligns with its interests and needs.

    The strength of open foresight trainings is that they allow an organization to achieve a basic understanding of foresight with a high value-cost ratio.

  • Individual executive foresight trainings are 6-sessions long workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to develop ad-hoc foresight capabilities in individuals with executives or managerial roles from any organization. The courses run three times a year on saturday morning for six consecutive weeks, and each session is half-day long.

    Participants are divided in groups of 6-7 members, and are walked through a series of participatory foresight exercises in the three major components of foresight, i.e., scanning, futuring, and reconfiguring (see article here), by one or more canning, futuring, and reconfiguring (see article hereexpert facilitators. Project framing (see article here) occurs during the training and each group may work on a different focal issue, e.g., the futures of business education, the futures of the metaverse, the futures tourism, etc.

    The strengths of individual executive foresight trainings is that anyone can attend them without the necessity of participating as a group, and the excellent network of professionals that the workshops provides to participants.

  • Not sure whether to commit to our six-sessions individual executive foresight training? You can try it out with our half-day teaser session!

    Teaser sessions are half-day workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to introduce participants from any organization to the foundations of foresight.

    The courses run twice a month on saturday morning. Participants are divided in groups of 6-7 members, and are walked through a series of participatory foresight exercises in the three major components of foresight, i.e., scanning, futuring, and reconfiguring (see article here) , by one or more expert facilitators.

    Project framing (see article here) occurs during the training and each group may work on a different focal issue, e.g., the futures of business education, the futures of the metaverse, the futures tourism, etc.

    The strengths of our foresight teaser sessions is that in a short period of time, participants are made aware of what it takes to practice foresight and of it potential benefits!

  • Methodological foresight consulting is meant to support those organizations that are already practicing applied foresight, either in the organization at large or in a discrete foresight unit within the firm, both for their clients or for the organization itself.

    The organization is assigned to one or two experts in foresight methodology and practice. This form of consultation is often problem driven, and meant to further develop the practice of foresight. It occurs via synchronous meetings, and/or asynchronous feedback on previous foresight projects.

    Problem resolution is evidence-based and with a particular focus on the rigor, specificity, human engagement, awareness, embeddedness, and institutionalization of foresight in the organization.

  • Content-based foresight consulting is meant to support organizations without a fully developed foresight practice in the production of content specific deliverables about the futures of a topic of high relevance for them.

    The organization is assigned to a team of experts in foresight research. This form of consultation is meant to quickly develop the necessary ad-hoc expertise with minimal involvement of the organization itself.

    Although this form of consultation does not nurture foresight capabilities in the organization, it is necessary in situations of time constraints and high decision stakes. Particular attention is paid to translating the foresight deliverables, i.e., the scenarios, into a language that the organizational management may understand and use, and to follow up on the use of the scenarios.

  • Like organization-specific executive foresight trainings, organization specific foresight action research are on demand, workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to develop ad-hoc foresight capabilities in executives or managerial teams from one organization. The only difference between the two is that in organization specific foresight action research the cost paid by the organization is arbitrary and decided by the organization on a pay-forward scheme.

    In exchange, the organization agrees to make all the participants to the foresight course available for a follow up survey and/or interview that may last between 20 to 45 minutes.

    Participants stay anonymous and are not interrogated on the subject matter of the scenarios, but only on the scenario process and/or their psycho-physiological states. These endeavours are meant to contribute to science by providing data to improve the practices and processes of foresight.

    In all else, the characteristics of these courses are the same of organization specific executive foresight trainings (as above).

  • Like open executive foresight trainings, open foresight action research are workshop-based applied foresight courses meant to develop general foresight capabilities in executive or managerial teams from several organizations at once.

    The only difference between the two is that in open foresight action research the cost paid by participating organizations is arbitrary and decided by the organizations on a pay-forward scheme. In exchange, participating organizations agree to make all the participants to the foresight course available for a follow up survey and/or interview that may last between 20 to 45 minutes. Participants stay anonymous and are not interrogated on the subject matter of the scenarios, but only on the scenario process and/or their
    psycho-physiological states. These endeavours are meant to contribute to science by providing data to improve the practices and processes of foresight.

    In all else, the characteristics of these courses are the same of open executive foresight trainings (as above).

  • Our foresight experts are often invited to host one or more seminars in university courses, and have experience in conducting foresight classes for BA, MA, MBA, o EMBA students in diverse cultural contexts, including but not limited to China, Italy, Singapore, USA, Germany, Israel, Estonia, Thailand, Malaysia, Finland, etc.

    We also have experience designing and delivering university-level foresight courses for tertiary institutions on all the major topics of futures studies and applied foresight, including scanning & trend analysis, scenario planning methods, wild cards, science fiction as foresight, design fiction as foresight, foresight to strategy, and futures games among others.

Let’s Chat!

If you want to learn more about our initiatives and services, we will be most pleased to hear from you! Send us a message, and we will get back to you.

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