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1999
Journal Article
Title
Current Foresight Activities in France, Spain and Italy
Abstract
Recent years have brought a significant revival of public foresight activities in many European countries, including France, Spain and Italy. The French context is rather specific in the sense that public planning and foresight (prospective) are an old tradition starting in the early post war period, but was progressively abrandoned until its international revival during the 1990s. The recent experiences for long-term science and technology foresight (allowingcomparisons of the experts' opinions between countries) and the development of a specific studiy of critical technologies in the shorter term with the direct aim of orienting and improving the microeconomic strategies in the country. Spain and Italy started their own tests of foresight procedures later. The diffusion of foresight approaches and methods is certainly influenced by cultural proximities between countries of Roman civilzation, but the different national settings led to relatively deverse experiences. International comp arisons reval the wide variety of methods and implementations that can be contemplated at present in Europe - a living laboratory of public foresight experiences.