Issue Lessons from EU Foresight on Demand for embedding foresight in Korean policy

Summary

The author draws three lessons from the Foresight on Demand experience for Korea's foresight system. First, foresight and policy should be linked in real time, since the service is designed so that results can be used when decisions are made, in contrast to criticism that Korean foresight has low policy usability. Second, long-range outlook and short-term agility should be balanced, as the EU model complements rather than replaces long-term work by combining scanning, quick response and scenario building. Third, the institutional base of the foresight ecosystem should be strengthened so that future strategy functions survive changes of government. Critics inside the European Parliament warn that the service may sink into short-term problem solving and that EU rigidity weakens implementation, so synchronizing laws and institutions matters as much as scenario design. Korea, stuck in five-year and ministry-level plans with future-strategy bodies shaken at every change of government, is urged to embed demand-driven, agile foresight permanently.