Trend Uncontrollable global shocks drive demand for strategic foresight in government

Summary

The futures-research outlook calls 2025 a year of extreme uncertainty. The second Trump administration's trade policy disrupted both the world economy and the technology-innovation ecosystem, tariff negotiations pushed major economies into defensive behaviour, and conflicts involving Russia and Ukraine, the US, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Hamas spread global anxiety. OpenAI's ChatGPT, released in November 2022, brought convenience and productivity alongside job-displacement fears, algorithmic bias, privacy intrusion and deepfake disinformation. Such uncontrollable events increased demand for foresight, and the EU, the UK, Germany, the US and international organisations are strengthening futures governance and integrating foresight into policy decisions. The aim is to explore potential impacts through scenarios and prepare ways to recover when shocks occur.