Foresight exercises come in all sorts of shape and sizes (forecasting, technology assessment, future studies, regional, nationwide, domain specific etc). Their common aim is to identify long term trends and to guide decision-making, accounting for the views of the different stakeholders by having them actively participate in the exercise.

The process should be an open one where discussion between the participants is encouraged (e.g through panels, workshops or forums) and where the results are fed into public decision-making (e.g which research priorities deserve public funding).