FNR Foresight - July Update

The 1st phase of the FNR Foresight is coming to an end and we are very pleased with the results and looking forward to the 2nd phase.

Thus, during the Exploratory Workshop on 19 May 2006, 120 Luxembourg researchers discussed various scenarios for the future orientation of Luxembourg research and FNR research programmes. The six following fields of research were identified as interesting for Luxembourg: ICT; Physical Sciences and Engineering; Life Sciences; Environmental Sciences; Economy, Law and Finance; and Social Sciences and Humanities.

Except for the ‘Economy, Law and Finance’ field, which was part of the Social Sciences and Humanities field before, these fields are not new, but henceforth will be better adapted to the specificities of the Luxembourg context. Thus, several new trends emerged within the various fields: e.g. more importance will have to be given to the telecommunications or automobile equipment domain.

A whole lot of possibilities that will be analysed in detail at the time of the 2nd phase of the exercise which will begin in September 2006! During this phase, panels regrouping between 12 to 15 Luxembourg and international experts – both from public and private research – will meet with the Fund and a consultant in order to identify priority domains and axes for the six fields retained, on the basis of the data collected during the 1st phase of the exercise. Concrete priorities will then be submitted to the Government in March 2007.

We at the Fund are very satisfied with the results of the exercise so far. Indeed, we have achieved one of our main goals which was to imply the greatest possible number of actors from the Luxembourg research community in our exercise: for example, 297 people responded to our online questionnaire and around 60 decision makers were interviewed. Moreover, the majority of the participants in the various Foresight activities seemed convinced of the utility and the need of such an exercise. They especially appreciated the fact that the exercise joined together the Luxembourg researchers to talk about their work, using a thematic approach. And even if some people criticised certain aspects of the methodology used, the consensus is that the FNR Foresight is moving into the right direction and researchers seem to appreciate the change of paradigms that is linked to it.

Thank you very much for your contribution to the FNR Foresight!