Report -
eFORESEE Pre-Launch Event
Knowledge Futures in ICT and Education Pilot
8th May 2002
Westin Dragonara, St Julians, Malta
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Presentations were delivered by Dr Cassingena Harper and Dr Crehan, which focused on:
- Developing a common understanding on what is Foresight and what is involved in carrying out a Foresight exercise.
- Defining what the eFORESEE Project and the Knowledge Futures in ICT and Education Pilot are aimed at.
- Inviting all interested participants to become active Stakeholders in the Pilot.
Resume of the interventions from the floor:
Mr Martin Testa
He raised the important point that in mapping alternative futures, it is important to consider pessimistic as well as optimistic scenarios, in order to ensure that negative consequences are taken into account.
Ms Yasmeen Ariff
Ms Ariff gave a short presentation on the work currently being out by Diplo Projects, an offshoot of the Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies on KM tools in diplomacy.
Mr Mike Rosner
Mr Rosner focused on ICT in education from a Maltese perspective and highlighted the importance of developing tools which are user-friendly for Maltese, i.e. the use of the Maltese language and local content.
Dr Jonathan Borg
Dr Borg focused on the importance of developing tools which capture knowledge and institutional memory.
Mr Joe Woods
Mr Woods focused on Enterprise governance a concept that promotes governance in an entrepreneurial style. It means that instead of just administering resources government will endeavour to change a resource from a lower to a higher form of output. Resource means not just buildings, land or human resources but also ideas, and knowledge. This fits in with the emerging knowledge based economy.
Mr Jesmond Xuereb
Mr Xuereb used MCST's participation in the EUMEDIS AVICENNA Project (aimed at setting up virtual knowledge centres in the Mediterranean) as an example of the types of niches that could be explored within the eFORESEE pilot.
Mr Chris Martin wanted to know about the extent of government involvement in the eFORESEE project. It was noted that government was interested in the results which the project would generate but would not be intervening directly in its implementation.
Ms Ariff asked what resources would be made available through the project. It was noted that resources were available for the implementation of the project and that proposals in this respect would given careful consideration.
Questionnaire-based survey
Two questionnaires developed by Agnes Pechmann of the FOMOFO project and adapted to the eFORESEE pilot, were circulated to the pre-launch event participants in order to assess the level of understanding and interest generated through the event and the extent of willingness to participate. Thus, a pre-workshop questionnaire was completed by participants at the beginning of the event and a second post-workshop questionnaire was completed at the end of the event (see Annexes 3-5 for more details).
Key Results and Conclusions
The meeting contributed to the preparatory phase of the first eFORESEE Malta pilot by addressing the following concerns:
- 'expectations management'
- 'foresight embedding' - providing the participants with a better understanding of what foresight is all about.
- identification of key themes of relevance to the stakeholders (and Malta) to be addressed within the first eFORESEE Malta pilot
- mapping of stakeholders by category: expert, champion, technical secretary and participant
In fulfilling these tasks through a process of open discussion and the questionnaire-based survey, the meeting can be considered to have been a success.
   
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