Foresight - Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft

Arend Oetker
Arend xxx.. Oetker..
Cartography of sciences
Setting priorities in research funding” is the
straightforward title that the Stifterverband,
the Confederation of German Industry and
the Science Council gave the round of talks to
which they invited the responsible politicians at
Land and Federal level, the presidents of the science
organisations and the research boards of German
companies to Potsdam
Nothing less was at stake than the issue as to
how strategic decisions in the fields of research and
technology in Germany could be prepared and implemented.
In Germany in particular, there is deeply-rooted
bad experience with provisions made by
planned economies. Therefore, it cannot be stressed
often enough that the various types of organised
foresight procedures that have been adopted by
the USA and Japan and, above all, Europe since
the nineties, are processes, and not methods of forecasting.
A process of this kind progresses in the area of
conflict involving the formulation of a consensus
in society, political consultation and prioritising
in politics, science and industry. This documentation
presents a selection of the Potsdam lectures to
illustrate the various views and approaches of politics,
science and industry, but also to highlight
common links, for we will only succeed in developing
forward-looking and viable strategies if we
really join forces. Integrating industry into this exchange
of views has been a special matter of concern
to the Stifterverband, for science and industry
are going to have to co-operate in order to remain
competitive at international level.
What continues to hold is that the force of innovation
will not simply turn up to order. Neither
can it be predicted. This is why preference is given
to focusing on the role that the foresight process
plays for a cartography of science itself. Again and
again, reference was made to the “5 Cs” that the
5
Briton Ben Martin has called “process benefits”
with regard to experience made in the United Kingdom:
• communication
• concentration on the longer term
• co-ordination
• consensus
• commitment.
Nevertheless, we should not be satisfied with a mere
exchange of views on the various methods and
structured communication within Germany and
Europe as if this were an end in its own right. Rather,
the focus ought to be on the third C, co-ordination.
How can the results of national and European
processes be combined and, at least partly, be
implemented on the basis of a more straightforward
allocation of responsibilities? What could cooperation
between science and industry look like in
this area? These are the questions that the Stifterverband
would like to explore in a further step.
Dr. Arend Oetker
President of the Stifterverband