Firetail reappointed to the Futures Framework

Firetail is proud to have been appointed for a second time to the Government Office for Science’s (GOS) Futures Framework.

We are just one of 35 specialist futures agencies selected to do this work.

The Framework gives government departments and public bodies easy access to services to help them think about the future. 

Policy choices today have far-reaching implications, yet the exact outcomes in the distant future remain uncertain. This makes decision-making complex. The purpose of futures work is not to predict the single, most-likely version of the future, but to consider a range of plausible futures.

The UK Government is expanding the use of futures and systems thinking.

The GOS promotes strategic long-term thinking within government, with the ambition of ensuring that it routinely considers future change and uncertainty in the decisions it makes.

The GOS has conducted futures work in wireless connectivity, emerging technologies and the policy implications of genomics. It has developed a Futures Toolkit with guidance on how to deliver futures thinking work. Firetail has supported a number of agencies and departments in this work.

“Futures thinking and foresight tools provide government with a structured approach that is robust and responds to long-term change. The future is inherently uncertain and complex.

To deliver long-term benefits we need to monitor and make sense of possible future change, explore the dynamics and uncertainties of that change, describe what the future might be like and understand potential implications.

— Sir Patrick Vallance

In our experience, good futures thinking makes space for more ambitious thinking about policy-making, as well as thinking more broadly about what policies will be successful across a range of different circumstances. 

You can find more information about the Framework here, and more information about our services here.

If you would like to learn more, please get in touch with us.