Anticipatory governance – organise for better decision-making

Anticipatory governance includes futures literate leadership, regular horizon and trend scanning, strategic foresight, and action-oriented decision support – with the aim of making better, more future-oriented, decisions.

Anticipatory governance creates better organisational conditions for daily business and focus on the now to quicker identify and react on new signals, and long-term (re-)planning and creation of policy, strategy and roadmaps. This is equally valid within organisations as between organisations in cooperation, and new arenas for contribution.

Why anticipatory governance?

A new world is emerging, defined by intensifying climate change and rapid technological development, and the pace of change is accelerating. This will impact society, and many trade and industry sectors, and put higher demands on how organisations and cooperation initiatives are organised.

Anticipatory governance is about organising to meet the new world that is coming, to set our sights towards longer time-horizons to see emerging challenges and opportunities in a changing world. By integrating pro-active ways of working we can make organisations more resilient, and the systemic use of foresight in decision-making enables better readiness and enables quick action on new developments or trends.

Anticipatory governance is also about consciously charting ones own course, using opportunities and actively pushing the development towards a desired future, like e.g. releasing the potential of technology and innovation, or taking a leading role in sustainability.

Target groups and offer

Anticipatory governance is just as relevant for individual organisations as for cooperation between actors that face grand challenges. Current ways of organising can be developed to create anticipatory conditions, and enable more effective cooperation and agile transformation work.

In partnership with RISE, business, public sector, cities and regions (among others), can expect custom projects and assignments based in real world needs.

• RISE offers experienced process-leaders, method knowledge, and thematic and technical expertise
• RISE is an independent research institute in the middle of the swedish innovation innovation system, with local presence, working with the needs of business and public sector, societal challenges and transition

What is anticipatory governance?

Anticipatory governance has its roots in e.g. the scientific fields of foresight and futures literacy, military, and political science. Governance can be defined as: 'the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization)' (merriam-webster.com)

Anticipatory governance is a kind of governance innovation, defined by RISE as: innovation in processes, cooperation and policy; decision-making, government, autonomy, leadership, organisation and resilience.