Strategic foresight
Anticipate changes in your industry by imagining its possible futures
For more than 30 years, our specialized team has been supporting companies in imagining the possible futures of their sectors, at different time horizons (3, 5, 10, 20 year, or more, forecasts) to anticipate and prepare for possible futures, their opportunities as well as their threats.
They trust us
The key success factors of a strategic foresight
Every company is confronted with numerous external parameters that influence its strategy: technological, societal and economic evolutions, political and ecological pressures… and it’s not easy to anticipate these parameters to adapt one’s actions. This is the role of strategic foresight! To succeed, several key success factors need to be considered:
Although foresight analysis can sometimes remain confidential, it’s a fantastic tool for participative management! It’s an exercise in imagining possible futures together and defining how to anticipate and adapt to them in the present. To ensure the relevance of the scenarios constructed and selected, and to engage teams in the construction of concrete, realistic roadmaps, it is imperative to bring together all the change players who will be involved in the journey towards possible futures.
How can internal and external players be involved in the process? What role should everyone play in the process?
The mistake not to be made is to focus a foresight approach on the company’s internal knowledge and expertise. In fact, the company operates in an environment that is influenced by numerous external parameters. It is therefore necessary to bring together a wide range of expertise to reflect the areas that impact and will impact the company’s possible futures: customers, suppliers, technological experts, experts in environmental issues, but also sociologists, philosophers, economists, etc. Bringing together everyone’s views on the central problem will result in scenarios that are as plausible as possible, thus ensuring the relevance of the resulting roadmaps.
Which stakeholders should I bring together, depending on the problem and my environment? How can I motivate them to participate in the process?
It’s impossible to predict the future with certainty, which is why it’s key to draw up several plausible scenarios and associated strategies that remain flexible. Even if the scenarios defined cover a wide range of possibilities, some of them highly unlikely, the company and its teams need to be prepared to adapt to unforeseen events with flexibility and resilience! There are many analytical methods available for integrating uncertainty into decision-making.
But how can we get the players involved in choosing possible futures to accept uncertainty? How can we develop a culture of flexibility in the deployment of team strategies?
How we support you in assessing a strategic foresight
In a foresight approach, the aim is not to generate accurate predictions, but to anticipate and get prepared for different possible futures, their opportunities, and their threats.
Our team therefore relies on the analysis of existing data on macro-trends and weak signals, such as new entrants, adoption of a new technology in an adjacent sector, or a change in a usage.
It is also necessary to include the environmental impact in the strategic decision-making process and anticipate climate change’s impact on your activity.
Our teams work in particular on:
- Laboratory, Hospital, Vaccine… of the Future, the carbon-free manufacturing plant, hydrogen-powered airplane, carbon neutral cities by 2030, eco-buildings, new modalities of transportation
- Experience of the end-customers be it a patient, a consumer, a passenger…
- Structural changes in each sector or ecosystem… particularly related to environmental considerations such as carbon footprint, water management, biodiversity…
- New business models and their resilience
- Integration of CSR dimension into strategies
- And finally, new skills and jobs to develop to be better prepared for those possible futures.
Examples of recent strategic foresights carried out for our clients
You have a project?
To go further
Founded in 1993, Alcimed is an innovation and new business consulting firm, specializing in innovation driven sectors: life sciences (healthcare, biotech, agrifood), energy, environment, mobility, chemicals, materials, cosmetics, aeronautics, space and defence.
Our purpose? Helping both private and public decision-makers explore and develop their uncharted territories: new technologies, new offers, new geographies, possible futures, and new ways to innovate.
Located across eight offices around the world (France, Europe, Singapore and the United States), our team is made up of 220 highly-qualified, multicultural and passionate explorers, with a blended science/technology and business culture.
Our dream? To build a team of 1,000 explorers, to design tomorrow’s world hand in hand with our clients.
A strategic foresight approach is a methodical process designed to identify, anticipate and understand possible developments in a given field. It is based on the analysis of current trends, weak signals and potential disruptions, as well as on the projection of future scenarios. Strategic foresight aims to inform decisions and actions on long-term issues.
There are 6 major stages in a foresight approach:
- Definition of the main question, the scope of the study and the objectives to be achieved;
- A detailed understanding of the existing world and current dynamics;
- Identification of development variables (macro-trends, weak signals) and their segmentation (e.g. using PESTEL analysis);
- Detailed analysis of the trends identified and the directions they take;
- Construction of several scenarios highlighting possible futures;
- Development of strategic recommendations and action plans for the short, medium and long term, to adapt to each scenario.