Drawing upon existing foresight experiences, particularly those from the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the AHEAD project, led by 10 law enforcement agencies (LEAs), seeks to establish and implement a sustainable, capability-based civil security foresight framework. This framework is designed to address the specific needs of civil security practitioners and decision-makers by generating comprehensive capability roadmaps for European civil security.
AHEAD has developed a practical approach to foresight focused on delivering tangible results (“actionable foresight for actionable outcomes”). This aligns with the European Commission's goal of integrating strategic foresight more systematically into EU policymaking to which AHEAD intends to contribute.
Through its Foresight Exercises, AHEAD is exploring effective methods for security stakeholders to anticipate future trends. The user-friendly tools developed under the project is anticipated to make it easier for organizations to adopt a forward-looking perspective.
Based on the two first Foresight Exercises, valuable insights and practical recommendations have been collected that can be shared with operational organizations. These insights include best practices for implementing foresight, some of which have already been put into practice by the project.
The technologies underpinning the findings from the initial foresight exercise on “online policing” are currently undergoing an in-depth feasibility analysis conducted by the ENACT project, the ENACT “flash report” being expected by M16. These results have the potential to shape future European research agendas and inform new funding initiatives.
Furthermore, one of AHEAD’s added value lies in tailoring some aspect of the foresight methodology, like ‘serious gaming’, to the unique context of LEAs and their specific needs. By designing serious games that simulate real-world scenarios and challenges faced by LEAs, the project aims to provide a valuable tool for gaining insights and informing training, decision-making, and foresight.
Another added value of the AHEAD approach is co-creation with end-users. By conducting on-site workshops with future users, AHEAD methods’ relevance and adaptability to real-world needs and challenges are being tested and validated. This collaborative process strengthens the potential impact of AHEAD’s methodology and tools, fostering large-scale adoption.
With AHEAD’s key objective being to make foresight a more accessible and practical tool for organizations, emphasis has been put on ways to render foresight for civil security easily actionable. By sharing the project’s findings with the EU Commission, EU Agencies, sister initiatives and projects, and developing user-friendly tools, AHEAD aims to contribute to a broader shift towards a more future-oriented approach to policy development and decision-making within the EU civil security sector.
