Eye of Europe - The Research and Innovation foresight community

Project Information

Eye of Europe

Grant agreement ID: 101131738

DOI

10.3030/101131738

EC signature date 5 October 2023

Start date 1 November 2023

End date 31 October 2026

Funded under

• Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System

Total cost

€ 1 998 923,75

EU contribution

€ 1 998 923,75

Coordinated by

UNITATEA EXECUTIVA PENTRU FINANTAREA INVATAMANTULUI SUPERIOR A CERCETARII DEZVOLTARII SI INOVARII
Romania

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Eye of Europe (Eye of Europe - The Research and Innovation foresight community)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Eye of Europe addresses the growing need to anticipate, explore, and co-create future pathways in, for, and from Research and Innovation (R&I). Recognizing the diverse capacities and varying levels of institutionalization of R&I foresight across Europe, the project builds on the consortium’s experience to consolidate and amplify existing efforts.
The project's main goal is to foster the maturation of an R&I foresight community that is both increasingly inclusive—expanding from foresight experts to beneficiaries, thematic specialists, and the general public—and progressively integrated, moving from mapping organizations and individuals to sharing results, building shared capabilities, and cultivating collective intelligence.
To achieve this, the project offers an online home for the community, creates live engagement opportunities, and produces relevant multi-format content.
The community’s online home is futures4europe.eu a public, user-driven content platform dedicated to R&I foresight. Replacing a 2023 prototype, the new platform functions as a social network for experts and organizations, a repository of foresight knowledge, and a communication hub.
The project also delivers five Mutual Learning Exercises (MLEs) that bring together R&I policymakers and foresight practitioners to share knowledge and harmonize methodologies. A co-creation workshop will follow, synthesizing insights into a common vision for the future of R&I foresight.
Two large-scale conferences further strengthen community ties and visibility. Each event brings together over 100 participants, offering a platform to exchange practices and disseminate their work through published abstracts.
In addition, 11 pilot foresight exercises are being conducted on forward-looking themes relevant to ERA countries. These pilots test innovative methodologies and diverse participant involvement to help shape the next generation of foresight practice.
To promote futures literacy beyond foresight expert circles, the project includes training for foresight beneficiaries, develops a MOOC for students and early-career researchers, and produces multimedia content aimed at a broader audience.
Finally, communication and dissemination efforts go beyond promoting project outputs. They are designed to actively encourage community contributions and engagement with the platform's growing repository of content.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The upgraded futures4europe.eu platform became publicly available in November 2024. Since then, it has experienced steady growth in engagement, supported by its intuitive design and promotion through the project newsletter, LinkedIn page, and various events. By July 2025, the platform had gained over 300 new members and hosted approximately 400 content pages, including foresight projects, studies and results, events, and blog posts.
A comprehensive stocktaking report was released, mapping key actors, preferred methodologies, success factors, and bottlenecks for effective R&I foresight projects, as well as identifying trends for future foresight efforts across Europe.
Four out of five MLEs have already been held, featuring interactive formats that facilitated peer learning and community building. These events explored topics such as emerging foresight practices, policy-oriented communication, integration into the R&I policy cycle, and long-term visioning.
The first Futures4Europe conference, focused on Collective Intelligence, was successfully organized in Vienna on 15–16 June 2025. Following a call for abstracts and a rigorous review process, the event brought together 140 participants from 32 countries.
The topics for the foresight pilots were identified through stakeholder interviews and analysis of EU and national strategy documents, ensuring alignment with shared interests across the ERA. A Foresight Pilot Handbook was developed to support implementation, offering design templates, facilitation tools, and tactical guidance.
By June 2025, six pilot exercises had been completed, covering themes such as the future of democracy, sustainable fashion (two events), geopolitical and industrial decarbonization, futures of science and conflict, and the future of emotion ecosystems. The outcomes from these pilots are synthesized in the first Eye of Europe Policy Brief.
The project has also launched the first five “foresight starter videos” and a podcast, available via the Futures4Europe YouTube channel, to engage a wider audience of foresight participants and the general public.
A pilot training event for foresight beneficiaries was held in Bratislava in May 2024, attended by representatives from R&I funding agencies and other national and European stakeholders. Follow-up training sessions have since been delivered in other contexts.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The futures4europe.eu platform features an innovative hypertag-based navigation model, which enhances user experience and content discovery. Its sustainability is reinforced by a design that naturally incentivizes users to showcase their work, tag colleagues and partners, and promote their organizations.
The Mutual Learning Events significantly build on the experience of the MLEs organized under the Policy Support Facility between 2022 and 2024, achieving broader participation and increased potential for exchange, with typical attendance ranging from 30 to 40 participants per event.
The Vienna conference stands out as one of the largest foresight events in Europe and the most significant gathering focused specifically on R&I foresight.
The pilot foresight exercises explore forward-looking themes that are highly relevant to the ERA. Several pilots also test innovative methodologies—for example, fashion futuring, and the combined use of horizon scanning and causal layered analysis to examine the future of emotion ecosystems.
Lastly, the project’s strong emphasis on video-based content ensures accessibility for a much broader audience, helping to democratize futures thinking and engagement.

Snapshot from the MLE in Bratislava