Strategic Foresight Drivers, Signals & Trends

World Economic Forum Transformation Map

"Strategic foresight is a structured and systematic approach to exploring the future by analyzing trends, uncertainties, emerging signals, and identifying multiple, plausible, thought-provoking future scenarios. The aim is to better prepare for potential disruptions, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and build resilience in an increasingly volatile and complex BANI world, and shift the focus from reactive decision-making to proactive strategies.

The strategic foresight process involves scanning for signals by analyzing emerging trends, weak signals, and uncertainties across Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political (STEEP) factors. Signals are little glimmers that may or may not turn into a trend. Trends are observable and broad movements in society or the natural world. Every big “trend” was once a little batch of signals that few people were paying attention to. Drivers are forces or events causing change that affect or shape the future. A driver can reinforce, accelerate, or amplify a trend. Strategic foresight is not about predicting the future or forecasting; it's about scenarios.

The World Economic Forum's Global Foresight Network is curated in partnership with the Institute for the Future (IFTF). The WEF Global Risks Report 2026 analyzes global risks through three timeframes: the immediate term (in 2026), the short-to-medium term (to 2028), and the long term (to 2036) to support decision-makers in balancing current crises and longer-term priorities. Chapter 1 presents the findings of this year’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS), which captures insights from over 1,300 experts worldwide. Chapter 2 explores the range of implications of these risks and their interconnections through six in-depth analyses of selected themes.

Laura Nissen, author of the 2025 book Anticipatory Social Work: Foresight Tools and Approaches for Social Imagining and Collective Praxis. offers a list of publications she scans regularly to get a good sense of the changes in the landscape and those coming up over the horizon.

The Institute For The Future (IFTF) offers Foresight Essentials training and tools. Coursera offers several IFTF self-paced futures thinking, forecasting, and urgent optimism courses for a nominal fee.