Australia’s National Science Agency – Focused on the Future

Our little blue marble...I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about the future of our society and planet – how we can solve problems of today and prevent those of tomorrow. Quite often I draw up battle plans on scrap paper in preparation for those policy battles we don’t even know exist yet, those looming around the corner. Thinking I knew the CSIRO website in and out, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon CSIRO Futures. This forward thinking, strategic planning group is dedicated to helping government and industry make the tough, and smart, choices that will be critical given our uncertain future.  

Wanting to learn more about this group’s work and impact, I reached out to Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, the Theme Leader for CSIRO Futures. This is our digital conversation about science, education, energy, and what Australia must do to secure its future.

Can you provide some historical background on CSIRO Futures? What was the impetus for the creation of this unit? How and when did it come about?

The birth of CSIRO Futures was somewhat serendipitous. In 2009 we started a small internal think-piece to inform CSIRO strategic planning. It wasn’t ever intended for the outside world. However, at a major Industry and Government conference in Melbourne a video link to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) broke down. That was our lucky break. Someone from BCG was going to deliver a talk on “megatrends”. When the video link broke I was asked to step in and cover the session with our own homegrown megatrends. The audience loved the fact this work was also being done down-under and we subsequently received heaps of offers to present the work in boardrooms and at conference keynotes. We later received requests to do foresight research/consulting projects for industry sectors. So that’s when we set up CSIRO Futures. It’s now running pretty well. We’ve delivered a bunch of projects and more are in the pipeline. Our aim is to inform, engage and from time-to-time entertain.

Can you describe your role as theme leader at CSIRO and the impact this role has had (or will have) on the future of science?

This is an interesting role in CSIRO. In fact – I love it. I was appointed in July 2012 and it’s been fascinating and productive. This role is having impact in many ways. One way is that it’s making science accessible to people in industry, government and the community. For many people CSIRO means evidence-based, robust and well-researched information. When the CSIRO logo is mixed with imaginative stories about the future of the world there’s much interest. The aim is to mix science fact with science fiction to inform people’s decision making.

The report “Our Future World: Global megatrends that will change the way we live

Cite this article:
Burnes K (2013-02-06 00:44:20). Australia’s National Science Agency – Focused on the Future. Australian Science. Retrieved: Mar 27, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/australias-national-science-agency-focused-on-the-future/

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