Designed for policymakers, public administrators and foresight practitioners, this publication is designed to promote holistic, strategic and evidence-informed decision-making. It aims to support countries and organisations in using strategic foresight to design and prepare robust and adaptable public policies for a range of possible futures.

The toolkit helps anticipate challenges and opportunities that could reshape the policy landscape between 2030 and 2050 by exploring 25 evidence-based potential disruptions across environmental, technological, economic, social and geopolitical domains. Each disruption is accompanied by insights on emerging trends, potential future impacts, and both immediate and long-term policy options to ensure resilience and preparedness. Challenges examined include the following. 

• Environment: climate change, global warming and extreme weather events
• Social: misinformation and disinformation, Indigenous reimagining, green radicalisation
• Technology: biotech, economic impacts of digitalisation, artificial intelligence, virtual worlds
• Economy: wellbeing economies, spending on climate action, crypto currency
• Green tech: behavioural impacts, carbon capture
• Geopolitics: tech titans, regional conflicts and military spending, the fall of global cooperation, reversal of globalisation, rising authoritarianism

The toolkit features a five-step foresight process, guiding users to challenge assumptions, create scenarios, stress-test strategies, and develop actionable plans. It includes facilitation guides and case studies to support effective implementation.

Piloted with five government partners around the world, the toolkit was found to enable governments and organisations to carry out rigorous foresight processes to enhance the resilience of their long-term strategies. 

It makes specific reference to Australian examples and context.