Pardee Center Hosts Visitors from Singapore Prime Minister’s Office

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future hosted a meeting on Oct. 2 with staff who work on programs related to futures strategies and planning in the Public Service Division of the Office of the Prime Minister of Singapore.

The visitors included Chin Lum Kwa, Head of the Centre for Strategic Futures; Wei Jian Leong, Senior Strategist from the Strategic Policy Office who also works with the Centre for Strategic Futures; and Jason Chan, Covering Head of the Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) Solutions Centre. The group discussed efforts in the Public Service Division to take a longer-term approach to planning and program development through futures forecasting techniques that often are used in business. The Centre works with high level representatives from all government ministries to try to anticipate emerging trends, and then raise awareness among various government agencies about the potential for such trends to impact their programs.

Other participants in the meeting included Pardee Center Director Anthony Janetos, Associate Director Cynthia Barakatt, and BU faculty members Edward Cunningham (Earth and Environment), Joseph Fewsmith (International Relations), Paul McManus (School of Management), Eugenio Menegon (History, and Director of the BU Center for the Study of Asia), and Min Ye (International Relations).