News Archives: Rutley and Hall Share Project at Grow the Peace Conference
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Factors that will shape the Peace Country: The Foresight Scenario Creation Project The first presentation at the Growing the North conference is a direct answer to the keynote presentation last year. Bruce Rutley and Bob Hall of the GPRC Centre for Research & Innovation (CRI) will share an exploration of the forces and factors that will shape the Peace Country over the next forty years. The Foresight Scenario Creation Project has been designed to gain new insights about forces and factors likely to shape the social and economic future of the region, and the resulting report and scenarios will be revealed for the first time tomorrow morning at the conference. ‘This project builds directly on the ideas presented by speaker Laurence C. Smith at the January 2011 Growing the North Conference in his presentationThe World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future,” explains Rutley. “It started the CRI to ask: what if we gathered about 40 forward-thinking individuals from both inside and outside of the region, and what if we used one of the strategic foresight tools to explore the question “By 2050, what must the Peace Country offer to be a great place to live, work and play?” The Foresight Scenario Creation project involved participants in two workshops, held in October and November 2011, which explored that question, and the scenarios about to be revealed will share the insight and recommendations resulting from their collaborative efforts. “GPRC is very pleased to have been able to support this project through the CRI,” says Susan Bansgrove, Vice-President Academics and Research. “We hope this project will encourage the people of our region to employ strategic foresight in preparing for our economic and social future.” The results of the workshops are being shared for the first time at Growing the Peace 2012, and then will be shared throughout the Peace Region in presentations to local governments, community and industry groups. Organizations interested in learning about scenario creation in the Peace Country are encouraged to contact the CRI Presentation Tour Coordinator at 780-527-9625. Funding from the Northern Alberta Development Council, Alberta Rural Development Network and Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, in addition to the CRI’s Rural Alberta Development Network funds have enabled this work towards ‘building a culture of innovation to proceed. -30-