Foresight Lab Launches Pakistan’s First State of The Future Index
Foresight Lab has launched an inaugural study called the Pakistan State of Future Index (PK-SOFI). This is a 10-year future index composed of 30 variables indicating future prospects.
The index shows up to 30-year trends of improvement and decline, where each variable is forecasted based on 20 years of past data which are then further assessed for the best and worst possible values in 10 years. The index is developed by the Millennium Project in an effort to measure the changing state of the future, and it shows whether the conditions, globally and nationally, promise to get better or worse. 15 global challenges identified that were recognized back in were incorporated for the study to form the statistical foundation.
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More than 100 Pakistani participated in the Realtime Delphi Study. And over 20 academics provided their expert judgment on the variables selected. The study has been scaled between sentiment and sensitivity benchmarks. The variables included in the study; these variables were further classified using the STEEP technique which covered the Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political spheres.
Puruesh Chaudhary, Founder Foresight Lab and Founding President AGAHI speaking about the index said,
“With this national study, Pakistan leads the region in futures research in public space, this is where this nation is winning; the dominating trend in the inaugural report indicates that the growth potential of the internet is significant; this Index gradually builds confidence, which can help the decision-makers draft policy frameworks where technology could become the core element in ensuring the well-being of the people.”
According to Dr. Shahid Mahmud, CEO and Chairman Interactive Group of Companies and Co-Founder Foresight Lab, the index has the potential to become a useful tool to identify and objectively evaluate where Pakistan is heading.
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The index shows that improvement is in the future for the people of Pakistan. The index was computed in consultation with global futures professionals from the Millennium Project. Also in coordination with local experts from the academia, which includes more than 18 universities nationwide. Jerome C. Glenn, CEO/Co-Founder Millennium Project said that PK-SOFI is now incorporated in to Chapter 2 of the Millennium Project’s major publication: State of Future 19.0. This brings together an extraordinary set of data, information, intelligence and collective wisdom to the decision-makers, opinion leaders, researchers, and analysts.
In regard to politics where the UNESCO Futures Chair Sohail Inayatullah stresses that Pakistan is past-based and focused on the pendulum between military rule and landlords, the State of the Future index asks a different question: can Pakistan become future focused?
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The universities that were the developing partners for the index include: National University of Modern Languages (NUML), COMSATS Institute of Technology, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Institute of Space Technology, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Strategic Visions Institute (SVI), Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), China Study Center, Center for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS), IGNITE, National Technology Fund, Women University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts, Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education (DIHE), Karachi University, Institute of Management Sciences (IMS), Karakoram International University, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), and University of Balochistan (UoB).
