Foresight frame
The Greek Foresight exercise (in short hereafter, Greece-2021) was a major future-oriented activity supported by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT) and the European Commission. It had the aim to explore the roles Science, Technology and Innovation could play to determine the Knowledge Economy and Society pathways of the country; its time horizon was set at 2021, i.e., the bicentennial of the Greek State which was established following the Revolution of 1821 [1].
The foresight approach used in the project consisted in the identification of drivers and barriers for long-term (15–20 years ahead) change, which was followed by the construction of micro-scenarios, by 20 panels of experts and stakeholders, covering the major sectors of the Greek economy and society. The synthesis of the results of this, bottom-work led to the construction of 4 macro-scenarios by the project coordinators.
Innovation blocked
A key finding of the Greece-2021 exercise has been the identification of a kind of power “blockage” of the national innovation potential in a low-to-mid tech “trap.” This particularly identified barrier mechanism was found to characterize especially the strategic “backbone” of the national economy, i.e. the sectors of agriculture, industry, and tourism, generating together more than 1/3 of the GDP and the total employment, and affecting the future of the whole national economy and society.
The use of the “trap” concept in this case signifies that, although the particular sectors face problems that could be solved by socio-technical changes, including innovation, the latter factors appear to operate as obstacles rather than drivers. For example, in the case of agriculture, research and development are considered as production costs, squeezing the profit margins of the farmers. In a similar manner, industry and tourism seem to be trapped in their favourite cost-minimizing strategies. Thus, research- and innovation-based development options end up as of low priority among key socio-economic actors [2].
Student catalyst
All these and other Greece-2021 findings were discussed during the 3-day End-of-Project Conference, which took place in the appropriately inspirational venue of the Athens Planetarium, and was attended by more than 300 persons, a balanced combination of researchers, stakeholders and other players, including a large group of more than 50 engineering students from the National Technical University of Athens.
The presence of students, together with that of some of their professors, fuelled the idea that they represent the future generation that will have to live and work through the period surveyed by the Greece-2021 Foresight exercise.
These thoughts in turn catalysed a game-like, innovation de-blocking experiment run by the project leaders: a competition among all conference participants with the theme: In how many ways can you peel an apple? or the Apple Peeling Test. The unexpected, to a great extent, results of this experiment will be reported and discussed in the following, with a view of learning a lesson useful for the national innovation policy and strategy.