Scotland’s Futures Forum is
the Scottish Parliament’s futures
think-tank. We work across
the political parties and beyond
to promote research and to
stimulate debate on Scotland’s
long-term future.
Our aim is to inform MSPs and
others and to enable them to
look beyond the electoral
horizons. Our work is based
on bringing together diverse
groups of people to consider
the effect of policy decisions
and potential policy decisions
on Scotland’s long-term future
The year covered by this annual report was
a year like nomor other. As the Covid-19 pandemic
hit Scotland, it became hard for many of us to
look beyond the end of the week, let alone into
the long-term future.
At Scotland’s Futures Forum, like many other
places, our work was curtailed as we adapted to
changing circumstances. As a body owned by the
Scottish Parliament, we redirected resources to
supporting parliamentary business. Through the
year, however, we still tried to find space to look
positively at our shared future. The programme was an investigation into
the kind of country we want Scotland to
be in 2030 and beyond. We looked at the
issues through different themes and from
different perspectives, with the overall aim
to take a positive view of what lies ahead.
Over the years of the programme, we built
up a reference bank of materials. As well
as capturing the wide range of topics
covered, it provides food for thought on
the future that Scotland faces. With
videos, podcasts, event reports, guest
blogposts, stories and pictures, we
supported a variety of voices to reflect on
the future in the way that works for them. A key theme of the Scotland 2030
Programme was creativity. To reflect this
and to support our discussions, we asked
writers and others to sharing their thoughts
on the issues at hand and their creative
reflections on our shared future.
The future can be hard to imagine, and
stories and art can help us envisage the
kind of future we want and discuss our
aspirations with others.
From our first event, where the writer and
singer Karine Polwart read and discussed
three imagined news stories from 2030,
to our work with Cymera and Shoreline of
Infinity to support a storytelling competition
in summer 2020, we supported this work
where possible