Futures Thinking in Asia and the Pacific by Asian Development Bank;

Author:Asian Development Bank;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Asian Development Bank Institute
Published: 2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

“GLOBAL ADB” AND “KNOWLEDGE WITH WINGS”

The desired metaphor was “knowledge with wings,” knowledge that can capture global solutions and apply them to a local context with no limitations.

Participants

More than 20, from the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, including the director of the International Economic and Financial Cooperation Department and other senior officials from the Development Planning Department, and from ADB’s People’s Republic of China Resident Mission.

Location and date

Beijing, 15–16 May 2019

Aims of the workshop

Foster policy dialogue with more opportunities for policy innovations and long-term engagement in new sectors such as education.

The futures and foresight methodology can help stakeholders

• harness innovations and develop alternative and visionary future scenarios for a time frame longer than the 5-year planning cycles being used;

• future-proof the 5-year plans by focusing on emerging issues and disruptive futures, thus making the planning cycle far more robust, able to withstand novel technologies and social changes; and

• support long-term policy dialogue and inform ADB’s next country partnership strategy for the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which is being drafted and will identify the support that ADB will provide to the PRC for the next 3–5 years.

The People’s Republic of China needs to

• create knowledge solutions built on deep understanding of country-specific issues, paired with regional knowledge such as case studies from other countries;

• prioritize the use of its resources to optimize benefits for the population in an age of fast-paced technological, social, scientific, political, environmental change, including by building institutions and developing the capacity development of implementing agencies; and

• sustain its economic growth while allowing more people to partake in its growth story.

A more participatory approach supported by a neutral convener could help line agencies agree on desired visions and develop strategies for implementation.

How the workshop was conducted

Participants created a used future. Participants then identified emerging issues and developed alternative futures. Once they had identified the used future, participants understood what needed to change, what had worked, and how to deal with stranded assets (concepts that were not working).

Participants said they would apply the techniques they had learned to

• the evolution of the partnership between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and ADB, and

• the future of innovation and knowledge for ADB and the PRC.

They developed four possible futures, with “no change,” “marginal change,” “adaptive change,” and “radical change.” Along with plausible scenarios, participants created desired visions, which were the “pull” of the future. Since many officials were drafting the 14th 5-year plan, they viewed transformation in the People’s Republic of China with measured optimism and dived deeper into marginal and adaptive change scenarios.

Preferred futures ADB, knowledge, and innovation

The desired metaphor was “knowledge with wings,” knowledge that can capture global solutions and apply them to a local context with no limitations.

The group of ADB staff members articulated their preferred futures through the ideas of “count for impact” and “borrow for knowledge.” “Global ADB” would

• be an incubator of new solutions and an agile organization that provides cutting-edge, tested, and innovative solutions;

•

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