Expert groups as production units for shared knowledge in energy foresights

Abstract

Purpose -This article seeks to investigate the knowledge sharing processes in expert teams working with foresighting, creating knowledge for and about the future in electronic work groups.Design/methodology/approach -Observations and assessments have been made this study in two expert workshops conducted on the European level aimed at assessing the true status of plausible hydrogen technologies and their potential.Findings -Building on an understanding of knowledge sharing as cyclic in its orientation, it is proposed that knowledge creation in expert teams draws heavily on latent knowledge embedded in the individual experts. Explicating latent knowledge is seen as occurring during reconstructions that involve questioning, confrontations and debates. Such reconstructions are not fully explicated in the dualistic representation of knowledge often referred to as explicit and tacit. Research limitations/implications -Based on the assumption that expertise used in foresighting is embedded in some sort of implicit knowledge, which is latent, but not necessarily expressed previously, two hypotheses are proposed to be explored and pursued by means of a quasi-experimental design to improve the understanding of the nature of knowledge creation and sharing processes as well as the linkage between implicit and explicit knowledge.Practical implications -As a nominal group process, the use of an interactive electronic workshop seemingly produces information (ideas, assessments, measures, actions, etc.) more unbiased, more effectively and more abundantly than traditional expert groups.Originality/value -This research contributes to the discussions of the linkages between the use of electronic work groups as a mode for eliciting expert information, and the foresight strategic planning processes.

Design and application for a replicable foresight methodology bridging quantitative and qualitative expert data

“…The results of using this technique are, typically, semi-quantitative or a hybrid. The NGT is often used to uncover new business opportunities, to identify new solutions to old problems, or to project future developments 1,2 .…”

“…Foresights -rigorous imagining is the driver Participative expert foresights are intriguing and captivating, since they capitalise on intellectually virtuous thought processes about the future [1]. The intention is neither prediction nor falsification; rather, it is about crafting robust images of the future built on the perceptual and creative capacity of the experts.…”

“…Quantitative foresights, when done properly, provide a rigour, precision, and consistency that comes from their numerical and mathematical underpinnings. Their ontological and epistemological suppositions are made explicit and are, thus, open for critical analysis [1].…”

Foresighting addiction and lifestyles in Europe 2030+

“…Unique, evidence based knowledge (i.e. domain expertise), rather than common, routinized knowledge was the criterion for selecting each expert [8]. What we hoped to elicit via the use of such an expert group was novel and pregnant images of the medium-long term future, conducive to a reframed understanding of the significance and impact of addiction and lifestyles on European society.…”

“…The project design applied an electronically combined approach using an in-situ substantial idea generation blended with well-established foresight tools, called E-lab [8]. The ELab consists of a methodology database and a set of laptops in a local area network, supported by experienced facilitators.…”