Mine the Gap: Augmenting Foresight Methodologies with Data Analytics

Abstract

The explosion of Big Data and analytic tools in recent years has brought new opportunities to the field of foresight. Big Data and improved analytics capabilities can expand the knowledge base and act as a corrective to our cognitive biases. Moreover, several data mining and machine learning techniques that increase performance for businesses can be applied in foresight to help researchers discover patterns that may be early signals of change and correct our misperception of patterns where they don’t exist. This article discusses the opportunities and limitations of various data mining and machine learning techniques in foresight.