FUTURES

Outsights Strategic Consultancy This provides a linkg to the Shell/Economist future essay prize, as does this:
http://www.shelleconomistprize.com/competition_frame.html

You can read earlier winners (but not the most recent, presumably due to the Economist publishing in hard copy.

"This year's competition poses the question: Import workers or export jobs? Should developing nations be allowed to 'poach' skilled professional labour from countries who have helped pay for this expertise? Or is the influx of immigrants, whether skilled or unskilled, a positive force, bringing either expertise or ambition and hard work to the host nation? "

Regional Futures Resources Guide
This is a UK Regional Futures Resources Guide (in Word format at
www.regionalfutures.org.uk/ ResourcesGuidewebversion_doc_media_public.aspx )

VISIONS AT THE JRC This is the entry point into an interesting futures study with diverse scenario work at different locations

The Centre for Future Studies Sets of scenarios - sourced where? produced how? written by whom?

Google Directory - Society > Future > Organizations patchy google list of groups working on futures issues.

A LONG-TERM CARE
FUTURES TOOL-KIT WHO and Institute for Alternative Futures: intended to give policy makers and stakeholders a tool to help consider the future of Long Term Care in their country. The Toolkit uses forecasts of the future demographic impacts of
disability incidence as the starting point for consideration of the issues
involved in creating a more effective and humane LTC system.... but also iIncludes a scenario apporoach and Excel model. Lots of useful links and biblio.

GW Forecast Online surveying about futures, with many links and some briefing papers here. The survey I just gave up trying to complete on how much I valued various forecasting methods was not a very good starting place however - if you're interested or have time to kill seeing how not to do it, try:
http://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/15768/technologymethods.htm#Question6
There is good stuff on this site, but some of the conceptualisation is rather archaic "social barriers to technology"

Future of Work
This is the first of three volumes presenting
Working Futures: New Projections of
Occupational Employment by Sector and
Region. Prepared by a team at Warwick; uses Cambridge Econometrics model, projects out to 2011; occupations, industries, regions, gender considered, not much qualitative analysis (except drivers). Aimed to inform the Sector Skills Development Agency
(SSDA) and the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC).
Note comment that for local level results, data "have been pushed to their limits. Many of the
official data sets have not been designed to
provide robust information at such a detailed
level. This raises some important issues for
national Government, and those that provide
official statistics, about how existing data
sources need to be extended and improved
to meet these new requirements.!