Monitoring the future of biotechnology

The emergence of biotechnology in the years to come will be shaped by a global context that is both highly unpredictable and significant. Scenario thinking, as a way to anticipate unpredictability and impact of futures that are plausible, will become a widely practised tool for strategy development and cooperation. It may therefore also contribute to the practices of building Lip, disseminating and exchanging knowledge of biotechnology among its widely dispersed community of researchers, scientists, policy makers, journalists, et cetera. Contextualizing issues of biotechnology against plausible global scenarios of future developments can augment the value of the contributions made in the Biotechnology and Development Monitor. This small contribution is meant as an open invitation to consider scenarios as a tool to monitor biotechnology developments.