Strategic foresight as a core governance competence of a learning state
Nadine Schön becomes a new Fellow of Practice at the TUM Think Tank
How can we make democratic systems more future-proof through anticipatory political action? And how can technological tools and experimental formats support this process?
Nadine Schön joins the TUM Think Tank as a Fellow of Practice with the aim of advancing interdisciplinary approaches to strategic foresight as mechanisms of policy and regulatory learning. The focus lies on developing concrete courses of action at the intersection of state modernization, technology, and continuing education, in order to strengthen the innovation capacity of government and public administration.
About the project
Governments around the world are facing profound challenges: geopolitical shifts, digital disruption, and social polarization are straining established institutions and decision-making foundations. Strategic foresight can help make political decisions more future-resilient, adaptive, and evidence-based.
The project aims to develop models and tools that systematically embed anticipatory action into political structures and processes. This includes the analysis of international best practices, the reflection on institutional frameworks, and the development of new infrastructures, tools, and formats for collaboration.
At the intersection of politics, public administration, and academia, the project generates practice-oriented proposalsthat both enrich public discourse and open up practical fields of action for ministries, parliaments, administrations, councils, political parties, and innovation actors.
Key Topics & Guiding Questions
- Strategic foresight in the political process: How can foresight be anchored in a way that is politically binding, methodologically diverse, and institutionally sustainable
- International best practices & institutional conditions: Which insights from other countries can be adapted, and what conditions are necessary for effective learning within the German institutional framework?
- Science–practice nexus: How can models, techniques, and technologies from foresight research (e.g., scenarios, simulations, data platforms) be integrated into political decision-making processes?
- Accessible infrastructures & low-threshold formats: Which platforms, (continuing education) formats, or tools can enable political actors to apply foresight systematically and intuitively?
About Nadine
With Nadine Schön, the TUM Think Tank gains a politically experienced voice at the intersection of technology, state modernization, and education. From 2009 to 2025, she served as a Member of the German Bundestag, for many years as Deputy Chair of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group, focusing first on digitalization and later also on education and research.
She is co-author of the book Neustaat (2020), serves on the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, and is active in several networks and initiatives — including #sheTransformsIT, Re:Form, JoinPolitics, and the Startup Factory SWX.
In parallel with her role as Fellow of Practice at the TUM Think Tank, Nadine Schön will take on the position of Executive Fellow at the GovTech Campus Deutschland. Together with other experts from politics, public administration, and technology, she works there on developing the next generation of governmental architectures and innovation approaches.
