Islamabad-In order to bridge the gap between academia and policy makers, the experts on Monday held a discussion to address the challenges in foresight lab - a platform to highlight social and political issues of the country.

Foresight Lab in country will address challenges and chalk multiple possibilities to bring the academics and think tanks to harness better future.

The consultative session on Pakistan - State Of Future Index (PK-SOFI) engaged academia, media, think tanks, and political parties in an immersive dialogue on the country’s past, present and future.

The participants in discussion outlined key variables that the lab needs to pursue in developing the Pakistan - State of Future Index.  The program will help the decision-makers, chart possibilities focusing on creating newer opportunities by strengthening institutions’ capacity, producing quality futures research and policy designs.

President Aghai Foundation Puruesh Chaudhary said on this occasion that foresight lab in Pakistan is uniquely positioned at the crossroads of where academia contributes to thought experiment which connects to the country’s think tanks. “The lab will publish the first annual Pakistan - State of Future Index later this year,” he said.

Chairman and Group CEO Interactive Group of Companies Dr Shahid Mahmud, while speaking on the occasion said, one of the gravest challenges country facing is the poor quality of human thinking in a society that is rapidly changing.

“The Foresight Lab is therefore an effort that connects the thinkers, the researchers and the political leadership to contribute towards creating opportunities for the collective good,” he said.

CEO ‘The Millennium Project’ Gerome C Glenn stressed on the need to explore new kinds of economies such as the self-actualization economy further adding that with each change, agricultural age to industrial and then to information age, created more jobs than replaced.

“Process to determine PK-SOFI is being applied for the very first time in Pakistan. The methodology used to study future index has been already applied by countries like South Africa, Korea, Turkey, and Venezuela,” he said.

Academicians from different leading universities of Pakistan attended the dialogue. The session also included country’s political, national security, health, infrastructure, social, economic, legal, and media experts.