Editors' Introduction Journal of Futures Studies, November 2007, 2(2): -4

In approaching this Special Issue on Foresight, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FI&E) we considered that globalisation and rapid modernisation were increasingly creating the need for social reflexivity. We thought that in respect to the production and diffusion of innovations, both social and technical, that the landscape for new enterprise was characterised by widening change horizons and deeper ethical concerns. As a consequence of the greater demand for innovation to achieve economic prosperity, it was conceived that 'unforesightful' innovation may have irreparable affects on social and ecological systems and uncertain implications for our futures. Therefore, we considered a new intellectual alliance between FI&E was potentially a matter of human survival. New approaches to thinking about how and what we innovate, the choices we face for new enterprise creation and the influence of infrastructure for generating entrepreneurship, we considered, would need to emerge if we are to positively impact human and planetary sustainability in the 21st century. Hence this special issue was designed to bring together cross-disciplinary research aimed at exploring the synergies between foresight, innovation and entrepreneurship and the way in which these connections may be taking place in both the practical and theoretical sense. The 'Call for Papers' sought both conceptual and applied works to represent both the academic and practitioner's viewpoints. Interestingly, in this Special Issue, Joseph Voros, in "Towards an 'integral' view of entrepreneurship", reports on a literature review scanning methodology that adopted key word searches of three major databases to explore the nexus between foresight and entrepreneurship. His conclusion, although acknowledging limitations, is that research that draws connections between foresight and entrepreneurship is still a "greenfield". However, while this may be the case from the perspective of academic works, the number of applied articles and essays responding to our "Call for Papers" indicates that the practice of FI&E is not a foreign concept. Indeed, in economics, Schumpeter (1961[1934]) was writing about the foresight of entrepreneurs as early as 1911, while van Praag (1999) claimed that Cantillon considered that alertness and foresight were two elements in successful entrepreneurship way back in the mid 1800's. It is interesting that it appears the academic world has not yet fully engaged with the what, why and how questions that are raised when one considers the intersections between FI&E; yet the applied world is grappling with these issues in the day to day, but receiving little support from the academic fraternity.