Future-focused research and innovation

RMIT University is among the top 250 universities worldwide and is internationally recognised for its strong position in education, research and innovation. The Research and Innovation Portfolio delivered ambitious objectives for many years and contributed to research and innovation with social impact. Despite that success, the leadership team saw that traditional ways of working, in a fast-changing world, would not be enough to remain successful in the future.

In 2019 the challenge was clear: how could the R&I Portfolio anticipate and prepare for an uncertain future while staying true to its ambition to shape research and innovation globally? The key lay not only in recognising changes in the external environment, but also in creating a shared understanding across the whole team of what those changes mean.

To tackle this complex question we introduced our innovative approach to scenario planning. Scenario planning is often seen as a first step in strategy development. It enables organisations to explore multiple plausible futures and make well-considered choices without needing exact forecasts. By involving different perspectives from within the organisation, a shared picture of possible scenarios emerges.

Our Scenario Planning Sprint offers a compact and complete approach, consisting of two online surveys and a one-day workshop. In this way teams can arrive at usable insights and align their strategic planning within weeks rather than months.

Discover how the R&I Portfolio at RMIT University used this method to gain more clarity and confidence in its strategic direction, and how our approach can help your organisation to deal better with future uncertainty.