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There are moments when your sense of the boundaries of the possible become extended. I had one such epiphany recently when I was listening to a lecture in Edinburgh by professor Marti Tiuri, a former Finnish MP. He had a fulsome introduction from the chairperson of the meeting who pointed out that, in addition to his distinguished parliamentary career, Tiuri has also been a successful research scientist with a string of patents to his name.

Before starting his presentation Tiuri modestly, and somewhat apologetically, said: "Of course, we only have four or five professors in our parliament at any one time. We can't make that much impact." Everyone in the audience of distinguished Scots gulped and looked at each other - four or five professors, we thought; just one would be a start. Tiuri was in Scotland to talk about his work as chairperson of the Finnish parliament's committee for the future which was set up in 1994 to provide a focus for thinking through the challenges that the country faced in the globalising economy.


At that time Finland had only just started to recover from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In short, the collapse of trade with eastern Europe had led to a 20 per cent fall in GDP and an unemployment rate of 20 per cent. So the government published an annual report on the future of Finland. The committee was established to provide the official parliamentary response to this and to develop programmes of research on futures. The programme of work since has been wide-ranging. There have been studies of how technology can help older people to continue to live independently at home - "gerontechnology". The committee has also looked at future needs for energy and helped to create a national consensus for the continued development of nuclear power. And it has tackled some of the most controversial modern issues such as genomics and stem-cell technology.


The committee does not work on its own. It draws on the support of a Forum of the Experienced and the Wise comprising "outstanding retired people" who meet the committee four or five times a year to discuss topics such as globalisation, corporate social responsibility and the strength and future of family relations. This dialogue with older people is paralleled by an internet forum of young people - the Young Makers of the Future. Tiuri argued that the success of the investment in this approach can be judged by the fact that international comparison has seen Finland move from being rated the 25th most competitive nation in 1993 to the second most competitive in 2003.
John McTernan is a political analyst.