New Foresight Council elected entrepreneur Jaan Pillesaar as its Chair

“The Foresight Centre makes important fundamental analyses for shaping the social and economic strategy of Estonia in a longer-term perspective. For the last 30 years, I as an entrepreneur have also had to study the reasons, connections and consequences of the trends in society and in the economy, and as an investor, to predict correctly the future of different economic models. I am very happy to use all this experience in the interests of the future of Estonian society through the Foresight Council,” Chairman of the Foresight Council Jaan Pillesaar said. “Due to the changes taking place in the world and the demographic developments in Estonia, we have to decide already in the coming years what kind of a state we want and also are able to keep as taxpayers in Estonia. We will not be able to avoid the state reform, and the studies conducted by the Foresight Centre are an important expert input to the making of decisions.” 

Jaan Pillesaar is the CEO of IT company Helmes and the Chairman of the Estonian Service Industry Association.

The members of the Foresight Council are entrepreneurs Jaan Pillesaar and Priit Rohumaa, Mait Palts (Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Tiit Land (Taltech) and Tarmo Soomere (Academy of Sciences).

The Foresight Council is a five-member council formed from recognised experts in the field of research, business and technology to ensure the independence of foresight. The members of the council are appointed by the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu, the President of the Republic, the organisations representing the employers, the Universities Estonia and the Academy of Sciences.

Foresight Centre is a think tank at the Chancellery of the Riigikogu that analyses long-term developments in society and economy. The Centre conducts research projects to analyse the long-term developments in Estonian society and to discover new trends and development directions.

During its four years of activity, the Centre has developed future scenarios on the labour market, productivity, governance, pension system, regional economy and global power relations. This autumn, the scenario analyses on the economic and social impact of the virus crisis, and on the developments in health care and in maritime activities will be completed.

The work of the Foresight Centre is based on the Foresight Act. Information about the research projects and completed studies of the Foresight Centre can be found here.