AUTHOR=Martini Elvira 

TITLE=A quintuple helix model for foresight: Analyzing the developments of digital technologies in order to outline possible future scenarios

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sociology

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sociology/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2022.1102815

DOI=10.3389/fsoc.2022.1102815

ISSN=2297-7775

ABSTRACT=The challenge of contemporary society is that of planning possible paths for the future. In the current scenario of hyperconnection, men and technologies, human and artificial intelligences are intertwined in such complex ways as to generate multiple possible futures, up to the limit of the capacity of imagination. In particular, it is precisely the frontier of digital and technological changes that obliges social actors and socio-economic institutions to know how to intercept the dynamism of the transformations taking place, supporting the ability to imagine a desirable future, which goes in the intelligent direction of sustainability, of well-being. and the ethical responsibility of one’s actions (Buffardi, 2020). In this perspective, the reflection on the so-called future studes is inserted which, as Barbieri Masini wrote in 2012, becomes a necessity especially in times of change (Barbieri Masini, 1982, 2012): if the rhythm of change increases, we need to look further (Berger, 1964); but future studies are also a philosophy of thought because the future is already part of our present life in the form of anticipation of the future; and this is all the more true as social changes are improvised and systemic complexity increasingly turbulent (Luhmann, 1990).
Based on these statements, this work aims to analyze how the Triple Helix Model (Etzkowitz, 2004, 2008; Leydesdorff, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2021; Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003) - or rather the Quintuple Helix Model (Carayannis & Campbell 2009, 2010, 2012; Carayannis et. al., 2012; Carayannis et. al., 2016) - can be a reference paradigm for social and technological forecasting, in a systemic attempt to look at the future of science, digital technology, society, economy and their interactions, in order to promote social, economic and environmental benefits (Tegart, 2003).
In the social perspective, the model could provide guidance to improve the anticipatory profile of organizations and communities, helping to understand in short time what the consequences (even ethical) of the present actions will be.