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Government

We have worked with the Cabinet Office, GO-Science and HMG central departments; agencies; Local Government, NDPBs, police forces and security agencies, universities and charities. We have delivered over 250 foresight and strategy projects in 21 countries in the UK, EC, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. 

About Us

The world is changing – Fast. Decisions taken today have implications for both the short and the long-term. This means you need to develop policies and strategies that are resilient to many possible futures, and build an organisation that is agile enough to respond to them.

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We have 30 years’ experience of working with HMG on futures projects. We understand the specific needs of Government in formulating and reaching decisions at both the policy and delivery levels.

SAMI is on the Government Office for Science Futures Framework Contract. 

  • SAMI Consulting is internationally recognised as a leading authority on foresight. Our consultants have delivered projects for UK government departments and agencies, the European Commission (EC), and other UK and international public sector clients.

  • Futures thinking is in our DNA.  SAMI was created as the ‘St Andrews Management Institute’ in 1989, as a joint venture between Shell, the pioneers in scenario planning, and St Andrews University.  That strand – the powerful mix of academic rigour and practical delivery – continues in our people today:  Experienced practitioners, world-renowned futures authors, and consultants with first-hand experience of the public sector and the challenges facing it.

We work with you using a wide range of foresight tools including scenario planning. We identify major drivers of change impacting your organisation, develop different futures and test alternative strategies and policies. This participative approach builds capability in your team, enabling them to become more innovative and more able to react rapidly to unexpected change. 

Our Fellows and Principals undertake the research and publish the books used as ‘textbooks’ by other consultancies and on degree programmes.  SAMI is also fully familiar with the Futures Toolkit – we wrote one of the first versions – and our continuing research and innovative work means we can offer adaptive and flexible approaches to delivering the outcomes you need. For instance, our work for a European body has involved the development of a novel, swift and interactive method of iterating and exploring scenarios for complex global issues.

What We Do

We offer the full range of Futures capability from gathering intelligence,  making sense of it,  testing and developing your strategy, to making decisions and taking action. 

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Specifically, we can help you to:

  • Futures thinking is our core skill – you will be working with experienced specialists in futures thinking and practice

  • We have no landmark London offices or expensive partnership structure, which means we can offer our experience without charging ‘Big 4’ rates

  1. Use systems, trend and driver analysis in your policy area to understand what is happening and why; identify the major opportunities and challenges, and highlight related risks and uncertainties;

  2. Describe what the future might be like – possible, desirable and adverse;

  3. Develop and test your policies, strategic objectives and plans for resilience, including the management of risk, how to build innovation into your organisation and communicate your vision;

  4. Develop your Futures capability through training, coaching and mentoring your people with the tools and techniques you need – from the Futures Toolkit and beyond; and

  5. Research and report on insights into specific policy area

We also use a number of Futures tools and databases such as our own Megatrends knowledge base, Shaping Tomorrow, and FutureScaper. This means we can deliver a faster, tailored and more sophisticated response to your needs and avoid ‘reinventing the wheel.’

Who We Are

As well as our Core Team members, we have a wide network of futurists, modellers, systems dynamics practitioners, synthetic environment designers and research associates to support your work.

Jonathan Blanchard Smith

has over 20 years corporate troubleshooting experience. He leads SAMI’s work on the implications of Brexit. Currently working with the Research and Innovation Directorate of the EC, he is Chairman of the Natural Resources Forum.

David Lye

was a senior civil servant and Chief Executive 1996-2011. Clients include the HMRC where he offered Foresight on the future UK tax system and the EC Directorate General of Research & Innovation building global scenarios for the next 25 years; and horizon scanning and scenarios for the Horizon 2020 Programme.

Patricia Lustig

is an expert practitioner in foresight and strategy development, scenario planning and innovation. She authored the award winning Strategic Foresight: learning from the future, and as co-author Megatrends and How to Survive Them; Beyond Crisis; and Here Be Dragons: navigating an uncertain world. Clients include local government, NHS Trusts and Natural England.

Michael Owen

is Chairman of SAMI Consulting Ltd and an expert in horizon scanning and scenario development. A former Director of Business Strategy in the private sector, his clients include the European Commission, Department of Health, and the City of London Corporation.

Wendy Schultz

has over 25 years of foresight practice and lecturing, with 10 years at the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies. Wendy is a Fellow and Executive Board member of the World Futures Studies Federation. She has designed and populated environmental scanning databases for DEFRA and OSI and worked with the Health and Safety Executive and the Food Ethics Council.

William Blyth

has worked for 20 years in energy security and climate change. Clients include the World Bank, African Development Bank, EBRD, UK Energy Research Centre, International Renewable Energy Agency, OECD, International Energy Agency, and the International Institute of Sustainable Development.

  • SAMI has delivered over 250 foresight and strategy projects in 21 countries. We have experience of working with public sector bodies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We also have significant experience of international bodies across Europe and beyond.

  • Every engagement listed below has been delivered by one or more members of our HMG team.

  • We balance our detailed knowledge of public sector outcomes with experience of stakeholders affected, ranging from banking and insurance to regulators and professional bodies, to manufacturing firms, charities and sports clubs.

Our Experience of Futures Work within Government

Central and Local Government Departments and Agencies, NDBPs 

  • Cabinet Office

  • Government Office for Science

  • FCO

  • Home Office

  • MOD

  • HMRC

  • Department of Education

  • Department of Health

  • Defra

  • DFID

  • Department for Transport

  • Scottish Government

  • Welsh Government/Welsh Assembly

  • Northern Ireland Government

  • Horizon Scanning Centre

  • Surrey Strategic Partnership

  • The Environment Agency

  • Valuation Agency

  • The Pensions Regulator

  • Natural England

  • Food Standards Agency 

Housing Associations & Professional Bodies

  • Sovereign Housing Association

  • GreenSquare Housing Association

  • The Law Society

  • Institute of Engineering

  • Institute of Occupational Safety & Health

  • Solicitors Regulation Authority

  • Health and Safety Commission

  • General Medical Council

  • Rail Safety & Standards Board (RSSB)

  • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

  • Royal Institute of International Affairs

  • ATI-Aerospace Technology Institute

  • Construction Industry Training Board

Police Forces & Security Agencies 

  • Metropolitan Police

  • Herts Constabulary

  • College of Policing

  • Greater Manchester Police

  • ACPO/NPCC

  • UK CT and Security agencies

  • A Caribbean police & security agency

NHS Bodies 

  • West Midlands NHS SHA

  • North East NHS and local authority

  • NHS Providers

Research Councils & Universities 

  • NERC

  • Universities UK

  • University of Manchester

  • Scottish Science Advisory Council

  • UK Energy Research Centre

Third Sector

  • National Trust

  • Christian Aid

  • Social Housing Think Tank

  • Arts Marketing Association

International Bodies

  • EC Research and Innovation Directorate

  • EU OSHA;  Joint Research Council

  • OECD

  • NATO, UN, US Department of Defense

  • World Bank, African Development Bank, EBRD

  • International Energy Agency, International Institute of Sustainable Development, International Renewable Energy Agency

  • European Trade Union Institute

Case Studies – A Small Selection Of Our Work

GO-Science - Cabinet Office

SAMI developed a structured approach using a range of Futures tools and facilitated a series of workshop-based, iterative case studies across Government, concluding in the delivery of a fully-featured Risk Scenarios Toolkit.

Government Office for Science

Review and refresh the Futures Toolkit, updating it and making it easier to use. We also added a set of workshop facilitation templates and case studies

EC Directorate General of Research & Innovation

Building global scenarios for the next 25 years. Global scenarios were mapped onto 10 regions and routes to the future plotted on a "gameboard"

European Trades Union Institute

A case study of the work SAMI and ETUI did together in 2020-2021 on developing ETUI strategy is now available. This was a complete project starting with Horizon Scanning and finishing with detailed strategic plans for implementation after Roadmapping.

Construction Industry Training Board

Future skills needs in the construction industry and implications for funding mechanisms

European Agency for Safety and Health at work (EU-OSHA)

A two-year foresight project looking at the potential impact of rapid developments in ICT including artificial intelligence and robotics on occupational safety and health and future strategy

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