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Purpose: This guest editorial aims at demonstrating the usefulness and variety of FTA for defining future S&T and innovation agendas. Design/Methodology/Approach: This introductory paper provides an overview of selected FTA 2011 conference contributions for this special issue. Findings: FTA can play a number of important roles in orienting S&T and innovation systems so that these can better address global challenges. Appropriate forms of FTA support and enable both, organisations and individuals, to anticipate, adapt and respond pro-actively to grand challenges by defining respective future S&T and innovation agendas and contributing to smart specialisation. Research limitations/implications (if applicable): From a large set of excellent papers presented at the FTA 2011 conference, only a restricted number of papers could be included in this special issue contributing to the anticipation and shaping of future S&T and innovation developments. Practical implications (if applicable): FTA can contribute not only to the steering of S&T and innovation systems, but also to their adjustment, adaptability and ability to shape responses to challenges and opportunities. Social implications (if applicable): The papers of this special issue point to the need for FTA to create spaces for an effective dialogue between key players in different policy domains. Only then FTA will facilitate vision-building and consensus-building for engineering major processes of transformation. These transformations can be pursued at regional or national level and require a well-thought out strategy to play on the strength of that particular region or country («smart specialisation») when addressing the grand challenges. Originality/Value: A brief analysis of the selected articles does reveal promising activities that FTA can play a crucial role in fostering the development of smart specialisation strategies. They will be required to generate robust S&T and innovation agendas in a globalised era.

Purpose: This guest editorial aims at demonstrating the diversity of application fields in which FTA methods are being used and to offer a glimpse onto possible consequences that grand challenges may imply for the development of FTA. Design/Methodology/Approach: This introductory paper provides an overview of selected FTA 2011 conference contributions for this special issue. Findings: FTA approaches create spaces where an effective dialogue between key players in different policy domains facilitates vision-building and consensus-building for engineering major processes of transformation. Therefore, sound approaches of futures thinking will help to better address the grand challenges. Research limitations/implications (if applicable): From a large set of excellent papers presented at the FTA 2011 conference, only a restricted number of papers could be included in this special issue highlighting the broad diversity of FTA application fields in response to grand challenges. Practical implications (if applicable): FTA can contribute not only to the steering of diverse innovation systems, but also to their adjustment, adaptability and ability to shape responses to grand challenges. Social implications (if applicable): The papers of this special issue point to the need for FTA to take into account user perspectives and to shape the social context. Originality/Value: This special issue brings together the following papers which explore not only the opportunities and limitations of implementing FTA methods in a variety of policy domains but also their benefits in enabling a better understanding of complex systems which interact in each situation and in defining effective policy responses.