This OECD High Level Risk Forum workshop brought together experts to discuss how to strengthen management of ‘Emerging Critical Risks’. The workshop discussed how to monitor underlying factors that drive changes in the intensity or frequency of emerging critical risks, and how to bring to bear capabilities and attention to manage these risks before they manifest themselves via shock events. The workshop included presentations and facilitated break-out discussions to share knowledge on how organisations:

• Use information about emerging risks to inform policy, invest in preparedness and resilience and conduct strategic planning.
• Design agile systems of governance needed to adapt to emerging risks that suddenly arise.
• Develop and invest in capabilities required to treat emerging risks sufficiently in advance that they may be deployed to reduce risk.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with the OECD Strategic Foresight Unit in order to identify synergies with its research on ‘Existential Risks’.

The workshop explored:

• How strategic foresight tools and expertise in identifying trends and weak signals well in advance can better position countries to address both emerging critical and existential risks.
• Actions governments take when the likelihood of emerging critical and existential risks changes from negligible to more plausible.
• Policy and behavioural barriers to assessing emerging and existential risks.
• How to account for the potential impacts of emerging and existential risks on future generations when considering risk prioritisation.

Contact: For more information on the Workshop, please contact Jack Radisch (jack.radisch@oecd.org).

DOCUMENTS

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

• N° 7 - Helsinki, Finland, 23-24 May 2018
• N° 6 - Geneva, Switzerland,  23-24 May 2017
• N° 5 - Geneva, Switzerland,  12-13 May 2016
• N° 4 - Geneva, Switzerland,  28-29 May 2015
• N° 3 - Geneva, Switzerland,  12-13 June 2014
• N° 2 - Geneva, Switzerland,  19-20 June 2013
• N° 1 - Geneva, Switzerland,  28 June 2012