In 2006 the Horizon Scanning Centre (HSC) identified new thinking about future science and technology. The Sciencehorizons project was commissioned to complement this work by exploring public views on the future applications of science and technology. 

Between May 2006 and December 2008 Sciencewise-ERC and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – which later merged with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to become the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – commissioned a series of public dialogues exploring public perceptions of the possible futures of science and technology.

The process was made up of three strands which engaged with 3,300 members of the public.

• Strand 1 consisted of a deliberative panel with 31 public participants.
• Strand 2 worked with 842 members of the public and involved running 36 two-hour sessions in science centres and community spaces across the UK.
• The final strand expanded the process further and delivered 78 group events reaching 2,400 people across the UK.

The public dialogue was delivered by Dialogue By Design and the project was independently evaluated by Shared Practice.

This project provided a set of priority topics of future public dialogue projects which informed the new Sciencewise-ERC.