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AI Strategic Foresight & Economic Impact Assessment

WORKSHOPS · 07 · HALF-DAY COURSE

WORKSHOPS · 07 · HALF-DAY COURSE

07

AI Strategic Foresight & Economic Impact Assessment

A 3.5-hour session for government, institutional and enterprise leaders assessing the economic and institutional impact of an AI-related decision. Participants leave with a scored impact assessment, a mapped set of institutional and workforce effects, and a three-horizon foresight brief for their own decision.

You leave with

  • Scored impact assessment
  • Mapped effects
  • Three-horizon scenario table
  • Foresight brief
Enquire about upcoming dates View the one-page brief
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Duration

3.5 hours, single session

Format

In-person or virtual

Cohort size

Max 24 participants

Requires

One AI-related decision under live consideration

Facilitator

AI economist; AI & Strategic Foresight Consultant

Worked with

UNDP, Golden Gate University, Social Cyber Institute

CPD / CPE hours

4 CPD hours

Certificate on completion

Certificate of Completion, Praxora Lab

Overview

The economic stakes of an AI decision are now large enough to require structured assessment, not a confident forecast

McKinsey Global Institute estimates generative AI alone could add $2.6 to $4.4 trillion in annual value across the use cases it analysed, rising toward $6.1 to $7.9 trillion once broader productivity effects are included; PwC's long-standing global estimate puts AI's total contribution to GDP by 2030 at up to $15.7 trillion. At that scale, the IMF's own scenario-planning work now treats AI as what it calls a macro-critical transition rather than a standard technology shock, modelling how far economic outcomes diverge depending on how fast adoption actually diffuses across an economy. A board, ministry or funding body making a single AI-related decision is making it inside genuine, quantifiable uncertainty, not a settled trend line.

Dr Jayarethanam Pillai built this course's method from the same technology impact assessment structure developed with the Social Cyber Institute and applied across UNDP engagements in Asia and Central Asia, and from a decade deciding, as a dean, which academic programmes an institution should commit real money to. Participants leave with a three-horizon foresight brief for one real decision, stress-tested against a sceptical read, not a trend report built to be agreed with.

Sources

Why Praxora

Why this, not a platform

A foresight brief stress-tested to survive the boardroom, not a trend report.

  • Practitioner-led, not faculty-assigned

    Jayarethanam Pillai, Praxora Lab's founder and UNDP economic policy lead, teaches this course because he ran this exact assessment for institutions, not as a case study.

  • A named framework, not a licensed template

    Built on the same technology impact assessment method developed with the Social Cyber Institute and applied across UNDP engagements in Asia and Central Asia.

  • One real, produced output — not a case study

    Every session ends with a scored impact assessment and a board- or ministry-ready foresight brief for the decision you bring in.

  • A small, capped cohort

    Max 24 participants, so the room works from one real decision, not a generic trend report.

  • Built on institutions that already trust it

    Built from a decade deciding institutional funding as a dean, and UNDP engagements across Asia and Central Asia.

  • One focused session — not an 18-week course

    3.5 hours, one session. No cohort waitlist, no months of drip-fed modules.

Key takeaways

What participants leave with

  • A scored impact assessment for one real AI-related policy or investment decision.

  • A mapped set of economic, institutional and workforce effects specific to that decision.

  • A three-horizon scenario table, six months, two years, five years, naming the assumptions that would need to break at each stage.

  • A board- or ministry-ready foresight brief, stress-tested against a sceptical read before it is presented.

See a full sample of these documents › Filled out for a fictional company, so you can judge the format before enquiring.

Objective

Apply a structured economic impact assessment to one live AI-related policy or investment decision, and produce a three-horizon foresight brief a board, ministry or funding body can act on.

Participants bring one AI-related decision under live consideration, a national programme, an institutional investment, a policy position. The session runs the same technology impact assessment method developed with the Social Cyber Institute and applied across UNDP engagements in Asia and Central Asia, against that decision directly.

AI economist and founder of Praxora Lab, advising the UN Development Programme on AI and policy foresight and teaching as a professor of practice at Golden Gate University. Two decades spanning academic leadership, including deanships at business schools in Central Asia and the first successful AACSB accreditation in the region, alongside economic policy analysis and technology impact assessment across Asia, Central Asia and the United States.

Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai
Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai AI Economist & Founder

Why this course

I built Praxora Lab, and for a long time I was the one person on this bench without a course of his own attached to a name, which was not an oversight I was entirely comfortable with. Every other practitioner here teaches from a track record. Mine happens to be economic policy and institutional foresight rather than engineering delivery or compliance, and I decided it was a dishonesty to leave it off the catalogue simply because it does not produce a robotics pilot or a governance checklist at the end of 3.5 hours.

This course is the closest thing on this site to what I actually did at UNDP, and what I spent a decade doing as a dean deciding which academic programmes an institution should commit real money to. An economic impact assessment is not a trend report. It is a structured, checkable argument for what a decision will plausibly cost an institution, a workforce or a market, built to survive a sceptical review, the same standard I held every accreditation submission to in my previous career. I would rather a minister or a board leave this room with one honestly stress-tested foresight brief than a confident slide deck I know, from having sat on the other side of enough of these reviews, would not survive the first hard question.

Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai's signature

Syllabus

Six segments across 3.5 hours

Left with a scored impact assessment for one real decision, a mapped set of institutional and workforce effects, and a three-horizon foresight brief, not a generic trend report.

  1. 20 min

    Framing

    The decision in the room, and what "assessed" means before a commitment is made.

    • One live AI-related policy or investment decision, named up front
    • What "assessed" actually means before a commitment is made, not after
    • Who this brief needs to convince, and what they'll push back on

    OutputDecision brief

  2. 55 min

    The impact assessment method

    Economic, institutional and workforce effects, mapped using the same structure applied in UNDP technology impact assessments.

    • Economic, institutional and workforce effects, mapped systematically rather than anecdotally
    • The same technology impact assessment structure developed with the Social Cyber Institute
    • Applied directly to the decision brought into the room

    OutputFirst-pass impact map

  3. 15 min

    Break

  4. 45 min

    Three-horizon foresight

    Where the decision plausibly lands at six months, two years and five years, and which assumptions would need to break for each.

    • Where the decision plausibly lands at six months, two years and five years
    • Naming the assumptions that would need to break at each horizon
    • A scenario table built to be checked, not a confident single forecast

    OutputThree-horizon scenario table

  5. 45 min

    Stress-testing the case

    Pressure-testing the assessment against a sceptical read, the same discipline applied to grant and accreditation reviews.

    • Pressure-testing the assessment against a deliberately sceptical read
    • The same discipline applied to grant and academic accreditation reviews
    • What survives the hardest question, and what needs rework before it's presented

    OutputRevised impact assessment

  6. 30 min

    Roadmap and close

    The impact map and scenario table brought together into one brief.

    • The impact map, scenario table and stress-test findings brought into one document
    • A board- or ministry-ready foresight brief, not a generic trend report

    OutputBoard- or ministry-ready foresight brief

Who should attend

Decision ownership, not just interest in the subject

  1. Government & institutional leaders

    Government, ministry and institutional leaders weighing an AI-related policy or investment decision.

  2. Boards & C-suite leaders

    Board members and C-suite leaders at enterprises assessing large-scale AI commitments.

  3. Strategy & foresight professionals

    Strategy, foresight and international-development professionals building assessment capability.

Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai

Facilitator

Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai

AI Economist & Founder

Bringing strategic foresight and economic analysis to how AI reshapes policy, trade and institutions.

Read the full profile ›

Common questions

Before you enquire

  • Who is this course actually for?

    Government, ministry, institutional and enterprise leaders weighing a genuine AI-related policy or investment decision. It is not a general AI literacy session, and it assumes you own or advise on a real decision, not just an interest in the subject.

  • Is this an economics degree compressed into 3.5 hours?

    No. It is a structured impact-assessment method, the same one applied in UNDP technology impact assessments, run against one real decision you bring into the room. No prior economics background is required.

  • What should participants prepare in advance?

    One live AI-related decision, real or under active consideration, with enough detail to describe its scope, the institution or market it affects, and the stakeholders involved. No reading or technical prep needed.

  • How does this differ from AI Governance & Board Readiness?

    That course scores an organisation's readiness to deploy AI for one use case. This one quantifies the economic, institutional and workforce impact of a decision already being made, at the scale of a market, an institution or a national programme. The two are complementary, not interchangeable.

  • Is the session available virtually, or in-person only?

    Both. In-person sessions are based in Singapore, with regional delivery available on request. The virtual version keeps the same structured format within the 3.5-hour window.

  • Is there a discount for sending more than one person, or booking more than one course?

    Yes. Organisations sending leadership through more than one course, or through a course and its integrated programme, get a combined rate rather than separate bookings. See the corporate and bulk enrolment section on the workshops page, or raise it directly in your enquiry.

  • What if I need to cancel, defer or a session is rescheduled?

    Full terms for individual, open-cohort and corporate in-house bookings, including deferral windows and what happens if Praxora Lab cancels a session, are set out in the refund and cancellation policy.

  • What happens after the session ends?

    Every cohort joins a standing network of practitioners and business leaders: ongoing networking events, fireside chats, and case study interviews with business owners and C-suite leaders on AI projects they've recently completed. The named facilitator also stays the point of contact for questions on applying what was covered.

Industry engagement

A network that keeps working after the workshop ends

Every cohort at Praxora Lab joins a standing network of practitioners and business leaders, not a one-off attendee list. Alumni are invited back for ongoing networking events, fireside chats with industry experts, and case study interviews with business owners and C-suite leaders on AI projects they have recently completed, a running view of what adoption actually looks like once the workshop room empties.

The learning experience

A small cohort, led by the practitioner who built the course

Every session is capped at a small cohort and taught in person by the practitioner who built it, not a teaching assistant working from someone else's slides. Participants work against one real team's own workflow rather than a generic case study, and leave with a draft they can put to use immediately.

A named facilitator, not a support desk, stays the point of contact after the session for questions on applying what was covered.

Investment

Open cohort or corporate in-house

Open cohort

On enquiry

Per participant, max 24 participants

  • Certificate on completion: Certificate of Completion, Praxora Lab
  • Decision brief and first-pass impact map
  • Three-horizon scenario table
  • Stress-tested, revised impact assessment
  • Board- or ministry-ready foresight brief

Corporate in-house

On enquiry

Fixed programme fee, max 24 participants

  • Everything in the open cohort
  • Dedicated session for one organisation or institution
  • Fixed fee, not priced per head

Full cancellation, deferral and refund terms are set out in the refund and cancellation policy.

Enquire about upcoming dates
Dr. Jayarethanam Pillai

Before you go

This is the one course on this page I facilitate myself, and I put off writing about it until every other course was finished, because I did not want to be the one grading my own homework. I built it to the same standard I held every accreditation submission to as a dean: a structured, checkable argument, not a confident narrative. If a minister or a board leaves this session with a foresight brief they cannot defend under a hard question, I have not done the job I am asking every other practitioner on this bench to do.

Signature, Jayarethanam Pillai