The “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iaşi – an institute of excellence of the Romanian Academy – is the beneficiary of a project (contract no.196/9.09.2008) financed from CAPACITATI programme – module II.

            The project “Multifunctional polymeric materials for society” will be finalized with a strategy for the development of the field of polymeric materials characterization, as result of application of a foresight exercise.

            The Delphi method will be used. The Delphi technique was originally conceived as a way to obtain the opinion of experts without necessarily bringing them together face to face. The essence of the technique comprises a series of questionnaires sent out to the same group of experts several times, each time adding the results of the previous rounds. Usually, this technique leads to a final result, all opinions having a specific dispersion that reflects the existing uncertainties. It must mention that this method requires well-trained professionals who deliberately escalate tension among group members, pitting one faction against the other, so as to make one viewpoint appear ridiculous so the other becomes "sensible" whether such is warranted or not.

            Our team consists of specialists from industry, research laboratories, laboratories of polymeric materials characterization, companies which sell equipments for the polymeric material characterization.

            Typically, the polling of these experts is done on an anonymous basis, in hopes of attaining opinions that are unfettered by fears or identifiability. The experts are presented with a series of questions concerns to the methods used for the characterization of polymeric materials, which is typically, but not always, presented to the expert by a third-party facilitator, in hopes of eliciting new ideas regarding specific project topics. The responses from all experts are combined in the form of an overall summary, which is then provided to the experts for a review and for the opportunity to make further comments. This process typically results in consensus within a number of rounds, and this technique typically helps minimize bias, and minimizes the possibility that any one person can have too much influence on the outcomes.

            The specialists’ opinion will help/contribute to elaborate a development strategy for the field of polymeric materials characterization.