DeflyCompass: an operational architecture for decision-ready foresight

Abstract

Futures studies offers a rich methodological repertoire, yet institutions operating under deep uncertainty still face a persistent problem: futures knowledge often remains weakly connected to decision routines, accountability structures, and revisable intervention. This article introduces the DeflyCompass Framework (DCF) as an operational architecture for decision-ready foresight. Rather than treating foresight as an episodic anticipatory exercise, the framework specifies how futures intelligence can be embedded within recurring processes of review, justification, escalation, and adaptation so that evidence and action remain coupled over time. DCF is organized around four interdependent foundations: stakeholder viability gating, hybrid AI-expert emergence sensing, singularity-oriented discontinuity reasoning, and adaptive intervention portfolios. These foundations generate explicit decision artefacts that make the translation of futures evidence into institutional commitments traceable, contestable, and revisable. In this way, the framework addresses a recurrent implementation gap in foresight by linking methodological outputs to decision preparation, strategic steering, and institutional learning. The article also advances a non-predictive logic for evaluating foresight. Instead of relying primarily on correspondence between projected and realized futures, DCF is assessed through traceability, contestability, stakeholder continuity, value coherence, singularity readiness, and governance integration. Illustrative applications in higher education settings show procedural plausibility and practical usefulness, while broader comparative and quantitative validation remain an important task for future research.