Obviously this status and the rapport with her colleagues are some of the things she will miss now the time has come for her to retire. ‘However, all kinds of new things are coming my way. I am really ready for that.’ Every five years, the Flemish Government asks the Research Department to undertake a wide-ranging background analysis. ‘It was one of our key policy-preparation tasks. This analysis provides a broad perspective of what is happening in the world. An overview of  what trends are taking shape in terms of demography, innovation and the economy, culture and society, ecology and space and politics and the institutions. This shows which of these trends are also discernible in Flanders, how likely they are to spread to here and what kind of impact this may have.' (RK, maa 2016)

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