About the Online Delphi

The Online Delphi was designed by the Competence Centre on Foresight of the Joint Research Centre, at the European Commission, in cooperation with IT and design corporate teams. The Online Delphi represents a public online platform, developed under the umbrella of the EU Survey. Before using this tool, please consult the Delphi guide.

The Delphi method is a structured expert survey used to gather opinions on different possible developments in the long-term future on a given topic. It represents one of the methodologies used by the foresight community to gather collective intelligence about the future. It also serves to create consensus on a specific topic and quantify assumptions regarding the future. Within a specific project, the Online Delphi can complement the qualitative approach offered by other foresight tools and methods.

Delphi questionnaires can be organised in rounds, where participants respond to questions within an established period. Results of respondents are computed and sent back for a second round where experts have to reassess and justify their answers, if situated outside of the group's median.

Initially administrated by post, the advantage of today's Online Delphi is that the results are displayed immediately after each entry, so that the participants can see how the assessments evolve. Additionally, the respondents can return as many times as they want (within a specific period) to see how the responses evolve, as well as to change their own entries, if they wish so, and comment other answers. They can also attach images or documents to support their answers/comments. The respondents can choose what to answer and what not to. The Online Delphi is completely anonymous.

The scope of the Online Delphi to elicit, collect and synthesise the opinions of a large group of experts on certain forward-looking subjects, in an efficient, user-friendly and dynamic way.

If you are interested in how this methodology works in practice, please check the Delphi survey carried out within the project The Future of Customs in the EU 2040.