Oo, yeah; "inspired" is precisely the word I was looking for! (I'm a little embarrassed I couldn't draw it to mind by myself!)

I'm much happier with saying (for example) "Star Trek inspired the modern warp drive" (I mean, if/when a real-world practical warp drive exists) than "Star Trek predicted the modern warp drive".

Doesn't imply that Star Trek actually invented the thing, but does assign at least a certain causal link to it; not mere prognostication of it like "predicted" implies.