How do we want to live in 10 years?
We are looking for answers to this question at the Foresight Academy. On our platform, companies from ten different industries join forces to imagine possible future scenarios and gain reliable insights into what humans of tomorrow truly desire. Our roots are European. Our perspective is global. Our research spans three continents.
Business, science and design all play an important part in our process. The businesses bring their key questions to the table and supply industry expertise. Scientific collaborations ensure a solid academic foundation. Design creates tangible results and helps tell stories of the futures we want to build. Our network partners then use the newly gained knowledge in their companies.
The Foresight Academy methodology is optimal for capturing potentials of the new and building desirable futures.
The Foresight Academy is a 2-year program comprised of a series of workshops, inspirational talks, co-creation sessions, research trips, and regular opportunity for exchange across industry borders. Participants have access to handbooks, working material, reports, and presentations to share the methods and outcomes with their organizations.
Method handbooks created by gravity for the Foresight
Academy
Combining many perspectives
 
Our research method is new, and it is different. We do not provide a concrete answer to a single question – instead, our method creates a different understanding of the future. We are not primarily interested in finding out what the most likely future is. We develop stories and scenes for a desirable future. This is why we use a very broad methodological basis.
 
An important part of our research is interviewing Trend Receivers. Trend Receivers are individuals who – due to their individual biographies and their unique skills – perceive changes and potentials of the new in a specific area in a highly sensitive and differentiated manner. We integrate international perspectives by involving individuals on three continents. In this way we not only identify megatrends such as urbanization, but also pick up on weaker signals and discuss new and upcoming aspects and potentials.
Our goal is to identify signals of change, to distinguish the meaningful from the noise.
The Foresight Academy methodology
Participants taking part at Trend Receiver Interviews
PublicHome_3DWelt
Speculative Design
At the end, the results always keep the balance between remaining broad and open and becoming specific. The task is to visualize our research outcome and desirable future everyday life in a way that is both concrete and sketch-like. We kept our spaces and environments mostly white and in a kind of plasticine ambient. This way, we are specific and at the same time leave room for one’s very own interpretation.
The feedback from the partners is similar: even those participants who had been involved in research of the future at their respective companies for a long time appreciated the exchange among the involved people and partners and stated that they experienced a new approach and many new aspects and facets. This is also due to the fact that they take actively part in the Trend Receiver interviews. This dialogue is a core element of our methodology.
>> More detail about the methodology
The Foresight Academy in a nutshell

Have a look at our video for a quick introduction to the project and its impact on the participating brands.
We discuss desirable futures with forwardthinking individuals across Europe, China, and the United States.
We do not provide a concrete answer to a single question – instead, our method creates a different understanding of the future.
"The future takes place outside the comfort zone”

Remo Masala, travel visionary and former CMO of Designhotels, Kuoni and Thomas Cook Group, is constantly searching for answers. He wants to know: What kind of destination and hotel concepts will exist? As a trend receiver, he has also provided some information for our research project. In this interview, he reveals why the project has helped him as well and how it has enabled him to develop further.
>> Read full Interview
We share featured content from our research. Stay tuned for future updates.

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

Over the past decade, social media has triggered change in the fabric of society and the lives of many people. In this article, Dr. Annekathrin Kohout and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich analyse the most important changes in social media with a clear focus on new phenomena in visual culture. How do they affect the everyday reality of societies? What new formats trigger change? And what does this evolving visual culture mean for companies and brands going forward? Read Annekathrin’s and Wolfgang’s article based on the book series “Digitale Bildkulturen” which they co-edit.
>> Open full article

TRENDS IN VISUAL AESTHETICS

Pictures are powerful. To understand how they show the Zeitgeist and how they impact it, we talked to Dr. Rebecca Swift, VP, Global Head of Creative Insights at Getty Images. Changes in society – the corona crisis, a growing need for inclusivity, the dawning of the era of social good – all reflect in the pictures to which we are drawn. What will be the defining images of our time? For Rebecca’s insightful perspective on visuals present, and future click on the link below.
>> Open presentation

ENLIGHTENMENT 2.0

Learn about the growing desire for a revival of the enlightenment values across societies globally. What does a better world look like? Our study sheds light on the desire for reason, equality, liberty, and joy that transcends regions. Join us in learning about the enlightenment revival set to grow as we move towards 2030!
>> Open full article

NEW SPIRITUALITY

How do we search for balance in the 21st century? Find out about the myriad of drivers heightening our need to embrace spirituality, from a need to belonging to lingering fear and instability. We see signals of this trend expressed in diverse aspects of society.
>> Open full article

MASS CUSTOMER FORESIGHT 

Is it just us? The Foresight Academy Trend Receiver research revealed strong signals for how humans wish to live in 2030. But do these trends extend beyond our bubble? In Goethe University’s Mass Customer Foresight research Lisa Eckmann, Prof. Dr. Jan Landwehr, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hackethal explore just that: they quantify the extent to which some important trends exist in a representative sample. The quantitative study surveyed 6000 individuals (2000 in each of US/CN/EU) on themes related to conscious consumption, A.I. and data, and rural/urban living. What do we find out? It is not just us! Read our executive summary to find out more about Goethe University’s results and how they manifest across other relevant demographics.
>> Open executive summary

Methodology Handbook 1: Making sense of the future

Author: Author: gravity

Methodology Handbook 2: The Foresight Academy Methodology

Author: Author: gravity

The Customer Foresight Territory

Author: Author: Dr. Eric Eller, Dr. Rupert Hofmann, Prof. Dr. Jan Oliver Schwarz

Customer Foresight Practice: How to Access Future Markets Through Extraordinary People

Author: Author: Dr. Rupert Hofmann

PARTNER COMPANIES

LOGO_Adidas
LOGO_Allianz
LOGO_Audi
Deutsche Bank Logo
Eon
Ferrero
Hornbach
Infineon
McDonalds
Novartis
Porsche
SAP
Sonova
SwissRe
Telekom
Coming Soon

LEAD AGENCY

The Foresight Academy is a platform where companies from different industries explore how customers want to live in ten years and create shared visions of desirable future everyday life.
This platform was started by Audi / Audi Business Innovation GmbH and it is realized by Foresight Academy GmbH.
 
Do you have questions about the Foresight Academy?
Please feel free to contact us: contact(at)foresightacademy.com