In my line of work it is well known that the future is not just somewhere you go, you create the future. This is why we, over the years, have developed certain tools to anticipate future challenges.

Contradictory Messages
When we look at today’s society one of our biggest challenge is to navigate complexity. We are constantly bombarded with contradictory messages: One day it is: ‘Small is Beautiful’ – the next ‘Big is Better’. At times we tend to confuse ‘the GOOD life’ with the ‘GOODS life’. And YES, it is a complicated challenge to strike a happy balance. But one thing is certain; you can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.

Multidimensional Thinking
For far too long we have banked on left-brain thinking only and I believe it is time to integrate both LEFT and RIGHT to shape a positive future vision. Making the study of EXTERNAL and INTERNAL factors more complete, I utilise not only 2 Dimensional but 4 Dimensional thinking – I call this Multidimensional Thinking.

Decoding Culture
This is also the methodology I use to create my Trend Atlas. I look at The Scientific, Social, Emotional and Spiritual dimensions of today’s society & people. This tool enables me to decode the cultural content in society and to identify the key drivers of change. From my Trend Atlas it is clear that our century long ‘love affair’ with economic growth hasn’t delivered more happiness – so we are now looking elsewhere for meaningful consumption. We are asking ourselves: ‘How can I get more out of life?

Meaningful Branding
According to the Meaningful Brand Index survey of 50,000 consumers globally, only 20% of brands are perceived to have a notable positive impact on our sense of well-being and quality of life and what is more, people would not care if 70% of today’s brands ceased to exist. In the UK only 5% of brands are seen to make a difference and most people would not care if 91% of brands didn’t exist.

Rethinking Business Models
I believe this clearly indicates that it is time to rethink our business models in order to match people’s real expectations. If we start by exploring some of the Key Society Drivers impacting tomorrow’s consumption (the list above) and link these trends to values, this provides us with a profound insight into different consumer mindsets. Now, while we tend to talk about trends individually, it is important to note that they are all inter-connected.

My diagram – Value Driven Experiences – clearly indicates that all the trends are relevant. People are not ‘clean-cut’ typologies, but rather, tend to switch between typologies depending on mood, needs or situation.

The High Achievers and Happy Bohemes’ key motivational value drivers are Mobility and Dialogue. The Cultural Explorers and Karma Hunters’ motivational value drivers are Engagement and Community.

The 4 P Bottom Line
The diagram also highlights the challenges and opportunities for brands. It clearly illustrates that ‘Meaningful Brand Experiences’ – must be measured by a 4 P bottom line: People, Planet, Pleasure and then Profit. Recently the Meaningful Brand Index survey ranked IKEA 1 and Google 2 as brands perceived to contribute most meaning and well-being for individuals, communities and the environment.

Mindsets Shaping Tomorrow
Now let’s explore the mindsets shaping tomorrow’s brands and society.

The High Achievers are ambitious individuals with a rational progressive mindset. This caring Global Citizen is informed about the world around them and sees Smart Technology as a life management tool and a mobility enabler.

According to The Luxury Institute White Paper 2012, building a ‘Caring Company Culture’ will enhance your own life experience – transforming you from just another business executive into a happy and thriving human with a far greater purpose than the pursuit of money. Ironically, sales and profits will follow. 

The Happy Bohemes look for The Good Life and engaging narratives. Growth of Cloud Culture means dialogue with family, social networks and brands – enabling meaningful collaborative consumption to get the most inspiring and best deals.

Collaborative Consumption is based on ‘reputation, community and shared access’, as opposed to ‘credit, advertising and individual ownership’. According to Rachel Botsman in an interview with Wired magazine: ‘It is about connecting and sharing’. This socio-economic ‘big idea’ will change how we consume. It means we don’t need to own goods, we just need to own access to goods.

The Cultural Explorers are pro-active and informed citizens looking for participation and Social Capital. They expect brands to take an ethical lead and to build a community to facilitate A Better World.

Edelman’s Good Purpose Study from 2010 found that 71% of people believe that brands could do more to support good causes by collaborating with them and 63% want brands to make it easier for them to make a positive difference. 87% of consumers worldwide believe that business needs to equate at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business interests.

Finally, the Karma Hunters want Intelligent Health and Happiness seamlessly incorporated into every facet of their lifestyle. They look for engagement and meaning – value-based brand experiences driven by Total Transparency.

Happinomics is big news and we now consider GDW (Gross Domestic Wellbeing) alongside GDP, so brands must become happiness facilitators. The best companies in terms of work environment, innovation, accountability and profits are those with a higher proportion of women on the board.

A Holistic Brand Architecture
There is no doubt in my mind that Meaningful Consumption is all about Multidimensional Thinking. The Trend Atlas enables us to identify the key drivers of change and consumer values influencing and shaping tomorrow’s brand architecture.

A measure of a 21^st century brand’s true worth and potential is how it engages with the world. A 4 P bottom line is not just a communications strategy, but the new holistic norm – where the outcome is empathy, wellbeing and sustainability.

Talk delivered at The Economist’s The Big Rethink March 8, 2012

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* Meaningful Brand Index UK - Havas Media November 2011 >>
* Good Purpose Study - Edelman >>
* What is Mine is Yours  - Rachel Botsman, Wired 2011 >>

Will the Internet of Things have the power to change relationships between people and their environment? The web as the ultimate source of information is now more than ever ready to fuel this living network. 

Q: Do you think the Internet of Things will have the power to change relationships between people and their environment?

ALK: Cloud computing is transforming the digital sphere on a grand scale – impacting the world around us. As data and applications move from the desktop to ‘the cloud’, information becomes accessible anywhere, anytime, enabling interaction with distributed teams and remote databases and influencing our relationship with people and the planet. Engaging with people via social networks, crowd sourcing, and smart apps is now a top priority for senior marketers worldwide. Focus on ‘sharing’ rather than owning things is the driver of collaborative consumption. ‘Deep’ product and service information to fit individual needs and ethics will be a given in the future. GoodGuide is a great example of a 360º ‘real-time’ product – providing information about everything from origin and ingredients to carbon footprint and production methods.

Q: How do you think designers should delineate the right boundaries between software and hardware?

ALK: I think of hardware as the ‘processor’ and software as the ‘enabler’ – both have to operate in seamless synergy in a unified systems network. It is not so much about the boundaries between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’, but more about creating people-centric user interfaces that interact with the user in an intuitive and informed way. This is the vision of the semantic web: an integrated ‘whole-brain’ system that fuses tangible and intangible in a logical manner. Empathy and vision are key to connecting with people. They give us the ability to inspire, educate and empower the end-user for the purpose of enriching their life and will drive future design success. Understand too that people – whether they work for you, use your services or buy your products – have higher standards and more complex decision-making processes than ever before. They also expect more meaningful choices, so whatever your offer – hardware, software or an integrated system – you must deliver it an ethical and meaningful package.

Q: Should there be a clear on-line and off-line interaction in future product service systems?

ALK: Boundaries have already blurred and digital mobility with social networks has the potential to enhance ‘face-to-face’ real interaction. In particular, location-aware software and augmented reality enable instant decision making about almost anything, anywhere. In short, we can now control our lives in ways unimaginable a decade ago – creating our own unique identity and discovering the world around us. But if everything were connected to the Internet of Things, the world would become far too homogenous. We seek ‘the real thing’, be it food, fashion, travel or art, happily mining the Internet for the best deal or experience to fit in with our personal narrative.

Q: Bits and atoms are very different. What challenges do you see for designers when designing both in the same system?

ALK: Systems simply must become more people-centric, demonstrating empathy for the cultures they serve and respect for the context in which they exist. Simplification and fusion of complicated systems will play a major role in tomorrow’s innovation and design processes. To create seamlessly integrated products, services and experiences in the future will mean changing the way we think about people and systems. This requires vision, but also an understanding that everything is connected: people, planet and bottom line – so a triple P calculation must be considered when designing for the future.

Q: If things – products, services, spaces – in the future will be increasingly enabled with multiple web intangible functions, how do you think designers should cope with conveying the right meanings?

ALK: By understanding that people are essential for survival in tomorrow’s competitive landscape. The most successful brands of the future will be those that ‘think from the outside in’ and ‘feel from the inside out’. Designers must engage in multidimensional thinking since they are designing complex systems. Integrating ‘Left brain’ pragmatist thinking: logic and facts, with ‘Right brain’ possiblist thinking: intuition and vision, will enable a balanced whole-brain outlook to create meaningful and responsive systems.

Brands must wake up to the importance of story. The narrative will vary depending on cultural context and geography – but must reflect the value sets of the next generation. Today the story of the people, the process and the planet is central. However, this is never a given and we will always embrace brands that communicate their individual story in unique ways. The spirit of the ‘real thing’ is crucial to your brand narrative. It enables you to invite people to enter the soul dimension of your brand.

Q: How would you like our internet interactions in the future to be?

ALK: Dialogue driven collaborative models and systems that empower the individual. Indeed, I am convinced that operating as a natural extension of people is the way ahead. Companies must ‘cut out the noise’ to create a meaningful lean language and interact with their audiences. Leading brands must now explore their ‘real’ value and their cultural legacy if they are serious about being considered as a directional 21st century organisation.

INFOGRAPHICS
1. The Rise of Sharing and Connectivity
2. The new Drivers of Sharing
3. Collaborative Consumption Models
4. Projected Global Internet Traffic by Region in 2015

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* Latitude Research: The Sharing Economy, “What’s Yours is Mine” – CollaborativeConsumption.com, AAA Study, Google Trends, AirBnB.com, LendingClub.com, ZipCar.com

Meta Products is the next generation of internet products, meaningful design for our connected world. Welcome to a world beyond the internet of things.

Q: DO YOU THINK THE RISE OF META PRODUCTS (internet connected systems of products, services and spaces) WILL IMPACT ON DESIGN EDUCATION? 

ALK: Absolutely, simply because Meta Products allow us to think and feel in a broader context. Designers need to be holistic visionaries who approach the design process in a people-centric manner. Future creators must recognise that the pursuit of excellence involves focusing on a Triple P Process: Planet, People and then Profit.

Today’s products and services are often complicated systems that require designers to draw upon a wide base of knowledge and experiences. This demands a collaborative and meta-disciplinary way of thinking.

Meta Product innovations mean a more complex and larger scaled ‘living environment’. The designer must manage this complexity in order to develop optimal usability and the emotional hardware that appeals to people’s diverse needs and personal relationships in an information context.

Q: HOW DO YOU THINK SENSEAWARE WAS DEVELOPED AND WHAT TYPE OF ROLE DID DESIGNERS HAVE IN THE DEVELOPMENT?

ALK:  Intensive research and testing with customers has been key to the successful development of SenseAware and, as it turned out, businesses immediately recognised its benefits and saw how the innovation could be deployed across other industries, most notably the medical sector.

This is also the key to the designer’s role in the process. Imagining new and better ways to do what you already do well. Take leaps and recognise projective  deployment of technologies and interactions. This way you can reduce risk, increase your chances of success and boost market advantage.

For FedEx, SenseAware has become more than a high-tech solution to real-time tracking. It combines the power of the brand and the FedEx heritage of innovation with a new product and platform that now has the capability to transform the health and life sciences industry and also, potentially, other sectors.

Q: Do you think the role of designers will change in the future of ultimate mobility of Internet?

ALK: Yes, they will clearly have to adopt a systems approach. The 21^st century design education must incorporate a system and a platform for considering people’s true needs and balance it with intelligent design. In the context of meta-products, design without a systems approach becomes meaningless.

Furthermore, as each design will have the possibility of changing the whole system, the responsibility of the designer grows. This is the time for fresh ideas and new approaches, and offers real opportunities for the design community to actively contribute to building a better world.

Q: If I asked you to design a Meta Product how would you start?

ALK: By putting the people-centric dimension back into the centre of the design process. We must identify the true needs of people within a connected holistic vision – only then can we create meaningful products and services. Tomorrow’s designers need to decode the complexity and cultural contexts of society – this is the only way to navigate complexity and design meaningful products. It’s about bringing real value and values to the table.

Q: Do you think Meta Products can be developed with current design practices and methodologies? 

ALK: Maybe, but there are far too many incompatible processes. Current design practices lack a holistic visionary thinking model. We have to think of systems as alive – ‘thinking and organic’, some people would say. A product is more than the product itself. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences: product, service, user-experience and brand culture merged all into one. The challenge is to make them all work together seamlessly and add value at every stage. That is positive systems thinking.

Q: Do you think the rise of Meta Products has a certain impact on the way companies manage innovation? 

ALK: Organisations, as people-centric organisms, must embrace empathic leadership and recognise the power of ‘Digital Natives’ and the ‘Creative Class’. In fact, that is the only way to manage and promote meaningful innovation. Micro-management and full organisational control is a thing of the past. Allowing the Digital Natives and the Creative Class a certain amount of freedom is essential to let innovation flourish. Their Beta mindsets may at first seem out of control and risky, but this entrepreneurial approach to innovation is central to the new world order and is also where the impact will be felt in terms of innovation. It still requires an adherence to sound business decision-making, but also a commitment to challenge one’s own beliefs about ‘The Way Things Work,’ and clear focus on a human-centred approach by addressing people’s unspoken and unmet needs.

Q: What kind of mindsets do you think designers should have to develop Meta Products such as SenseAware?

ALK: Tomorrow’s designers will have to practice what I call ‘whole-brain’ or multidimensional thinking. At Kjaer Global we have developed a methodology and a set of tools that allow us to manage this process and balance Left Brain – facts and pragmatism, with Right Brain – intuition and vision. Very few individuals can manage the kind of complexity that systems present us with, and sophisticated interactions between the virtual and the real worlds will only add to this complexity making the ability to collaborate one of the most important traits to nurture as a future designer.

Q: Meta Products are internet connected systems of products, services and spaces. Having this in mind, what should the scope of a designer cover when developing Meta Products?

ALK: The tangible is just an element in a system where the connections, virtual or real, are the focus of attention. The design landscape will be composed of two extremes the ‘Generalists’ and the ‘Hyper Specialists’. The Generalists will be able to grasp the complexity of the systems and see the big picture and the Hyper Specialists will be the doers – the ones who find innovative specialist solutions to the tasks presented and synthesised by the Generalists.

Q: Which would be the most important challenges you encounter in terms of design processes when developing Meta Products? 

Imagine a world where everything from products to people, spaces and services is connected and together operates as a living network. ‘Meta Products’ is the next generation of  ’living’ products, services and spaces referring to the potential of the Internet to reach everywhere and to be embodied in everything.

Q: What do you think is the core value for this? For whom?

ALK: We have barely started to grasp the potential of the Internet, never mind its side effects. The current value on a societal level is a set of collaborative tools: increased transparency, open source, real-time sharing, knowledge exchange, social networks and living breathing digital communities. With that we see the rise of dialogue-driven innovation – impacting business models now, but even more so in the future. Furthermore, the rise of cloud computing provides an important means of supporting expansive Internet traffic, reducing operational costs for applications and storage.

On an operational level, we see new processes and more efficiency. However, the industrial structure of the Internet of Things is quite complex, involving many sectors (e.g. terminal vendors, system integrators, and network operators). Only through alliances of sectors can the Internet of Things provide complete product and service solutions. Standardisation is important for industrial alliances, and is also the basis of systems integration.

The core of the Internet of Things is to seamlessly gather information about objects in the physical world and use the information in multiple applications. Information collection about objects’ and goods’ origin, location, movements, physical properties, usage record, and context can help enterprises improve business processes, and also create new ones.

Needs within a variety of sectors can be addressed, for instance: remote health monitoring and diagnostics, safe and independent living, intelligent traffic management, improved environmental monitoring and adaptive energy management. The information can add an even deeper layer to Ambience Intelligence – we already see a cross platform of intelligent smart living spaces from Philips and Nokia.

Q: How would you define a meaningful experience?

ALK: Meaning is a very elusive term, representing different things to different people. One of the more plausible definitions of meaning is to understand it as a system of sense making. Meaningful experiences engage people on a deeper level. My multidimensional vision is very closely linked to the evolution of meaning as a socio-cultural system – a system that reinforces our value universe of beliefs, norms and traditions, connecting them to physical objects and experiences.

Q: What challenges do you see in Meta Products for their mainstream deployment?

ALK: The cost of any innovation or development is very often the greatest stumbling block. Emergent technologies and their fast adoption are clearly calling for new business models. Leaders must engage a strategic mindset when preparing for this challenging new environment. They must hold a people-centric vision, viewing the user not as a passive spectator and consumer but as an active interactor, creator and producer.

Therefore, engaging a whole-brain vision in the concept and process stage is vital. Companies must develop products and services that connect the scientific and social dimension in a relevant way while considering the emotional dimensions and their impact and relevance to people’s value universe. So the challenge I am talking about is to connect people to what really matters, empowering and inspiring them to make the most of every moment.

Q: Imagine developing a Meta Product and how would you reconcile the different economics behind the physical and the web part?

ALK: The key is to predict where the real value is, and who is willing to pay for it. It is no good if you are the only one perceiving value. We must remember that our business will become part of an information system that talks back to us. This information system becomes an added asset that has the ability to capture, compute, communicate, and collaborate around stored information.

These “smart” assets can make processes more efficient, give products new capabilities, and spark novel business models. One widely used business model is ‘freemium’ – you get the basic for free but you pay for the scaled up version. Here again, we will see a new wave of models – ‘freemium 2.0’ – in order to create even more value for consumers as well as businesses.

INFOGRAPHICS
1. The Internet of  Things
2. The Living Network - Booreiland >>
3. Imagine a scenario where…
5. The Collective use of Environments - Booreiland >>
5. Everything is Connected

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
*  Cisco IBSG, Jim Cicconi, AT&T, Steve Leibson, Computer History Museum, CNN, University of Michigan, Fraunhofer

By 2040, according to the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization chief, the traditional newspaper will be extinct and all the news we read will be provided digitally.  So is this form of media ready for the bin?

The Paperless Society
In October 2011 the Norwegian parliament bought 167 iPads – enough for each and every MP – in order to get closer to its goal of a paperless parliament. This clearly illustrates a global drive towards digital and cutting paper consumption – and Nordic regions are known for setting trends that others later follow. More telling still, in December 2011 global giant Unilever announced a huge shake-up of its £5.1bn advertising spend, citing its desire to continue leading in digital marketing and reduce the environmental impact of its advertising. Its digital ad spend has risen by 15% in the past year alone.

Investing in Digital
Some newspapers are repositioning themselves for Generation Digital and the Cloud Era. Early adopters have made investments that may pay dividends. However, converting early inroads into a mature winning formula requires a willingness to invest not just in the new digital platforms and cloud services, but also in dialogue driven open customer relationships. Advertisers are already seeing the limitations of print – having been underserved and overcharged for years – indeed, between 2006-10, print advertising revenue plummeted from $47 billion to $24 billion.

Disruptive Business Models
New players establishing a digital presence only – will have both a lower cost base and the potential for a dialogue driven business model, giving them opportunities to beat established brands at the re-defined news game. Subscription only firewalls for e-papers – may become dangerously out of step in an age of transparency, not least because shutting out (or pricing out) potential readers will impact market share and global influence. Also, I do question how tabloids will fare long term, buffeted by recent scandals and by the ‘disposable’ nature of their content.

News Consumption Shift
However, we are looking at a very different approach to interaction and consumption, with multimedia and Transmedia Platforms becoming the norm over the next two decades. But some media organisations have a distinctly traditional 20th-century mindset – recycling existing print stories online, adding a video link or two and then Tweeting as if they were something new. But it is no longer enough. The Citizen Journalist and WikiLeaks era have stimulated innovation in journalism – where consumers actively participate in news analysis and sharing – even in news narrating – so a wake-up call is required if established newspaper brands are to remain relevant.

Yesterday’s News?
Not only are we getting our current affairs in different ways, but the proliferation of an alternative news ecosystem – sourcing from social networks, video, blogs, comment and investigative journalism – means the digital media universe is going to expand and shout even louder. With emerging Transmedia formats on offer, we now happily switch between multiple devices, depending on our lifestyle, location and immediate needs. The digital transformation is well underway and sourcing news has already undertaken a whole new more authentic form.

Tomorrow’s Media
The social media marketing and advertising industry is still embryonic. Its potential for pioneering new methods of reaching people will have a profound impact. While this makes grim reading for the newspaper industry, I actually believe we will still have print newspapers in 2040. The survivors will be defined by their quality and authenticity. Maybe, also, there will be a nostalgic flavour in our choice – so we will buy our weekend paper, just as today we head to the farmers’ market to experience ‘the real thing’.

Consumer Influence
Ultimately, what will increase is consumer power and choice – whether we are talking newspapers or, for that matter, books and TV. There are huge challenges ahead – as media takes on an entirely new meaning – but also exciting opportunities to champion approaches that win the trust and hearts of tomorrow’s well-informed and influential readers.

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* Internet issues facing newspapers - Clay Shirkey Video >>
* The Economist Special Report: Bulletins from the future >>
* Gigaom: Back to the future: >>
* Seven Myths About Transmedia Storytelling Debunked: >>
* ‘Good Riddance to Mainstream Media’ – (full debate): Video >>
* Unilever to shake up £5.1bn global advertising spend >>
* Cost Cuts Are in Store for P&G and Unilever >>

IMAGES & INFOGRAPHICS
1. Babelia - Google image
2. Newspaper Extinction Timeline – Key Factors >>
3. Newspaper Extinction Timeline – World Map >>
4. Paid-for Daily Newspapers – The Economist 

Forget the ‘one-size-fits-all’ package – travellers want meaningful experiences that offer inspiration, intelligent insights and self-improvement. Increasingly learning opportunities will inform how we travel.

Collaborative Facilitators
When we travel precious time and money are invested in return for life-enhancing experiences. No wonder we expect so much from today’s service providers. Total Transparency, open dialogue and collaboration are essential to co-creating a journey that fulfils our aspiration and dreams.

Trusted Guides
Cloud Culture and social networks invite us to exchange valuable insights about our destination and these days more and more of us are experts at finding the best deals. We also look to curate ‘life changing experiences’ – often spending more time in planning than on the journey itself. However, the sheer quantity of data and peer-to-peer reviews is overwhelming – therefore traditional travel agents have now become specialist ‘travel editors’, facilitators and trusted guides who work with us to make our trip truly unique.

Global Mobility
Increasingly people are migrating for work, career and life experiences. With a predicted global mobile workforce of 1.19 billion by 2013, mobility has become everyday. This also means travel has taken on an entirely new meaning. To deliver real value and engage with the true needs of the Global Citizen, agility, convergence and seamless services must be incorporated into each and every offering.

Affinity Networks
We may be immersed in another culture, but we will demand affinity networks and familiar touch points that let us learn and share. New Economies are poised to redefine the market – both as travel destinations and travellers – and they bring a set of cultural value sets, expectations for connectivity and service standards that already profoundly influence on the way we experience the world.

‘Deep’ Encounters
Travellers are looking for depth of experience – not just breadth – in order to explore cultural roots and new authentic narratives. This widespread trend means destinations and operators must harness Cultural Capital and weave in locality, storytelling and rediscovery of nation identity. Cultural tourism is an influential travel concept that offers endless possibilities for delivering meaning.

Lifelong Learning
Tourism as a learning experience and educational tool is a truly widespread trend. In particular, responsible travel is a growing niche – while preserving our fragile ecology we discover new places and people, becoming a participant in their world. Experiencing local culture – either as a travelanthropist (travel + philanthropist) or voluntourist – enables us to become responsible citizens, doing our bit to create A Better World.

Authentic Happiness
Alongside volunteering holidays – said to increase life expectancy and reduce symptoms of ill health – there are fresh opportunities in tapping into our desire for Intelligent Health and quality of life. Experiences that include life coaching, bespoke fitness and pampering feed our minds and refresh our bodies. Wellbeing and Happiness is also a core part of corporate social responsibility – and a key concern of governments – so paid ‘time out’ for  may soon become the norm.

Personal Meaning
Travel, done well, gives us a slice of The Good Life we crave – but service and tour operators must enable us to co-create the journey, so that it delivers personal meaning, education and inspiration. They must remember, too, that travellers are no longer just passive observers and consumers, but pro-active explorers and producers.

Recharge and Reconnect
The forecast for tomorrow’s travel industry is bright, provided it engages in meaningful dialogue and focuses on delivering economic, social and emotional value. So perhaps, business travellers of the future may be encouraged to add on cultural or ‘mind body spirit’ experiences on either side of a business trip to help them recharge and reconnect.

IMAGES
1. Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome
2. Louise Bourgeois, Tate Modern >>
3. Pick & Mix section at Intrepid Travel, London 
4. The Weather Project at Tate Modern by Olafur Eliasson >>
5. Anne Lise Kjaer at Intrepid Travel, London >>
6. Juvet landscape Hotel by Jensen & Skodvin Norway >>
7. Mývatn Nature Baths, Iceland
8. Askja Lunar landscape, Iceland
9. The Traveller’s Guide to Happiness - travelsupermarket.com

Nagged by scaremongers and ‘besserwissers’ about every aspect of child-rearing, parents are tired of being told what to do. Little wonder then that an alternative approach is gaining ground.

The Premium Project
From the moment a couple decide they are going to try for a kid a deluge of parenting books and advice is heaped upon them. This booming industry has put a premium on all things baby and child ever since parenthood became a lifestyle project and something to schedule into a busy and successful career and ‘Me centred’ world. While this approach to parenting is still going strong, emerging currents and influences are showing tomorrow’s parents a new way.

Tomorrow’s Parents
The well documented failings of authorities, institutions and ‘experts’ are all the more galling when this same crowd turn around and blame parents for everything from public disorder and increased childhood obesity to the so-called ADHD epidemic. Tired of the advice, the ‘rampant consumerism’ and the political correctness, many parents are seeking out alternative values. Focus is shifting from status and keeping up with the Joneses – to a new social approach of sitting down and having a chat with the Joneses, or the Olsons, or the Patels while the kids are playing… on their own.

Free Range Kids
In 2008 mum Lenore Skenazy let her 9 year old son ride the New York Subway alone causing a firestorm of outrage from concerned people around the world. A few years and a prolonged recession later, a movement called ‘Free Range Kids’ is mushrooming. ‘Free Range Kids’ is about rejecting a fear-based approach to child rearing. It means letting go of some control, trusting your children and – even more daring – having faith in your fellow citizens, those ‘strangers’ your kids may encounter when they are out exploring their world on their own.

The Idle Parent
Maybe there really is a different way. Alain De Botton from The School of Life said that: “The Idle Parent is the most helpful and consoling child-raising manual I’ve yet read”. Take a moment to consider ‘The Manifesto of the Idle Parent’.

* We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
* We pledge to leave our children alone
* We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from birth
* We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
* We drink alcohol without guilt
* We reject the inner Puritan
* We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
* An idle parent is a thrifty parent
* An idle parent is a creative parent
* We lie in bed for as long as possible
* We try not to interfere
* We play in the fields and forests
* We push them into the garden and shut the door so we can clean
* We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
* Time is more important than money
* Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
* Down with school
* We fill the house with music and merriment
* We reject health and safety guidelines
* We embrace responsibility
* There are many paths
* More play, less work

In the, The Idle Parent Tom Hodgkinson argues that both kids and adult alike need to play more and work less. We make far too much fuss about parenting. Leaving kids alone to have fun and explore the world around them means they will become more self-reliant, more active and sleep better. They may, in fact, grow into precisely the kind of happy and well-adjusted adults we wish them to be.

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* The Idle Parent - How to Enjoy Family Life >>
* Parenting guru Prescribes: Less Fuss – and More Fun >>
* Changing Education Paradigms: Ken Robinson – RSA Animate >>

IMAGES
1. Kids in Norway in Brekke 2011
2. ADHD: Screenshot of RSA Animate >>
3. Danger Free Range Children >>
4. The Idle Parent book

Reducing domestic food waste is fast becoming a core sustainability concern and one that is part of a greater debate regarding ‘end-of-use’.

Waste – Waste Not
Every year in the UK alone 7.2 million tonnes of food is thrown away – most of which could have been eaten. That number rises to 670 million tonnes across the developed world, with rich countries primarily wasting food at consumer level. Food is part of a much wider issue of wastefulness for generations who have never had to practise frugality, and this behaviour is now under scrutiny.

Love Food Hate Waste
Increasingly people are waking up to the significance of this loss of resources. New behaviours and consumption patterns are slowly but surely finding their way to the fore. And is this really going to have any impact on the environment? According to Love-Food-Hate-Waste – dedicated to helping people cut food waste – changing our grocery buying habits for the better could be equivalent to taking 1 car in 5 off the UK streets.

Frugality Revived
Our parents and grandparents can teach us a lesson here, so it is heartening to see the revival of such practices as home composting – ensuring the peelings, trimmings and over-ripe food goes back to ground, not landfill, also improving next year’s garden. Then too, there are a multitude of ‘frugal living’ blogs where people share their clever tips on how to save some money and be a little gentler towards the planet.

Clever Consumption
Much talk about ‘end-of-use’ could be seen as governments, producers, businesses and brands throwing the sustainability ball back in the consumer’s court. However, I believe the case is rather one of how society at large engages in raising awareness of how to consume in the most efficient and sustainable way. Producers should re-invent end-of-use through design, while responsible retailers must start practising simple things such as ‘half price’ promotions on one item, rather than ‘two for one’, on easily perishable goods.

Microbial Homes
Philips have gone even further and have created ‘the microbial home’ as part of the Design Probes program, exploring future lifestyle scenarios. At the centre of the microbial home is a kitchen that is powered by leftovers via the ‘bio-digester island’ – the central hub of the design. This might not even be as futuristic as Philips projects, as many such initiatives to convert waste to usable energy are already coming on stream across the world, including in India and China.

Positive Influencers
But as always, at the heart this issue are people. In the industrialised world we need a radical lesson and mindset shift on how our consumption behaviour determines the food lifecycle. The good news is that ‘positive influencers’ have successfully risen to the challenge of creating a community event conceived to change behaviour. The ‘Feeding the 5000’ free lunch in Trafalgar square aims to “show how easy it is to reduce the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally. Events like these are inviting government, businesses and individuals alike, to do our bit and hopefully have some fun and a full belly in the process.

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* Love Food Hate Waste >>
* Philips’s Microbial Home – takes kitchen design back to the future >>
* Food waste in numbers: >>
* Philips Microbial Home: >>
* Love Food Hate Waste >>
* Food waste and future food security: >>
* Food: Why we waste so much: >>

IMAGES
1. Love Food Hate Waste >>
2. Philips Microbial Home >>
3. Love Food Hate Waste >>
4. Philips Microbial Home >>
5. Feeding the 5000 >>
6. Info Graphic: The Big Food Wasters (NGF) >>

The female factor is finally being considered an important currency, with more and more women influencing society and business. This means fresh approaches to trading, collaborating and creating value.

Female Economics
As EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding says: “Closing the gender gap at the top of the business world is a win-win situation”. The good news is that after decades of women mimicking traditional masculine power relations, we now see the emergence of a new female leadership role model. One shining example is Elinor Ostrom, who became the first woman ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics. Most notably she has pioneered research into commons – resources that don’t belong to one nation or organisation, but to all of us. So that’s economics focusing on the monetary value of collaboration and sharing, the type of approach that could lead to new economic models.

Women in Technology & Science
Another great role model is HTC co-founder and chair Cher Wang, whose company has pioneered radical mobile technology like Android and is committed to open source technology through the Open Handset Alliance. Former Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain Susan Greenfield, now Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology at Oxford puts it very well: “The future could be female for many reasons: perhaps the most obvious is that we will shift increasingly from manufacturing industries, requiring muscle power, to work with our brains”.

Whole-Brain Leaders
Encouraged by global initiatives – such as UN Women and the Beijing Declaration – ‘Feminine’ is becoming sought after as a value and an approach. I would describe feminine as encompassing the softer values, such as ethics, caring and collaboration. This adds up to an empathic leadership model embracing left and right brain thinking – analytical and intuitive aspects – creating a whole-brain vision.

Academic Girl Power
As the knowledge economy grows there is a corresponding need for academics and thinkers. And increasingly women are better educated than men. For instance, 6 in 10 people qualified in life sciences are now women, according to OECD (2010). Female researchers are growing at nearly twice the rate of their male counterparts. Women also make up 60% of university graduates in the EU, and since 2000, female employees have taken three quarters of the new jobs generated in Europe. So where might this lead us?

Tomorrow’s Business is Female
I predict it will lead to more transparency, flexibility and fluidity within the business world. Not only will female leadership inspire empathic values and organisational innovation, it will also mean increased GDP. I’m not alone in making this positive forecast. Back in 2007, Goldman Sachs carried out projections on Gender Inequality, Growth and Global Ageing to explore the impact of female employment rates being equal to those of men. This found that if everything else remains constant, the Eurozone’s GDP could potentially increase by as much as 13%.

Feminine Balance Boosts GDP
Another study by McKinsey stated that the best companies in terms of work environment, innovation, accountability and profits were those with a higher proportion of women on their board. According to McKinsey & Co’s latest report Women Matter, companies with a gender-balanced composition can achieve an operational profit 56% higher than that of male only companies. We are already seeing many global female influencers and leaders – especially in Scandinavia where women are very visible across every sphere of public life – encouraging this trend must surely benefit society as a whole, and at every level.

Investing in Women
I was fascinated to read Fast Company’s 2011 list of Most Influential Women in technology. However, I’m looking forward to the day when lists of companies with a healthy balance of both genders are published. I would suggest that this information will become a useful tool for investors and consumers alike – enabling them to assess not only the balanced and ethical policies of an organisation, but its potential for sustainable wealth generation.

INSPIRATIONAL REPORTS
* Most Influential Women in Tech 2011 >>
* Women Matter 2010: Women at the top: Making it happen >>
* Womenomics 3.0: The Time is Now >>
* The 50 Best Moments For Women In 2011 >>

IMAGES
1: Anne Lise Kjaer – Keynote Era Monte Carlo 2010
2: Elinor Ostrom – Nobel Prize winner in Economics >>
3: Cher Wang – CEO & co-founder HTC >>
4: Susan Greenfield - Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford >>

Currently the media landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. So having a system in place to identify relevant opportunities is crucial for navigating tomorrow’s digital world.

Life Optimisers
The rapid changes caused by cloud computing are redefining society at large. This is part of a bigger shift in values as more people look to optimise life on all levels. This is hardly surprising when we consider how work/life convergence, leaves people under increased time pressure.

Reach Out and Connect
As consumers, our contradictory desires for Fast (always-on efficiency) and Slow (caring emotional engagement) are proving challenging for service providers. Increasingly we see a demand for experiences that bring both multiple human touch-points and good value. This makes it crucial for telecom companies to engage in open dialogue to reach out and connect to customers.

Decoding Complexity
Engaging in multidimensional thinking and conversation is how companies can tap into the most essential trends and drivers to map out opportunities. A Trend Map is ideal to decode the complex social and cultural contexts of society, enabling a ‘big picture’ digital media vision to tune into the ‘real’ needs of people. These are the eight key social trends impacting tomorrow’s media landscape:

1. Radical Transparency
Reputation and trust are everything as social networks drive a culture of openness, sharing and the best deals. Good management of private data is essential for trusting relationships – and there’s a fine line between being helpful and intrusive.

2. Empowerment Technology
Mobile digital technology brings empowerment as we can now manage our work and social interaction wherever we are. Companies must facilitate seamless experiences across multidimensional platforms because people want autonomy and safety in one package.

3. Cloud Communities
Cloud culture is assisting our hyper-connected society, allowing ‘real-time’ interactive networks with human touch points to foster a whole new ‘sharing community’. For companies to thrive, it is crucial to operate in multiple digital modes and engage in ongoing dialogue to evolve people relationships.

4. Geopolitical Power Shift
Emerging economies are fuelling change as the requirements for information and communication are being reshaped by new geopolitical focal points. Companies must embrace diversity to understand the demands of a growing global middle class.

5. Global Citizens
Connectivity, sharing and mobility will be key to engaging with global citizens and a migrating and digital fluent youth. To facilitate people’s desire to participate and stay connected, telecom providers must act as trusted guides and enable sharing and learning.

6. Cultural Capital
Growing a strong cultural legacy is crucial to success and recognition in a globalised world. It is vital to recognise that tomorrow’s successful marketing model is dialogue driven – harnessing the power and passion of community and storytelling to build and grow brand capital.

7. Interactive Storytelling
Since our ‘love affair’ with economic growth has not delivered more fulfilment, now new avenues of meaning – on both a societal and personal level – are being considered. Brands can assist this journey by recognising the value of interactive transmedia experiences: voice, visual, touch, smell all adaptive elements that weave into our personal narrative.

8. The Good Life
From politics and work to community and family, happiness and positive experiences are strong drivers. People look for engagement and positive encounters to assist them in achieving personal fulfillment and quality of life. After all, happy people live longer and have better lives.

The Future of Media
So how do these trends impact the future of media? Crucially, tomorrow’s customers are no longer passive consumers. They want meaningful experiences through accessibility, immediacy, personalisation and authenticity enabled by transmedia platforms. Opportunities to participate, content create and collaborate will add a new dimension to how people consume and interact with their chosen media.

Imagine Tomorrow
Successful brands think from the outside in and look at the bigger picture to tap into the opportunities and challenges of evolving trends, as well as the driving forces behind them. By applying a multidimensional mindset to the changing face of media, you can imagine the future, plan what your organisation should do differently, and then work out how best to do it.

INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
* Kevin Kelly: The Future of the Digital Media Landscape >>
* A Visual Notebook on Cities and Clothes by Wim Wenders >>
* Transmedia Storytelling >>
* The Future of Media >>

IMAGES
1. A cinematographic diary by Wim Wenders >>
2. Pulse on iPad 2011 
3. John Pawson Plain Space – Design Museum London >>
4. Clouds in London
5. Global Citizens Tate Modern London
6. Interactive Storytelling: Susan Hiller Tate Britain 2011 >>