LDF director and Wired UK editor to speak at Global Futures Forum 2016
Dezeen promotion: this year's Global Futures Forum will feature workshops, debates and presentations lead by creative industry professionals, including London Design Festival director Ben Evans and Wired UK editor David Rowan.
The Global Futures Forum will take place in Shoreditch Town Hall, London, on 12 October 2016.
The one-day event will feature presentations, debates and workshops on a variety of sectors, including food and drink, sales, eco-technology and the arts, curated by London-based consultancy agency The Future Laboratory.
Dezeen are media partners for the event, and readers can receive a 30 per cent discount on tickets by entering the code DEZEEN-30 when purchasing online.
David Rowan, editor of Wired UK, will reveal the secrets of the greatest entrepreneurial minds he has interviewed, while Melissa Dick, editorial director of Style.com, will consider how direct-to-purchase content is changing the way that we shop.
Other speakers include the director of London Design Festival Ben Evans, who will demonstrate how design enables us to plan for the future, and chairman of Elmwood, Jonathan Sands, who will discuss how to future-proof products through customer-centric design.
The founder and CEO of Design Hotels Claus Sendlinger will examine how innovations in one sector can be used to drive and dominate thinking in another.
The Disruptors' Labyrinth will feature the top 20 start-ups and early-to-market names selected by The Future Laboratory's Insight Team as the next Uber, Airbnb or Google.
These include futuristic fashion label Neuro, and visual artist and designer Pamm Hong – who will present her app Watermelon Sugar that visualises a user's browsing history as a digital organism.
Senior members of The Future Laboratory's strategy team will also lead Innovation Lab workshops that are designed as quick ways to develop a potential project.
The Global Futures Forum will takes place at Shoreditch Town Hall, London, on 12 October 2016. Dezeen readers can receive a 30 per cent discount by entering the code DEZEEN-30 when purchasing a ticket online.
Read on for more information from the organisers:
Innovative practitioners in design and business will come together in London on 12 October for the Global Futures Forum, a unique event designed to provoke, inspire and guide disruptive strategy.
Curated by respected trend forecasting agency, The Future Laboratory, it's a day-long session of radical keynote presentations, influencer panel debates and expert-led workshops. Dezeen readers who want to soak up the insight and perhaps cultivate their own market disruptions can take advantage of 30 per cent discount off tickets.
Speakers include Ben Evans, Director of London Design Festival, who will demonstrate how design enables us to plan tomorrow's scenarios today, and Jonathan Sands, OBE, chairman of Elmwood, on how to future-proof products through customer-centric design.
Claus Sendlinger, founder and CEO of Design Hotels, will examine how innovations in one sector can be used to drive and dominate thinking in another.
These design influencers are part of a broad line up of speakers, strategists, creatives and brands-to-watch across multiple sectors from luxury to food and drink, in disciplines from sales to eco-technology and the arts. Innovation and creative thinking will be embraced in its widest sense throughout an immersive day of fun, future-focused strategy and surprising presentations.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, CBE, will speak on the sunshine and shadows of the innovative mind, while Luke Robert Mason, director of Virtual Futures, will look at the possibilities of trans-humanism. David Rowan, editor of Wired UK will spill the secrets of the greatest entrepreneurial minds he has quizzed. Melissa Dick, editorial director of Style.com will consider how direct-to-purchase content is revolutionising the way we shop.
Design creatives who want to look into the myriad possibilities of the future will find the Global Futures Forum a rich seam of inspiration, visual stimulus and food for thought. The event is an opportunity to recalibrate and frame product design within the totality of customer experience.
"It's no longer enough to have carefully designed products, brands now need to focus on crafting experiences in order to drive consumer engagement and loyalty," says Hannah Robinson, visual editor at The Future Laboratory. "This is leading to a rapid expansion of the role smart design plays in business and is also leading to convergence between sectors – from retail to fashion, beauty to beverages."
The event is designed to help attendees ride the tides of incoming consumer and technological change in ways that are profitable and meaningful. The Future Laboratory co-founders Christopher Sanderson will show how tomorrow's complex and ever-changing Mega Forces can be mapped, measured and harnessed, while fellow co-founder Martin Raymond will reveal how trends can be identified and used as part of a strategic innovation process.
The emphasis of the day is on techniques and lessons that can be put into practice after the event to innovate products and redefine categories. Networking is high on the agenda, and connections will be forged with the innovators, thought-leaders and next-generation disruptors who are set to make the future happen.
The Global Futures Forum takes place across multiple spaces including the subterranean Disruptor's Labyrinth where visitors can meet and witness the top 20 start-ups and early-to-market names selected as ones-to-watch. These include the futuristic fashion label, Neuro, which uses a mix of advanced 3D software and technologies from the video game and film industries, enabling designers to create hyper-customised garments digitally; and visual artist and designer Pamm Hong, presenting Watermelon Sugar, a speculative app that visualises a user's browsing history as a digital organism.
A break for refreshments is far from the humdrum sandwich platter: visitors will enjoy their food while feasting on Naked Lunch – a Live Literature performance, in which actors, dancers and sound artists transport them into the future. In the process, they will eavesdrop on the some of the big issues such as AI, GM, and Big Data Culture.
Elsewhere, the hands-on Innovation Labs are designed as quick ways to boot camp a potential project or innovation methodology. With bookable sessions focused on food & drink, beauty, retail and luxury, the workshops will be led by senior members of The Future Laboratory's strategy team. Attendees will learn a series of easy-to-implement Opportunity SWOT tests, Playback Roadmaps and Innovation Game Plans that facilitate the conversion of trends into future market opportunities.
The Global Futures Forum takes place in Shoreditch Town Hall, a Grade II-listed Victorian building just a short walk from Old Street, Hoxton, Shoreditch High Street and Liverpool Street stations.