SXSW 2019: Key takeaways from four different Trend Reports
Over the last few days, I have attended sessions with several Futurists and Trend Experts here at SXSW as they launched their 2019 reports. While addressing a lot of different topics and directions, they all paint a picture of a digital future speeding up in all directions.
Digital Trends and the Impact of Privilege
First up was Tanarra Schneider, talking about the Fjords Trend Report
This report was actually released earlier this year, but Tanarra took a quite interesting angle in her presentation. Because while the Trends might be interesting, she explained why we have to be critical because very often these trends are only for the privileged few.
The report predicts that we in the near future will want to turn off all the noise (Silence is gold). But silence comes with a prize, and who is going to pay? So, there is a risk, that digital silence becomes a luxury only the rich and empowered can afford.
They also predict that we will have to stop using so much unnecessary plastic (The last straw), but poor people that can´t afford to go to Farmer´s Markets or live in a food desert with no good shops, they will have to rely on food packaged in plastic in order to survive.
So read the report but remember to take it with a grain of salt and look through the eyes of the unprivileged as well.
7 Trends that will shape the future
Rohit Bhargava launched the 9th edition of his book: Non-Obvious Trends
The books have become bestsellers and it is a pretty entertaining show. In his speech he highlighted 7 of his trends:
- Retro Trust - Collaborate with the old
- Muddled Masculinity - Encourage the non-conform
- Innovation Envy - Play offensive with innovation
- Artificial Influence - Don´t hide the artificial ingredients
- Enterprise Empathy - Use “Mede with Empathy” as a strategy
- Robot Renaissance - Embrace them
- Back Storytelling - Find the meaning, then tell the story
I recommend buying the book to get a better understanding of how his framework is built and to get the full overview
Design in Tech 2019
The launch of John Maeda's highly expected yearly Design in Tech Report at SXSW always draws a full crowd, and this year was no exception.
While entertaining, I personally think that this year's presentation was a bit unstructured, and I would regard his report more as a collection of his thoughts and as a repository of great inspiration to dig into.
Maybe it´s because he is working hard on his new book coming out late this year called How to speak machine
2019 Tech Trends Report
My personal favorite is Amy Webb´s humongous 2019 Tech Trends Report
Again, this year her session was completely sold out. She presented the 12th annual edition of their work and it is an impressive achievement. This year, they have selected 315 different technology trends in a book that weighs 5 pounds!
I was so fortunate to be invited to a roundtable discussion with Amy after her session, where we got a chance to talk about the importance of business leaders understanding the tech trends that not only surround their industry but also the adjacent ones that might have a huge impact in the years to come.
The future Today Institute has categorized the trends for 26 different industries and created 48 different future scenarios, so all you have to do is to dig in. The report is available for free as open source.
But my best takeaway was that I got her only printed copy to take with me back to Denmark. So, I might not be getting very much sleep on the 12-hour flight back to Scandinavia, because I got 380 pages of Tech Trends to study 😃
