The Best Sources for Trend Spotting
We are living in one of the greatest times of change in the whole history of mankind – and the pace of change and innovation is still increasing.
A global recession paired with the fact that 90 percent of companies are having difficulties finding new sources of growth as their business mature does not make things easier.
How to grow, be competitive and attractive to your target group tomorrow and in the future under those conditions?
Staying up to date on trends is a good start. There are however so many sources of potential information around that it can easily be an overwhelming task. Remembering to observe, listen to and learn from your customers, your frontline staff and your competitors is a good start. Then increase your circle of inspiration.
The author of Innovation Expedition, Gijs van Wulfen, has put together a great list of online resources to help you on the way. We have here taken the liberty to copy the list straight from the source:
Springwise
Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation.
Trendwatching
One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com scans the globe for emerging consumer trends, insights and innovations.
Trend Hunter
Trend Hunter is the world’s largest, most popular collection of cutting edge ideas, crowdsourced by 85,462 Trend Hunters.
MoreInspiration
MoreInspiration lets you discover innovative products and technologies from all possible domains.
Trends@alltop
The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, ‘What’s happening?’ in ‘all the topics’ that interest you. You may wonder how Alltop is different from a search engine. A search engine is good for answering questions like, ‘How many people live in China?’ However, it has a much harder time answering the question, ‘What’s happening in China?’ That’s the kind of question that we answer.
NOTCOT
NOTCOT Inc is a growing network of design sites currently including NOTCOT.com and innovative community contributed sites NOTCOT.org+ NotCouture.com + Liqurious.com. NOTCOT is a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements.
CoolBusinessIdeas
CoolBusinessIdeas.com is a blog about brand new promising business ideas around the world. Follow them in the hunt for the latest business concepts!
PSFK
Over 1,000,000 readers from the design, digital, marketing, media and technology industries come to PSFK each month to read and share the emerging ideas.
Trendcentral
Powered by the research, insights and global trendsetter network of The Intelligence Group, trendcentral® focuses on what’s new and what’s next in the realms of lifestyle, fashion, entertainment and technology. Over the years, trendcentral has forecast the arrival of cultural phenomena well before they entered the mainstream, ranging from branded designer jeans and vampire films to videoblogging and Twitter.
World Future Society
The mission of the World Future Society is to enable thinkers, political personalities, scientists and lay-people to share an informed, serious dialogue on what the future will be like.
David Report
David Report is an influential blog and online magazine that since 2006 writes about trends in the intersection of design, culture and business. Our readers share our interest and curiosity in everything from art, architecture, culture, design and fashion to food, innovation, music, sustainability and travel.
JWT Intelligence
JWT Intelligence is focusing on identifying changes in the global zeitgeist so as to convert shifts into compelling opportunities for brands. They have done this on behalf of multinational clients across several categories including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, and home and personal care.
TED
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
Lidewij Edelkoort
From her creation of innovative trend books and audiovisuals since the 1980s to lifestyle analysis and research conducted for the world’s leading brands today, Lidewij has pioneered trend forecasting as a profession. edelkoort.com
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
The objective of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies is to strengthen the basis for decision-making in public and private organisations by creating awareness of the future and highlighting its importance to the present.
TrendOriginal
TrendOriginal is the personal consumer trends collections of Dr. Taly Weiss, CEO and head researcher for TrendsSpotting.com Market Research and founder of TrendoScope-The trend spotting lab.
Cool Hunting
Cool Hunting is synonymous with seeking inspiration. Our global team of editors and contributors sift through innovations in design, technology, art and culture to create our award-winning publication, consisting of daily updates and weekly mini-documentaries.
Mashable
Mashable is the largest independent news source dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology. Mashable’s 20 million monthly unique visitors and 4 million social media followers have become one of the most engaged online news communities.
About Inquentia
We identify, explore and develop opportunities for growth and renewal, powering the future of our clients’ teams, brands and businesses. Always from a market and customer perspective. In the process we help create time for reflection, train, guide, coach and involve our clients’ teams to utilize their skills and develop their capabilities, resulting in ownership and faster implementation.
