Innovaro Insights and Research's blog

Nike's new Flyknit line of shoes was discussed in this post from Co.DESIGN yesterday. As a runner, I'm eager to check these shoes out...even though I haven't run in a pair of Nike in years. Professionally, I found several things of interest in the chatter that emerged yesterday about the Flyknit shoes. In particular, the way Nike approached the project echoed many of the things we hear our colleagues at Strategos recommend.

originally posted at The Trend and Foresight Blog

A new meme (“What People Think I Do / What I Really Do”) has been spreading around the social media scene and we thought we'd try it out and create one for the Futurist community. Let us know what you think and if you share yours with us, we'll post it at our blog.

originally posted at The Trend and Foresight Blog

The cloud will evolve from being a static repository of data into an active resource that consumers rely on throughout their daily lives. Consumers will have new capabilities for accessing online expert systems and applications that provide information, analysis, and contextual advice. Virtual agents will migrate from being an automated form of phone-based customer service to a personalized form of support and assistance that provides information and—more importantly—performs useful tasks.

Originally posted at The Trend and Foresight Blog.

This article in the Harvard Gazette focuses on "shrilk" -- a new material made from discarded shrimp shells and the proteins found in silk. It's another great example of a trend we call Biomimicry in Design.

I found some time this past weekend to read more of ConsumerShift, the new book from Andy Hines, who is a lecturer at University of Houston's Graduate Program in Futures Studies, one of Innovaro's network partners, and someone I've had the pleasure to work with a lot over the years.

The idea of leisure and “play” for children in America has evolved from an experience cemented in timeless, staple games and toys to one that is increasingly tied to the evolving digital experience of their parents. Consider these trends:

The idea of brain-controlled prosthetics popped up in the news recently when a paralyzed man and a monkey were able to move robotic arms using their minds.

originally posted at The Trends and Foresight blog by Mike Vidikan and Elizabeth Cook

In our Technology Foresight series, we recently wrote about the status and prospects of Facial Recognition as more powerful computers and the advent of increasingly sophisticated algorithms for facial analysis have driven the technology forward.

Listening to music has always been a social activity—whether you’re talking about songs being sung around the fires of pre-history or revelers crowded around a gramophone during the Harlem Renaissance.

originally posted at The Trends and Foresight Blog by Mike Vidikan and Chris Carbone

To some people, this is still just a ketchup bottle. But it struck us as a good example of how businesses can use new technology to engage consumers and differentiate commodity products...after all ketchup is catsup no matter how you spell it.