Tips & tricks for using megatrends for strategic innovation #1/5: 'look beyond the obvious'

Understanding long-term trends and their impact on your business is vital for the long-term competitiveness and –hence- survival of your company. To understand these trends and draw the right conclusions from them in terms of strategy and innovation, i4fi suggests a simple, 4 step approach:

1. Select the trends you want to discuss 
2. Brainstorm them internally 
3. Draw conclusions 
4. Communicate conclusions (extensively)

This looks simple enough but, as so often, the devil is in the detail. Hence this short series of tips and trick in order to make this exercise work and get the maximum out of it.

Let’s start with the first one: “Look beyond the obvious”

There are plenty of trends you could take into account in the exercise. See below for a list of 46 I usually use at the start. Most companies tend to use the trends that directly affect them. Tech companies will consider the impact of the Internet of Things or Mobility. Pharma companies will be inclined to use tends such as ageing population and climate change, for instance.

Problem is:

•  your competitors are using the same trends 
• sometimes trend have an indirect, ‘hidden’ effect on your business which you need to take into account 

So a first imperative to make a megatrend exercise lead to meaningful innovation for your business is simple: consider trends that don’t have an obvious impact on your industry or company. This will ensure you a 360° view as well as building blocks for truly competitive innovation.

PS: you’ll find a full discussion on +20 megatrends and more tips & tricks in this book: