What if you could build a framework for technical or business system modeling that would help your insights team anticipate changes that might forever alter your industry reality?
Unknown to most in the business community is a highly accurate set of trends that can be used to predict future states and scenarios of your ecosystem. There are two primary categories of these trends: technical and business.
The technical trends are based on a 70 year study of the worldwide patent data base and capture the successful evolutions of all technical systems at a rudimentary enough level to be applied to any and all physical systems. For example the Trend of Dynamization (which states that systems become more dynamic in there structure and interaction – e.g., yard stick, measuring tape, laser range finder) reveals that soaps (surfactants) will eventually take on a field radiation form. In other words, soaps will soon no longer be bars, powders or liquids but rather ionizing radiation invisible to the human eye. This kind of information would be invaluable to companies such as Proctor and Gamble and the SC Johnson Company.
Similarly, the trends of business evolution accurately forecast how successful businesses have changed over time based on a historical analysis of the same, providing insight as to possible competitor actions and opportunities available to your own organization. Again, the business trends are applied at a low enough hierarchy level that they are applicable to any and all business types.
Learning objectives:
- Explore the use of technical and business trends as catalysts and guide posts for wargaming sessions.
- Using trends to analyze conflicts with your organization’s current trajectory.
- Examine the structure to develop and solve contradictory statements for the same.
Dave Conley is President of Innomation Corporation, which he founded after leaving his post leading systematic innovation initiatives for 7 of his 17 years at global semiconductor manufacturing leader, Intel.