GLOBAL SOCIETAL & CONSUMER TRENDS

Chapter 1: introduction class

Why trendwatching?
 We detect change
 Understand change
 Act to make the change also implementable to companies, organizations
 Innovate, develop & market new products, services, events, experiences based on
trends

Trends
A definition EXAMEN!
Trends are processes of change(s) in values and needs, developed by driving forces and
manifesting themselves in different ways to certain groups in society and striving that we
can improve our quality of life through innovation.
Trends are dynamic, evolving, influential, impactful and they leave traces in our society.
Trends are observable and manifest through language, culture, (lifestyle) style, taste,
behaviour, products, services and events.
Change
The world around us is changing very vast. As a trendwatcher we’re interested in that
change, because it’s an actual process that is taking place and we can observe it while it’s
changing. Changes can be temporal, like food or cloths.
Some changes are unchangeable like ideas, attitude, behaviour or opinions and change
happens when something become different and different from the present or the process.
Trends can only arise when changes occur.
Change can be seen in terms of shifts; the cause are the triggers and the infected shift is the
chain. There is a chain of cause and infect, when there’s a trigger it will be followed by an
infect. Shifts are long term changes on the microscale ( macrotrends).
Change can happen in 3 ways
1. By coincidence
2. Gradual
3. By disruption
Change by coincidence
Coincidence
a. Columbus discovered America in the 15th century by accident, he wanted to
discover India. In the mindset of people, it was not possible that there would
be another ‘new’ country. After Columbus it was clear that America was not
India, so he discovered a new country.
b. Post-it was discovered by chance. It’s called serendipity with a beautiful word;
it means that you discovered something that you were not looking for.

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 c. Aspartaan, a pharmaceutical company was searching for an anti-acid for
stomachs. The scientist was experimenting with amino acids and tasted it. It
had a very sweet taste and nowadays we use it in drinks, candy, …
Gradual change
Social media was very gradually started with Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Instagram.
The adaptation was smoothly. It took 40 years for radio to achieve 10 million viewers, for
television it was 10 years. For internet browsers it took 2 years to attempt the 10 million
users. Fortinte needed 1 day. The innovation growth became faster and faster and so is the
gradual change.
Changes by disruption
Can be by a natural cause and cause a lot of damage and be very disruptive for nature and
humans.

 An earthquake
 A volcanic eruption
 Meteor shower
Human behaviour can be on the basis of disruption

 French Revolution, there where new elements in society like freedom, equality,
libarty
 Wall street, bank run
 Bank crisis 2007-2009
Combination
Some changes are combinations of human behaviour and disruption

 Spanish flue
 Plaque
 Covid19
Conclusion
Disruption is not always negative; we immediately think of wars and diseases of our history.
We also have some positive disruptive changes too, like in technology. Luckily, they invented
fire, book print, computer, Artificial Intelligence, … Actually, disruptive just means that the
impact is huge it can be positive or negative, both are possible. Sometimes disruption can
give an enormous boost to certain sectors
Human values
A trend is a process of change in behaviour, in basic human needs, in values
Human needs can be different because of
our variety of cultures. But we have them
Although our variety of cultures our human
needs are always the same, even
throughout history. They are quite universal

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during times, spaces and cultures. The moral and the way how we feel those needs are the
same.
So, trends have to do with (basic) human needs.

Pyramid of Malsow

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What is a human value?
Trends occur with human values. Human values are a fundamental believe or a practise
about what’s desirable worldwide and important for us individual but also societal. Because
values can be individual but also collective in a society. Every culture and every person have
it owns values, there personalised. They determine decision making, process and actions in
how we are behaving and acting.
Example: if charity is important for you, you will donate money to one of the organizations,
volunteer or you will buy products
Value arises

 In the culture you grew up

 In the family that raises you
 Through education
 By influencers and roles models
Values are also a subject through evolution, it’s possible that your values change during your
life. You will have other values when you’re 60 years old than when you were 20. That is
something completely different with human needs. Trends are a combination of human
values, that can change over time, and human needs, which is actually not something that
change very easily.
Terminal values
Milton Rokeach, a socioligst, wrote a book about human values. He mentionned 36 values in
his book and he divide them in 2 groups. You have the terminal values, which are the values
you try to achieve during your lifetime. If it would be the day you die, those are the values
you would refer to remember what you achieved. Some values will not be aplicable for some
people because of the importance of other values. Wisdom can be more imortant than
friendship for certain people. And you have instrumental values, which are the preferable
behaviour values
Terminal values Instrumental values

Basic human needs combined with the 36 values combined that are mentioned in the book
are coo related to trends.

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Innovation
Driving forces are the societal trends and they manifest themselves in different ways to
certain groups of society and striving that we can improve our living through innovation.
Innovation is the most important and it’s not equal to an invention. An innovation is a smart
application of an existing invention, we feel it as a novelty
Observable
Trends are observable and they manifest themselves in different ways, like in languages or
lifestyles. We can see that trends evolve and we can observe it.

The way we eat have changed and that is

observable
As a trendwatcher imagination is
important, to think about how our future
could look like

Antitrend/Countertrend
Going to the opposite direction. Nowadays we are more individually but to cope with the
problems of the future we should cooperate with each other
Coolhunts – trends
Coolhunts
 It’s a trend signal, a piece of a trend
 Applicable to all lifestyles and in all domains
 Can be human behaviour
 Can be a new products/services (sometimes also for start-ups)
Trends
Are a combination of coolhunts with common characteristics or patterns in different
geographic places

Fad, craze & hypes

 Pokemon go
 Inhaling nitrous oxide of a balloon
 A chair challenges
 A toll toy, some toys are always in
 Beyblade
Sometimes innovation can be cyclical, so they are times where the product is a hype while a
year later it could be ‘nothing’
Fad = craze = hype

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Definition
 Short-lived, very popular and great interest
 Accompanied by temporary scarcity
 Fading out after a certain period of time and does not cause permanent change
 The masses are absorbed with the hype of fad
 Receives a lot media attention
 Does not bring about lasting change, but the product, service of idea still exists
 Sometimes cyclical
 Somme hypes, craze or fads can develop into a trend
A hit = mini craze, because it Is limited to a smaller group of enthusiasts

Fashion
Definition
 Expression of a particular trend in society
 A counterreaction to the existing
 Can disappear completely, without leaving a trace
 Difference with trends = always leaves traces

Trendresearch
 Traditional Media
o Read papers, TV news, Trends 2021, Fashion trends, Technology trends, …
 Trade Media
o Media from a particular profession
 Online
o Research on Google, use Google Alerts to follow you interests daily/weekly/…
 Conferences, TED Talks, Trade Shows, debates
o Attend these
 Crowdfunding
o Can give a certain direction of a trend
 Market research
 Expert Talks
o Use these talks to expand your information
 TV, Film, Series
o In Startrek they used a smartphone but it was not invented yet
 Daily Life
o Travel, explore, …

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The Trend Pyramid
Trend hierarchy

Kind of way to make a difference between the different trend levels. They are 3 levels
sometimes they say 4.
Level 1

 Media trend
 Societal trend evolves the level above
Level 2

 Macro trend will give an answer to the micro trend = market trend
Level 3
Giga trends  Kondratieff waves
Sometimes we speak about giga trends, they are in fact the Kondratieff waves. Typical for
Kondratieff waves is that they are cyclical, business cyclical. More an economic cyclical. It
was called after Kondratieff, which was scientist and an economical thinker. Joseph
Schumpeter was an economical thinker and used this terminology in combination with a
theory of innovation. For him innovation was going in to cycles and not linear or exponential.

Giga trends

That’s the way how Schumpeter saw the economical development and technology in the last
centuries.
When you look at the picture you can always see an economical growth and a slowdown.
Currently, we are in the 6th Kondratieff wave, it started around 2010 and, as you can see on

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the picture, we notice that our new technology like renewable energy are bringing a new
movement in de waves.
The 5th Kondratieff wave took place between 1970 and 2010, it was mostly about
information technology.
The 3th Kondratieff wave was about automobiles and petrochemicals.
You can also see the negative growth. When we had a bank crisis, Great Depression and
financial crisis. They are at the bottom side of the cycle.
Kondratieff waves are a combination of economical growth and bank credit and money. It’s
the money that makes it possible to finance and fund the innovation. When the innovations
at his top, you can see slowdown. Some people say that you can use the Kondratieff waves
in fashion but of course for a very short period. Clothes from 410 years ago are coming back.
Mega trend or Societal trend
We call the mega trends the driving forces. So mega trend =
societal trend = driving forces. A mega trend is about the traces
they leave in our society, they evolve very slowly. Mostly they
will be detected and named later.

 Globalisation
 Urbanisation
 Digitisation
It changes our norms and values in our society. We can bring the societal trends to a little
word, DESTEP. They interact with each other.

Macro trend or Consumer trend

It’s about consumer desires, wishes, behaviour, needs, values,
expectation, … now and in the future. How can trends can be used to
develop business opportunities. It is very demand driven, while market

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trends are supply driven because they are answers at the questions that arise from the
consumers.

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Consumer trend
A consumer trend is a sweet spot, which means it’s a
spot between innovation, basic human needs and
driving human needs. That last one is a driving forces
that lays beneath and gives us a kind of perspective to
the consumer. When those 3 have an interaction, you
speak of a sweet spot or a consumer trend.
Micro trend or market trend
This a trend signal, we also speak about a manifestation of a trend.
It’s supply driven and can change from market to market. It is an
answer at the questions that’s comes from our consumers, you can
find a specific answer or solution to your market.
Examples of the application of trends in the trend pyramid
From a media commercialization perspective
In 1989 there was only 1 channel on our tv’s, slowly they were more channels. In the 90’s
they were more channels and advertisement/commercials. And now? We are annoyed by all
the commercials on tv, so what happened? Streaming services were born. It changed our
behaviour like binge watching, something that was not possible in the 90’s.

The evolution we saw the past years is commercialization media, our consumers were
annoyed by all the ads – advertising fatigue. What’s the answer to our consumers, knowing
the business companies wants to communicate with people? The answer is branded
content.

Trend creators are responsible for the trends

Youngsters
Harajuku girls is an example how the youth can be the basis of a new trend. They use
different kinds of fashion as an expression, they wanted to show they are different than their
parents. Those groups of youngsters came together and it was a kind of hotspot for street
art, fashion, costumes, plays, … it was important as a way of expression. With that group
new forms of expression became popular like animé, manga, computergames, G-pop, visual
kei. They were new innovation as a way of their expression

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Inspiring entrepreneurs
Steve Jobs, Jeff bezos, … are entrepreneurs with very inspiring ideas
Celebs
Madonna changed society in a way, she was very influential. She was not only popular in
music but sha-e plays also in movies, had fashion brands. She was very curious, always
wanted to renew her looks, music’s, … To see how Madonna evolved over the past few
years, we have to look at her albums.
she was always on the cover of her albums, she was her own brand/started her brand.

 First album: glamour style

 Second album: romantic style
 Tirth: revival look of Marlin Monroe

 Fourth: she became a Mexican diva, the songs

were more Latina inspirited
 Fifth: grunge style
 Sixth: erotically

 seventh: blond pin up style

 Eighth: sensually elegant photo model style
 Ninth: spiritual – mystical style
… … … … … … … …
Conclusion
Who are they? They are

 Youngsters
 Designers
 Homosexuals
 The rich
 Artists
 Celebs
 Inspiring entrepreneurs
 Influencers
Mostly people have a multi social network, which is better to launch a new trend. It is also
more trend sensitive.

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Where do trend arise?
 A unique and complex social process
 Trend creators set something in motion
 Poly social groups disperse in 1ste line
 Media as an accelerator in the distribution
 When many copies/copycats start to pop up
Example

 In the Middle Ages Bruges was a very popular city, where people came to visit and
buy products
 In the 16th century Antwerp became popular and it spread all over the world
 In the 17th century it was Amsterdam because of the WIC and the VOC it brought
products from all over the world to Amsterdam
 In the 18th century Paris
 In the 19th century London
 In the 20th century Berlin
 Later: Harajuku, Silicon Valley in California, Nothing Hill in London, Tel Aviv, Milano,
Barcelona

How do trends evolve?

It’s about innovation theories.
Diffusion of Innovation
Everett Rogers published a book ‘Diffusion of Innovation’. He said we can catalogue 5 types
of adapters of new technology/new products/new trends.
1. Innovators
a. Companies like Apple
2. Early adapters
a. Adapting very fast on new trends
b. Role models, youngsters, when a new iPhone is released these are the people
who will stand in the rows to buy one
3. Early majority
a. These are the people who will wait a few months before they buy the new
iPhone
4. Late majority
a. These are the people who buy the previous model of the iPhone when the
new one is released
5. Laggards

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 a. They are not so interesting in technology

It’s a good theory but a little bit old, because

innovations evolve very fast.

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The tipping point
A book that gives a certain idea how innovation can evolve.
Malcolm Gladwell suggest they are 3 kinds of people
1. Connector
2. Maven
a. People with ideas – the innovators
3. Salesman
To connect the salesman and the maven we need the
connectors, otherwise it could never be an innovation.

The connectors had many relationships, they have a poly

social network, they connect people to create an added
value.

The tipping points stands for the decisive moment. That

happens when the linear curve becomes exponential and
where the number of connections ensures a higher
effectiveness. When you reach a certain number of
connections, you can see your curve evolve exponential. You
really need a network, don’t underestimate the power of a
network.

How are we connected?

Six degrees of seperation
Ducan Watts and Stanley Milbourne made the theory ‘Six degrees of
separation’. Every living person on earth, is in maximum six steps away
from another person even when they are at the other side of the world.
It’s something you can do with LinkedIn.
Six degrees of Kevin Bacon
This is based on the Six degrees of separation. You have a Kevin Bacon number and it shows
you in what level you are connected to others.
This number was made by students who rent movies after
their examens. They watched movies and realised they
saw Kevin Bacon in every movie. They concluded that he
knew a lot of people, so they draw the connections with
other directors, actors, stuntman’s, …

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The gartner hype cycle
they are 5 phases
1. Innovation trigger
a. Potential innovation breakthrough
b. When it appears in the media and have a lot
of attention but the product is not developed
yet, like driverless cars
2. Peak of inflated expectations
a. It reaches it’s first peek
b. The first success story’s in media appears but also failures
c. Accident with driverless Tesla
3. Trough of disillusionment
a. The interests I technology is going away due to failures and negative
experiments and bad implementation
4. Slope of enlightenment
a. Only companies that believes and invest in their technology are the only ones
that go on with the new product or technology
b. These companies made a business model to create profit they know how to
make profit and they will be new improvements on the technology and they
will be developed
5. Plateau of productivity
a. Adaptions are about to take place on a larger scale, it’s clear that companies
want to go on with the new technology
b. The technology became relevant and other companies want to work with it
c. Consumers want to buy the new product wit the new technology
Technology adoption curve
It’s based on a theory of Dawns Larry and Nunes Paul, the big bang disruption. Underneath
this theory is the Innovation model of Rogers (Diffusion of innovation). But the grey model
has become an orange shark vin, where you only can see 2 groups. The trial users and vast
majority, 2 groups has been renamed because they says technology and the adaptions
evolve so fast that the timeframe is limited.

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Important to know, is that there are 4 phases in the shark vin.
1. The singularity
a. Stable production changes of mature industry come under pressure from
newcomers who experimenting new technology and products
2. The big bang
a. A number of early experiments result in de right combination of technology
and the right business model. A new market is emerging
b. Users a massively ignoring older technology and products, they are disrupting
the existing industries on a large scale
c. This is a very dynamic ecosystem with a rapid growth
3. The big crunch
a. When a lot of people use and adapt to the technology it can lead to a rapid
saturation of the market
b. The disruptive product is entering a mature phase in which his innovating
character is declining and not growing anymore
c. Other competitors are already trying to enter the market again with a better
product
d. This leads to a big crunch, a fast decline
4. Entropy
a. When companies disappear due to a lack of money or products
b. Only company with enough and a lot of money will survive this phase and
luckily for them a new singularity phase follows

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Chapter 2: Global reset after Corona
Introduction
Interview with Yuval Noah Harari in the Financial Times 20 th of March 2020
“Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive, but we will
inhabit a different world.”

COVID19: A wildcard
A wildcard is a term that we use in strategic future thinking and scenario planning. It can be
described as a sudden event or a series of events that causes traumandance disruption and
greatly influence and society.
A wildcard can be described in several ways:

 Physical phenomenal
o Earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, extreme draught
 Human caused
o Uprisings, greed, …
 Pandemic
o Combination of human based and physical wildcard
o COVID19

Mostly wildcard have an early warning system: indicators that something will happen
Other wildcards in our history
Breakup of the Berlin Wall
It was a symbolic element of the communist system. It was a border between East and West
Berlin but also between Eastern and Western Europe. A lot of people from Eats Berlin took
down the wall and for them it was the end of the communism. It was not a surprise because
it was foreseen. There were a lot of authors and interviews where they mentioned that
communism will come to an end. When the wall fell it was the beginning of a complete other
period: polish cleaning, Bulgarian construction work, Romanian truckdrivers, but it had also a
worldwide influence. It was the beginning of a multicultural society, free market economy, …
9/11
It is a part of our collective memories; the United States were attacked by a terrorist group
of Al Qaida. They highjacked 4 planes: 2 planes were bringing down the Twin Towers of New
York while 1 other plane crashed in Virginia in the woods and the last plane crashed in the
Pantheon in Washington. The impact was enormous, at that moment there was no air traffic
on the American soil because it was prohibited. It was a war declaration against America but
we experienced it more as a worldwide declaration of war. It was the beginning of Muslim
terrorism certainly in Western Europa and the US. There were other effects as well: the stock
market was collapsing; the following year 400 000 people lost their jobs; 2 trillion dollars
were in damage and a great loss for tourism and airplanes. Despite alle the negative effects
there was also a winner, the security sector. In that decade we felt unsafe, mainly in Europa
and the US.

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There was also in this situation a warnings system. In the 90’s there were reports where they
saw a growth in fundamentalistic and Muslim radicalisation in Afghanistan. There was also a
report that said that Disney World Florida was a place of terrorist attacks. Before 9/11 2
embassies of America were already attacked. So, 9/11 didn’t come out of nowhere, it was
already in some people’s mind that something like that could and would happen.
Financial economic crisis
Happened between 2007 and 2009. It started in the US when people took a loan to finance
their house. They loaned a lot of money at different banks., but the problem was that they
couldn’t repay their loans. There was a recession so a lot of people lost their jobs and
couldn’t repay anything.
Banks packed the loans in interesting financial products for them. These were sold at other
banks all over the world. Because of that we experienced a domino-system: a lot of banks in
Europa had problems with getting money and the fluidity of the economy. The result was
enormous it was a total collapse of the bank system but also the economical system. Some
counties were (almost) bankrupt because of this crisis. A big recession entered the world and
even some banks went bankrupt. Banks in our county and neighbouring countries had
difficulties.
The crisis was one of the reasons why banks were nationalised. The authority of Europe had
to invest/put money in banks otherwise our economical system would fall out and collapse.
Due to the interfering of the governments, the problem was solved.
COVID19
It all started in Wuhan at December 2019 and it devastated abroad. At the end of December
more than 32 million people were infected. In fact, there are 1 million people that died due
to COVID19 and more than 24 million are healed. 182 countries had reported infections of
COVID19, from that moment everybody knew we all have to deal with the pandemic. The
total global economical damage is over 4 trillion euros.
Where there other pandemics in the past where could learn from? Yes, absolutely! Very
large pandemics are common in our history.

 Antiquity period: Justinian plague

 Middle ages: plaque (1 of 3 people died)
 End of WW I: Spanish flue
 Asian flue
 Hong Kong flue
 Mexican flue
Could we have predicted this pandemic? Yes, a lot of scientist said that something like this
would take place. It was just a question of time, when it would take place. It’s a real wildcard
because it’s so devastated for the economy but certainly and not to forget for our social life.
COVID19 and the economic impact
For two quarters the economy
won’t grow. The economy will

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shrink by 30%, we have not experienced this yet, but it will come. The impact of COVID19 is
something we never have seen, even not in the past. It will take several years to overcome
this pandemic and the economical fall out.

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The Kübler-Ross Change Curve
If we go back how we as humans
experience these changes. The curve
experience how we feel about certain
changes appear very quickly and have an
enormous impact on our lives. It is used
very often in psychology and psychiatry.
When Corona broke out there was a kind
of denial. The Chinese government denied
the virus epidemic, it took them a lot of
weeks before they said it was an outbreak of the virus. But it was the same for us, we all
said “okay there is a virus but it won’t come to Europe it’s only in China.”
When we saw that the virus was breaking out and was going all over the world, a new
element came in: frustration. The economy was going down, clos schools, wearing masks,
online classes, no social contacts, lockdown, … and we entered a new phase, depression.
Afterwards we accepted the new normal and we we’re in the experiment-phase. We
experimented and searched solutions. We followed courses differently, shopped online
differently, worked remotely, … there were new rules, new business models, new
possibilities, a new future and we have entered the second last phase: decision. At this
moment we’re in the last phase, integration, we’re rebuilding our lives with trying to do
everything like we could but indifferent ways.

COVID19: trends in behaviour & consumption

Trends are processes of changes in values, norms and needs part developed by driving forces
and manifesting themselves in different ways to certain groups in society. They strive our
quality of living true innovation. We see that the typical COVID trends are influencing our
lives.
Other trends are still taking pace, which we can not forget. Population growth, urbanisation,
climate trends  they are still here and manifesting themselves.
The low touch society
We are anxious to be infected and infect others. We don't want to feel guilty for infecting
others, that's why we attach so much importance to the distance rules. We avoid physical
contact in the way we work, we live, we shop, …
Wuhanshake
Giving a hand or a kiss wen you see someone you know, is something we are not allowed to
do. We are encouraged to change our behaviour when we meet someone, like an elbow
shad or a foot shake (= Wuhanshake). COVID implements new behaviours.
COVID19-service
A lot people stayed in quarantine to ensure they could not infect colleagues, family, other
people. A hotel brand in Switzerland started with a ‘COVID19-service’: their luxury
apartments were available for people wo wants to work in quarantine. They had full access

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to the staff, automatic check-ins, customizable service like corona testing, medical assistance
… they insured people could work in a completely isolated environment.
Drive-in graduation ceremony
Drones were bringing the diplomas to the cars and the ceremony was broadcasted on a big
screen.

Float-in movie
Little boats were floating on the Seine and they watched in their bubble movie, which was
projected on a big white screen.
Beach bubble hotel in the Maldives
They wanted to guarantee that guests could stay in their own bubble. So, they made a
transparent bubble on a private sandbank. They had their own chef, butler, bathroom,
sandbank, … to ensure the guests would stay in their bubble. And in created new
opportunities where people are willing to spend their money on.
Homeless people bubble center in San Francisco
Installation where homeless people had their own bed and they guaranteed that they had
their own sanitary. Every person had a place/bubble where they could ‘live’.
Contactless economy
It’s based on a principal of safety ( pyramid of Maslow). People don’t want to get very
close to others. It’s more a physical distancing not a social distancing, because social contact
can be maintained by all of the technological possibilities. we can keep each other in touch,
it’s not that we’re on our own haring from nobody. We speak about the 1.5m distance rule
so it’s more a physical distancing.
Contactless delivering package service
Self-driving cars that delivers the packages at home. Before the corona they brought
packages to students and workers but now they delver needles, gloves, masks to almost
everybody
Drones
Alphabet was used to bring medical needs (needles, gloves, masks, …) to hospitals. Now local
companies deliver more to their customers, like pasta, baby food, … by drones.
NFC/Payconic
It is the beginning of the end of paper money and coins; we don’t have a safe feeling with
cash.
Plex-it concept
They use plexiglass and place it as a lamp, so you could eat at the restaurant with a safe
feeling. It could be a solution to have more customers in their restaurants
Intervention
The spending power from customer is going down. Companies needs to provide products for
their customers at a lower price.

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Governments, people, doctors, employees and companies are helping everybody, are
helping our society.
Uber made it possible that help professionals could take free rides during the pandemic.
Aldi and McDonalds, in Germany, helped each other. McDonalds could not open their doors,
the workers from MCdo could temporarily worked in the Aldi stores because they needed a
lot of extra people.
Hygiene hype
Fashion brands started to sell masks. Masks will be the icon of these area.
Be a batman
A face shield that looks like science fiction bubble and forms a bubble around you. It helps
because they are some elements that can be heated at the temperature(56°C) the
coronavirus can not resist. This PVC buffer shield is designed to sterilise the air using
ultraviolet lights, which makes it possible to kill the virus and not to spread it further.
Disinfecting toasters
A smart toaster that could disinfect your phone and it could also charge your phone. It’s
working with ultraviolet light
Pura case
An Italian company that developed a case that you put above your clothes and it will kill al
the micro-bacteria’s that could contain the virus
Livestreamed commerce
Combination of live stream and e-commerce. We saw that e-commerce had make a lot of
people, youngsters but also other generations. Streaming was also making a very good take
off during de lockdown. A lot of people couldn’t go to the shops, it was a big opportunity for
livestreamed commerce. Ideal a Chinese jewellery store launched a new initiative 1000
people 10000 stores. A program to convert in store sales into live shows where presenter
sold products. They trained their staff and used influencers. We saw a big shift and it made a
big turn over instead of opening their shops. It was a leading example for other companies.
A cosmetical Chines brand saw that their sales fell with 90% during the Chinese New Year
also because they had to close down several retail locations. Alibaba and his e-commerce
business model was the solutions for this company. When they appeared in the livestreamed
commerce their sales rose again.
Facebook
Facebook had to adapt to this Livestreamed Commerce and he came with the Facebook
Shop idea. This platform provides free tools for retailers who were affected by the pandemic
to create online shopwindows (Instagram and Facebook). This is an answer to the trends
that’s occur in Asian.
People like to visit a real shop because of the experience that you have and that’s something
you don’t have in a virtual shop. This is an opportunity for companies to find a solution for
this problem, so the needs of their consumers can be fulfilled.
25
The virtual experience economy
Visiting an island virtually
Tourism board decide to make a virtual experience for people who wanted to visited the
islands. The customer is an avatar that can jump, run, walk and you can control it.
Tomorrowland
Tomorrow made a virtual festival, to maintain the experience.

26
The future after COVID19
Short term winners
 Supermarkets  a lot people bought many products that they maybe even don’t use
 Hair products
 Mouth masks manufacturer
 Hand sanitizers, alcohol and spirits
 Do It Yourself mask kits
 Plexiglass manufacturers
 Home entertainment services: Disney Plus, Netflix, Spotify
 Platforms for communication: Zoom, Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, …
 E-sports
Short term losers
 Fashion industry
 Restaurant and cafés
 LinkedIn
 Barbershops
 Retail shops
Some will never come back because they went into bankruptcy or into failure
Long term winners
 E-commerce platforms
 Livestream commerce
 Technology: will be introduced faster because it will be faster implemented
 Artificial intelligence and automatization
 Interpersonal relationships: we have learnt that our social contacts are very
important, solidarity is very big
 China: it’s the only country that makes profit
o China could buy a lot of European and Americans companies, because those
companies needs urgently money  big fear of European and American
politicians
Long term losers
 European and American politicians fear that a lot of companies will be bought by
China
 Hospitality sector: tourism, events, aviation, transport is in a big decline at this
moment

Big change in the future/future view

Virtual learning and working
It will remain, the transition was very brutal but it was necessary. It is possible to give classes
in a virtual way because schools stood behind on technological level.

27
Blended learning
Different type of courses for those who study rapidity and those who needs a little bit more
time
Holographic teaching
Bringing interesting people to university worldwide and to minimalize social contacts
Robot teaching
An opportunity to help students that are ill or maybe high risks for the virus
It’s very important that we keep learning, we need to make ourselves stronger and smarter.
Remote working
 More time with family
 Less stress
 Quieter atmosphere
 Save gas
 Avoid traffic
 More productive
Empty offices
SD Works are considering to sell their buildings in Antwerp. And maybe it will be something
that will happen more often. Which can be an opportunity for schools with older buildings
Growth home office & garden offices
A home office in your garden, but it is quite futuristic
Fluidity
Work-life balance will be more fluid. Instead of going to the company, we can do our work at
home. Your boss needs to have confidence in you because he can not see you work. As a
reaction you reschedule maybe your house but you can work more efficiently
New work values
 Productivity
 Collaborations
 Teamwork
Are values that will gain more importance. Now it’s not anymore about the hours you work
but about your productivity
Less traffic
Work from home  less traffic
Even if it’s not a whole home work week, it will reduce the traffic jams
What about public transports?
It’s on the losing side because people don’t feel safe to go on an overcrowded public
transport. But in the long-term it will be back on track, after vaccination

28
Carless cities
A lot of city governments made decisions to banish cars from the city, which could be an
opportunity for restaurant a cafe to open a bigger terrace.

Every disadvantage has its advantage

We need to think positive, need to have faith. Every challenge had its own opportunity; we
need to make a mind shift

29
Chapter 3: Demographical trends
Definition demography
Can be described as the science of the size, structure and the dynamics of the population in
a quantitative sense. Current demographical trends are discussed in the next pages.

first trend: Population growth

We have to face a rising population. The world
population will certainly grow until 2050. These has
enormous social economic consequences and other
things like: agriculture, clear water, food supply,
environment, quality of life, … It’s a big challenge
for mankind for the coming years and even
decades.
In history until the time of Napoleon there were 1 billion people on earth, but since the
second world war we have been added 1 billion people, worldwide, every 10-15 years. Our
population is more than double today than it was in 1970.
Population is a very dynamic field; it’s growing by more than 18 million people in a year.
However, it will certainly grow further for the rest of this century unless we take action. Each
year the total population of Germany is added to our world, that’s enormous. What we
experience is an exponential growth over the last 150 years.
Each 2 years the United Nations makes a projection of the future population growth. In the
first picture you see a 90% certainty range and a population growth until 9.7 billion people in
2050 and 10.9 billion people in 2100. In those projections can be a difference for almost 4
billion people, depending on what kind assumptions you make in the population growth of
the future.
In the second graph shows the projection if on average every other family had 1 or fewer
child or one more child than in the median projection. We can see minus half a child or plus
half a child in every family. What you see there, is an enormous difference in the total of
numbers that arise from just very small variations in family size. In the most negative
projection, we still grow until 16 billion people in 2100. Practically, it’s doubling the people in
80 years’ time.
If we could achieve a modest reduction in the number of the children that are born in the
future, we can have 3 billion people less than in 2100. Then we could say in 2100 that we
would have a lower population compared to now. This is also an assumption that can be
made.
Everything stands with how much children people have in their households, that is the big
question for the future.

30
31
We can say hat the population
growth is different by continent. At
this moment 9 countries will make
up for half of the projected total
population increase by 2050.
India will be a very big country in
population growth. Nigeria,
Pakistan, Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania,
Indonesia, Egypt and even the US.
We will see that their population
will continue to grow.
Around 2027 India will be overtaking China as the most populated country. 55 countries are
projected to experience a population reduction by 2050. Example China: China had the one
child policy, they saw an increase of population by 2.2%, which means that by 2050 there
will be 32 million less Chinese than today.
The rapid population growth causes a lot challenges to achieve sustainability goals, in
particular: eradicating, hunger and poverty. But also, to achieve generally quality and
improving health and education. More than half of the people added to the world’s
population come from the Sub-Saharan Africa. Although it’s falling, the fertility rate (average
number of children per women) remains high in the most African countries. So, the Sub-
Saharan Africa population is very young, 60% is less than 25 years old. That means that a lot
of people are entering their childhood and thanks to improvements in access to health care,
life expectancy that is increasing and declining child mortality, more generations are living
together.
Be aware that if we’re with so many people on our planet poverty, climate changes,
populations pressure themselves. This will lead to highly mobile global population
stimulating immigrants from Africa to Europe in the next decades to come.

Second trend: Urbanization

Currently one in two people live in the city, it’s expected that this will raise until maybe three
to four people in the next two or three decades. One global urbanization is in full swinging,
because in the last 100 years there were remarkable changes to city life.
If we take a comparison to 1900, only 15% of the population at that moment lived in cities.
So, urban living is quite new, it’s a raising trend. Living in a city causes changes in consumer
lifestyles and trends.
Example: Tokyo, nowadays we call this city a megacity. What is a megacity. It’s an urbanized
conurbation housing ten million or more inhabitants. The megacity are the primary places
for investment in a country and they featured the most fluent households. Some of the first
megacities popped up in the developed world, the first one was New York (in 1950). But it
was soon overtaken by Tokyo, which is by now the biggest city of the word.

32
Why are megacity significant? Because they offer wealth. There is social diversity, economic
growth and innovation. They attracted the ambitious in search of jobs, business features and
education. But at the same time, they present numerous challenges to urban planners,
because we have to suffer overcrowding, traffic jams and congestion, air pollution and high-
income inequality. In the future megacities will take over the role of the nation states and
they will become politically more important.

Current megacities over the

world

In Europa has only 4 megacities. China has on its own 6 megacities.

What are the key findings of these graphs?
Developing countries are dominating the megacities at this moment. In 2017, 26 of the 36
megacities were in developing countries. Asia has the largest number of megacities. Jakarta
will overtake this role by 2030 with more than 35 million inhabitants. African megacities led
the population growth. developed megacities maintained economic lead.
The East-Asians megacities are ageing cities, ageing is expected to have an impact on many
key megacities in East-Asia over the period 2017 until 2030. The growth in the share of
people 65 years old will be particularly appear in Seoul but also in Chinese megacities like
Beijing and Shanghai.

Tirth trend: Ageing population

2020 is the year of Corona, but it’s also the year where we made a shift. One on two Belgians
are older than 50 in our demographic pyramid. In Japan within 5 years’ time one on two
Japanese will be older than 60. If you see European countries like Germany, Italy, Portugal,
33
Spain and Greece they are ageing on a very fast scale, on a very rapid pace (= tempo). This
has an enormous impact on society as well.

An increasing population is also linked to an ageing population, but also to the life
expectancy growth. Ageing populations has a traumandance impact on our lives, on our
work, social security and health care. It means we will experience a growing health care cost
in the next decades. A lot of money will have to be saved for the health care sector; it will be

one of the biggest challenges for future governments.

Example: in the Netherlands it’s predicated that an average family will spend more than 1/3
of its income on health care products and services by 2040. Even by 2050 health care will be
not affordable in many countries, unless they switch on e-health care (electronic health care)
and associate efficiency benefits. So, health care will be a very interesting segment to work
in, in the next decades.

There will be a big growth in the people that are

60+.

Fourth trend: Life expectancy

At this moment children are born that could reach 140-150 years; this will be more common
in the future.
If we take an historical overview, we can clearly see that in 1800 life expectancy was very
low. Demographical research suggests that at the beginning of the 19th century no country in
the world had a life expectancy longer than 40 years.
What were the reasons?
 Conflicts and wars

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  Diseases
 More important: everyone in the world lived in poverty
o With limited medical knowledge

35
What was the result in the middle ages, new time and modern time?
In all countries our ancestors had to prepare for an early dead. When we take a look at the
1950’s we see that within 150 year a part of the world achieved substantial health
improvements; but a global division is also existing. In 1950 the life expectancy for new born
was around 60 years for babies from Europe, North-America, Oceania, Japan and some part
of South-America. Elsewhere, particularly in Africa, the life expectancy was still around 30
years which is more or less the same than in previous 1000 years.
The global inequality in health was in 1950 still enormous. People in Norway had in 1950 a
life expectancy of 72 years, while in Mali (Africa) it was 26. People who live in other
countries had a life expectancy that was twice as long as somebody who lived in Africa.
One of the reasons for that, was the decline in child mortality. This made a fantastic
landmark sign of progress, in was the first time in human history that we achieved sustained
improvements in health true entire populations. After millennia of terrible health conditions,
the seal was finally broken.
What will happen with the life expectancy in 2015?
Some of us tend to think that the world was divided as in 1950, but it was not. The world had
made rapid progress in health and many other aspects. Today most people in the world can
expect to live as long as those who lived in very ages countries in 1950. Africa made a fast
movement to meet our life expectancy in Western Europe, North-America, Asia and even
South-America. At this moment in 2019, the average global life expectancy is 72.6 years.
That number is higher than in any country back in the 1950’s.
If we take a look at the ranking of countries with the highest life expectations, then Japan is
number 1. Japanese can reach/had a life expectancy of 85 years. Macau (China) is 84.68
years and Switzerland (which is the number one of countries in Europe) had a life expectancy
of 84.25.
The increase in life expectancy for men is growing for each year 2.5 months and for women
is growing for each year with 3 months. So, we can conclude that we will reach 100 years as
a life expectancy age by 2050. Some researches claim that the millennials will be born in a
foreseeable future and aging is a disease that we will gradually overcome. These scientists
predict an eternal life.

36
37
Fifth trend: The multicultural society
We are already in the middle of it for the last two decades. Example: erasmus, where you
can meet a lot of new friends, move for your job to another country where you start your
life.
Multicultural society based on bigger mobility worldwide, migration and assimilation
because people from other cultures will adapt to the new culture. Trying to speak and learn
the language, habits, education is an enormous motor in that evolution, labour, social
structure of society, … Bigger immigrants’ families or small or native families? It all end in a
culture melting pot. This will be the next future of the decades to come.
You can see a multicultural society if you take a look at the Belgian football club the Red
Devil. Below is a comparison between a team in the 1980’s and now. The team is more
diverse, more colourful, …

Another example is the interracial marriage, in the US is a growth of 400% over a period
from 25 years.

Sixth trend: One person households

There is an increase in the number of single families. Single families are one person
households, are young people who start living alone. It can be a young student living alone,
people who left over from a broken marriage and elderly people whose partner had died.
These 3 groups form a one person household. All over the world this number is increasing.
In the Netherlands in 2015, there were 2.9 million single households. In 2030 it’s expected to
increase to 3.4 million.
But even in Sweden 74% of the total percentage of households is a one person household. In
2018 In Germany it’s 40.2%, in the Netherlands it’s already 38%, in France 34.2%, in Japan
33%, in US 27%, Russian and Poland 25%. So, we see an enormous increase in smaller
households all over the world.

Seventh trend: Feminisation and gender neutrality

The future is becoming more and more influenced by females. Women are at this moment
better educated than men, smarter than men, gain more and more a role into society.
Alexander De Croo, which is currently our first minister, wrote a book ‘De eeuw van de
vrouw’. He thinks that the 21st century is the century of the women, and our teacher thinks
he’s written. Because girls are performing much better at schools, more women have an
executive level (c-level) in companies, also in political parties, at international organisations.
More and more women are stepping into industries that were in the past more a male
industry, pay gap is slowly closing. In Norway the women football team receives as much as
the male team. It’s a kind of way to close the gap between the 2 sexes.

38
According to study conducted (= uitgevoerd) in style magazine, it was said that women are
more confident than ever. They did a survey (= enquête) with questions and send it to more
than one thousand divorced men and women: 53% of the women seems to be happier with
their divorced status compared to only 32% of men. This means that women are more
confident, they know what they want, they have a better view on life, they feel very strong,
…
Some examples
 In history cheerleaders from sport teams were women, but now male cheerleaders
are upcoming
 On the cover of ‘Covergirl’ needs to be a girl, but know there are also boys. We’re
involving to a unisex society
 Anjali Lama was the first transgender model
 Petra De Zutter is the first transgender in the Politics in Europe and Belgium
In line to the trend of feminisation there is gender neutrality and equality, these are
happening on a very fast base in Western-European countries but also in America.

Eighth trend: Redefinition of family

How family can be defined and how it evolved the las 2-3 decades. In April 2016 there was a
project in Brazil where they unveiled a programme and asked to help find and define what a
family means for them. They made a #todasfamilias so people could make their own
definition of a family and it was collected by a dictionary programme. The definition of a
family is changed if we compare it to what it was 30-40 years ago. The past few decades we
have to deal with a lot of divorces, we describe family as a mother/father, child, plus
mother/plus father, grandparents that live together with family, stepbrothers and -sisters.
The dictionary programme was a good way to evolve to a new definition.
Generations
Generation are a cluster of peers (= onze gelijken) who are linked by shared education, the
experience of their surrounding culture, Zeitgeist (= spirit of the age/tijdsgeest) and also
experiencing change in society.
The first generations
Are practically not living anymore. They were called the lost generation; these are the
people who were born between 1885 and 1910. This is unfortunately a generation that is
not interesting anymore. They are called the lost generation because they are the first group
to be mentioned in theories about generational thinking in publications the last decades and
because they are all gone.
The generation in between the two world wars are called The Interbellum Generations, they
are born between 1910 and 1930. Interbellum means: period between two world wars.
Most important events during their generation
1. Of course, world war I: they were children then
2. Spanish flue
3. Roaring twenties

39
 4. Universal single voting rite
5. Rise Nazism and fascism
6. World war II

40
Characteristics of this generation
 Dutifully
 Modest
 Sober
 The church and state authority are almost absolute
 Women are only supposed to take care of children and men
o During the wars women took their role in the industries and worked outside
 Men were obedient at world
Generation at this moment
 There importance is limited, their life expectancy is not more then a few years now
The silent generation
They are born between 1930 and 1945.
Historical events that took place in their lives
 Period were democracy was under pressure: there were the ideological
contradictions between communism and capitalism, but also facing Nazism and
racism
 Experienced world war II as a child or were born
 Experienced economic crisis: consequences of the Crash of Wallstreet
 In post war period: silver fifties
 Cold war between Russia and the US
Characteristics
 Lived sober and sparingly
 Loyal to authorities
 Still striving to help their children and grandchildren
 Hard work is needed to climb on the social ladder, it allows you to have a better
position in society
 Hard work needs to be done because of the reconstruction of society after WW II
 Saw America with their its American dream as an example: cheerful families, need
clothing, a house full of appliances (like a refrigerator, first television, vacuum-
cleaner, …), holidays, cars, …
o Was fuelled by movies in cinemas, in theatres, after WW II the image of the
American dream was giving by movies
Generation at this moment
At this moment this group is on retirement and they are in health care. The average life
expectations are 10 to 15 years, maybe 20 if they are lucky. Their main crucial question is:
how can I enjoy a healthy life?
The boomers
The bayboomer can be divided into two groups:
1. Master boomer, who is born between 1945 and 1955
2. Baby bloomer, who is born between 1955 and 1965

41
42
Historical events
Master boomers

 Born during the reconstruction of all infrastructure of industries but also society after
WW II
 Experience the sliver fifties when they were very young
 Golden sixties where is their adolescent years
 Gold war
 Student protest in the 60’s
 Equal civil white movements in the 60’s
 Are also called the protest generation
 Still a hardworking generation
There is certain theory in America that is called the age wave theory: they define that the
economic slowdown between 2005-2010 went parallel with the retirement of the master
boomer. The master boomers could probably be the wealthiest group of population. The
largest capital is in these group due to their demographic strength: they have plenty of time,
earned a lot money during their lifetime, they’re not in healthcare like the silent generation
but in wealth care, have wealth.
Baby bloomers

 Oil crisis in 70’s

 Hippie area
 Women are gradually entering the labour market
 Faces growth in number of divorces
 Child planning was possible due to the existence of the pill
 Also called: a connection generation
 Still hard working
 In charge of the social and economical life
Characteristics
Master boomers

 °1945-1955
 Liberal, because most of them went to high schools, maybe even universities due to
the democratisation of education
 Economical independence
 Enjoy life: travelling, activities, sporting, getting to know computers although they
were not born with it
 Want to be addressed as someone who is 20 years younger

43
Baby bloomers

 Lots of life experience, lots of money and in some cases less time
 Well care
 Liberal, have some same characteristics as master boomers
 Good education
 Economical independent
 Enjoying elements of life
 Busy with technology
 Want not to be addressed as someone who is 50 or 60 but as someone who is 30-40
years old
Generation at this moment
Master boomers
The crucial question for them is: what did I build up during my life and carrier and what are
my next goals in my life? These groups retire through the front doors of many companies on
Friday but they come back on Monday as a consultant or help youngsters as a kind of
mentorship in different companies. They work very flexible without time pressure and
sometimes they discover their passion. They are doing exactly what they are very good at.
They like to pass over their knowledge to younger generations and looking for raise to work
well with these younger generation.
Baby bloomers
Their crucial question is: how am I going to use my responsibility and influence in the future?
These group is focused on career development, do overtime is no problem for them. They
feel like they belong to the company their work for.
Generation X
Is born between 1965 and 1980. It is also called a pragmatic generation
Historical events
 Saw economic crisis
 They dealt with periods of booming economics
 Fall of the Berlin Wall and communism
 Tension in the Middle Eats
 Start of coloured television when they were child
 Commercial television in their teenage years
 Beginning of computer area
 Better educated than baby boomers
 Women and men are working: double income and even double income no kids =
dinks
 Women are entering the workforce in large numbers
 First generation that grew up with computers and technology take parts of their lives
Characteristics
 They work to live instead of live to work
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  But still ambitious and eager to learn new skills
 Want to accomplish things on their own terms
 Challenged by time but still wealthy
Generation at this moment
They question authoritarian leadership, and looking for the ideal work-life balance.
There is a subcategory in these generation: the Xenials
It’s a micro generation born during the cusp years of generation X and Millennials. Those are
the people who were born in between 1977-183 (or when the Star Wars trilogy was
released).
Xenials experienced an analogue childhood and a digital childhood. Posses both generation X
cynicism and Millennial optimism and drive.
Generation Y – The Millennials
Is also called authentic generation, are the people wo were born between 1980 and 1995.
Historical events
 Ecological movement
 Start of internet
 From a bipolar to a multipolar world
 9/11
 Banking crisis 2008-2011
 Economic prospects have declined largely due to the recession and banking crisis in
2007-2011
 High unemployment rates for the youth especially in Spain (> 50%) and Italy (>40%)
during the banking crisis
There was a study that said that in 2015 millennials in New York wore reported to earn 20%
less than generation X at a comparable age.
Characteristics
 Is challenged by time and money: no time is no money
 Societal change was boosted and accelerated by the use of social media
 Mobile computing and smartphones
 Living longer with their parents
 Connectivity is important for them
 Cares for people and planet: new values like corporate responsibility, charity and
ecology
 Are also aiming for a second certificate to increase their job market opportunities
 Constantly looking for opportunities and more experience: if they can find that in
their actual company, they will look elsewhere
 Ambitious
 Multitasking
 Eager for what’s next
Generation at this moment
45
Crucial question is: what do I want to do with my life? How do I build relationships with?

46
Generation Z – Postmillennial
We are those, those people are born between 1995 and 2010. We are also called:

 the bright generation

 no-math generation
 flex-generation
 centennials
 digital natives
 the plural because of the existence of the multicultural society
 gen-tech
 net-gen We grew up with a lot of
 or even igeneration in accordance to the iPad, iPhone, iWatch, …technology
Historical events
 Corona
Characteristics
 Constantly testing its limits
 1 on 6 grew up in a family without brothers or sisters and with elderly parents
because they wanted to wait before starting with children
Questions
For the people who were boron between 2005 and 2010, younger cohort: who can I play
with. Who are my friends?
For the older cohort: who are my friends? Which studies do I start? What will my job be?
The Alpha generation
Are those woes being born/will be born between 2010 and 2025. We call them the swipers
according to technology.
Characteristics
 Don’t begin manifesting themselves until adolescence
 Still too early to make a list of their characteristics nevertheless we can already
recognise a number of characteristics
 It’s a generation of children fold in households that are more growing up in non-
classical families
 Is confronted with more change than any other generations were
 Will live more and more in urban environments
 Will be more flexible and trained than other generations
 Handle technology that reacts quickly to their impulses making them a impatient
generation
 But at the same time, they are very concern about solidarity and equality
Maybe it’s a bit early to give this list but research on the older one (born in 2010) and a bit of
future thinking can result in these kinds of characteristic for this generation.

47
Is there a generation gap?
Of course, there is!
Recruiting
 In many companies applying for jobs is very old fashion: send a CV with a motivation
letter
 This is for a millennial and postmillennial old school
 Motivation letters are increasingly replaced by videos
 Roleplays are also used is assessments and even gamification is increasing by
applying for a new job

Conclusion: new elements are occurring and new methods are used for recruiting, we see a
certainly generation gap in how to recruit
Procedures
 Story: an engineering firm in the Netherlands observed that there was a highly
turnover of young people. A lot of young people departed from the job. An expert
was hired and decided with the management to implement a new way of working
and making the organisation Y proved. So, they wanted to implement this in phases
over the period of 1 year. They showed the planned to the staff with the intention
that the new way of working should come to the mindset of older employees. And
then something happened… it went completely wrong, because we experience there
a kind of top down approach. A lot of reasonability was taken away from young
people, generation Y, at that moment in their work it was a top down ad not a
bottom up approach. That organisation decided one year later that they abended the
new way of working because for them it didn’t work. They made the wrong decisions
because they were not taking the needs and behaviour from generation Y in account.
 What appears to work out well, is job crafting. It’s a way that workers craft their own
jobs. This means that they take responsibility for how long they work, but also for the
outcome and the results for the company. Giving a lot of responsibility to the worker
himself/herself. It could be an answer to this approach.
Social media
Baby boomers and generation X versus the millennials and the postmillennial: there a lot of
defences

 (1) is always discussing if it makes sense to use social media as a communication

channel
 (2) you naturally have to use social media and how you have to implement social
media in a company

 (1) experts will explain how something works

 (2) look to other channels and search and ask for explanations

48
  (1) always afraid of risks and risks of social media use will be summed up. Wait and
see attitude is taking for granted
 (2) let’s see and try, look for the opportunities social media could bring us. It’s a more
pro-active attitude

 (1) will go first for guidelines and then they will implement the procedures of social
media in the company
 (2) let’s discover is at least collectively agreed by doing it

 (1) diversity is negotiable by words but not by actions. Companies maintain a

hierarchy with respect for your higher bosses
 (2) strives for diversity in the workplace and open this ethical issue for discussion. For
them the leader stand alongside his team. And believes in gender equality, ethnic
equality and non-hierarchal corporate structures
Voorbeeldvraag: What is difference between generation X and baby boomers concerning
diversity?

49
Chapter 4: Translation of demographical trends in consumertrends &
innovations

Combing trends: Ageing population & Life expectancy growth

If you combine these two trends we can make some conclusions and assumptions for the
future.
Conclusions:
1) Growth of the health care industry
Health care industry throughout the world are challenged by the ageing population
and the expectancy of health care. Therefore an increased amount of the GDP of
each country will go to health care in developed countries.

2) Health care costs will increase

These higher costs are not necessarily driven by increased need. Cost effectiveness
will be very important in governmental decisions. The consideration of value for
money, pharmaceutical pricing, new technologies will be important to keeping these
costs under control.

How will health care in the future look like?

The quantified self-movement and the growth of apps is very important. Digital health care
will be important in the years to come. Apps and software will help doctors and nurses to
make correct diagnoses. Patients will be better informed and monitored then today.
More and more people are using health care apps. More communicating devices like Fitbit
and apple watch will be used.
Smart homes will help you take care of your health. Different devices will capture data.
Quantified self: DIY health care

Innovations:
- Nanobots: Nanobots are bots that will be injected in a body. The bots will prevent
that you get sick and repair your tissue.
- Diagnose of skin cancer: Stanford university collects images of skin diseases. The
algorithms have learned to diagnose with good results. Also apps can do this now.
Maybe dermatologists will be disappeared.
- Snifphone: A device that measures your breath. It takes a sample of it and it can
detect diseases.
- Canary speech: It can detect Parkinson or Alzheimer by AI technologies and the voice
of the patient.
50
 - Watson: Watson is an AI platform. It is been used to detect cancer in an early stage.
- Bioprinters: Bioprinters can print organs and skin.
- 3D Drug printer & sensor in body: The sensor in your body screens your body and is
connected to the printer. The printer then prints tailor made drugs.
- Chip in brain for Alzheimer patients: Chip makes it possible to remember things again
for Alzheimer patients.
- Lens implants to project data on eye
- DNA applications

The multicultural society

2 consumer trends can be derived from the multicultural society:
- Diversity
- Inclusivity

How brands handle this:

Orbitz: US travel brand who launched a microsite to the LGTBQ travellers.
Lesbian, Gay Transgender, Bisexual, Questioning
Lush: Partnered up with Black-Owned Businesses. Support to minority businesses.
The body shop: Implemented an open hiring policy. No interviews or background checks.
They only ask if the people are legally in the US.
Dove: Collaborated with basketball players on racial equality. Care stands for racial equality.
New Zealand human rights: Interactive website to teach people about racism.
Microsoft: Aims to create jobs for disabled people in Asia Pacific.

51
One person households
- Loneliness
- Feminisations

Loneliness
70% of students feel lonely. They are under stress.
Loneliness is in all layers of society and all ages, even more during COVID.
Loneliness can be combined with individualism trend. People are more and more alone.

Companies offering initiatives to tackle loneliness:

Visit Iceland: Tourism agency invites people scream out their lockdown frustrations. They do
this in remote locations in Iceland.
Sprite: Sprite launched a campaign “You are not alone”.
Together: Connecting students and elderly because they are often lonely.
Radio recliner: Radio station run by seniors helps combat social isolation.
Octi: AR social network enhances real-life interactions. It basically brings people together.
The friendly bench: Social enterprise builds neighbourhood communities around parklets.
During COVID the organisers brought it online.

Feminisation
The future is female. We see more and more gender neutrality in our society.

Innovations & initiatives:

Väylä: Finland introduces gender-neutral road signs.
RTA: Transport department aims to improve diversity by hiring more women. To insure that
women have the same opportunities and job accessibility as men.
Mattel: Barbie doll line inspires girls to become future leaders. They show that women can
be important as leaders or politicians.
JEFA: Bank provides financial services tailored for women. This is financial inclusion. It is an
online bank.
Veuve Clicquot & Sista: Mentorship platform supports female entrepreneurs during the
pandemic

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 Shisseido: Men become more female. Tools teach men how to apply make-up

Consumer trend: Demographic disruption

People are more free than ever before to construct their own identity, rather than the one
prescribed to them by society. As a result, it’s increasingly difficult to define consumers via
‘traditional’ demographic segments such as: age, gender, location, income and family status.
Lifestyle is an ever-stronger indicator of behavior today.
Examples:
- Gaming adults: 1 in 3 people in the US over the age of 50 plays games on a regular
basis. There are more 50+ female gamers then there are male 50+ gamers. This is out
of the ordinary.
- The story of Emma: Emma is a 12 year old girl who lives in New York. Her grand-
mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer and lives in Hong Kong. Emma created an app
for her grand-mother that recognizes faces, because the grand-mother can’t
anymore. Emma received an award for her app. She founded an app making
company. The lesson: there are no age limits. Even starting a business at age 12 is
possible these days.
- David Goodall: David was a very famous ecologist. He was the oldest scientist of the
university. Age does not matter these days. He didn’t go on retirement.

53
Chapter 5: Global economic trends and consumer behaviour
Globalization vs localization and anti-globalization
Globalization
Globalization: People, businesses but also organizations worldwide are increasingly
connected to one another. It’s a process characterised by the disappearance of national
borders for trade and investment but also the growth of telecommunications and
information technologies increasing capital flows and also the independence of financial
markets.
 Something that occurs already a long time in the economy but also in politics and in
demography

“Butterflyeffect”
Example: Human Rights
The idea that small things can have non-linear impacts on a complex system
In almost all areas and the borders of the country have become blurred and there is more
travelling then ever and this will contribute to the spreading of ideas, innovations,
information all over the world in a very quick way

Effects of globalisation:
Connectivity
Accelerated by internet and social media. Quick spread of ideas, news, money,
product and services all over the world.

Travelling
Became bigger when the abilities to travel were easier much easier and cheaper to
travel than in the eighties

Migration and Education

In contact with a lot of other cultures
- Kids at the secondary school go for one year to another part of the world with an
FAS programme
- University college  go on Erasmus (Also professors, teachers)

Globalization positive effects:

 Education, trade, share technology easily, need of competition -> lower prices,
investment and capital flows, employment, culture

Globalization negative effects:

(See documentary)

54
55
 Globalization failed
Financial crisis (2007-2011)
 Triggered by stagnating house marking in US and decline in value of bundled
mortgages
 Globalist crisis / Economic crisis
 Banks went bankrupt
 Intoxicated complete international financial system
 Not only banks even countries came into problems
Corona= new global crisis

Global governance
Global governance or world governance is a movement towards more political
cooperation among transnational actors, aimed at negotiating responses to problems
that affect more than one state or region
 For climate change, more sustainable planet
 Also in Corona times a worldwide solution is needed

Globalization in industry and production

Iphone: Consist of severance component produced by different suppliers from all over the
world (Mostly in Asia)
Company Boe builds OLED displays for all apple product
This is an effect of globalization, globalisation is needed for this

Toaster: Invented in 1893

Consist of more than 400 parts and subparts
For example Copper  Congo, Zambia, Peru, Russia
Nickle, steel, plastic
All raw materials have to be transported to the factory for assemblage and production
This is an effect of globalization, globalisation is needed for this
We can apply this system to other devices

56
Anti-globalisation
Anti-globalisation: Countertrend
A movement that opposes to a neo-liberal way of globalization.
Criticism to globalization equalizes economic differences
Human rights, fair rules for international transactions, fair trade rules -> More important
than economy
“Think globally but act locally”

Reshoring
Practice of transferring a business operation, that was moved overseas, back to the country
of origin
It brings back jobs
Protectionism
Apple will reshore more than 20000 jobs
Part of plan Donald Trump
Also happening in Europe

Localisation
Localisation: Countertrend
Some people like the localisation element.
Big cities have all the same stores
Negative elements: Splitting of EU, empowerment of mega cities
Local food: Production is in a short distance of the selling point

Locavorism: Short distance (max 100 kilometres) between production and selling
Food movement: More self reliant food network, support local economy, sustainable food,
people like to see what they eat

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Local stores and local crafts
Example Panera: Bakery chain
Panera and google maps team up for a seamless ordering service
Find a Panera for me and place an order

Example Cerveza corona: Beer brand’s platform showcases Colombian eco-hotels

Example Tropicfeel: Fashion brands that urges costumer (Spain) to rediscover their own
country guided by local explorer

Example Tenino: Money that you only can spend in local shops to keep the money in the
local economy
Amazon wouldn’t except local wooden dollars

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Chinese dominance
Is very important
Today China is a big superpower, it has taken over the USA

China is the most wealthy country in the world and is expanding very fast
economically
If you want to become rich built a road first. Invest in roads and infrastructure in
Africa in exchange they get raw materials.

Trade war between China and US, China is very dominant

How megacities were created in China?

Overcrowded population  1,4 billion people 1/5 people who lives on earth
The population is ageing
Golden age of China  21th century

Addicted to mobile phones

2 Different walking roads: 1 for mobile users, 1 for not mobile users

82% of Chinese people use mobile phones for doing payments  cashless economy

2019 China 40% global e-commerce

Global e-commerce sales were doubled in 2020 vs 2019 (for example Alibaba)

Chinese baggers (bedelaars) work with QR-code  without QR-code you don’t get
any money

Growth of middle class

More middleclass, less poverty
China is a developed country today, even a rich country

Leader in 9 domains of global innovation

Wish of leader Xi Jing Ping
China wants to lead in 2030: Cyber technology, Big data, DNA, 5g, digitalisation, AI,
IOT , robotisation, new energy
They want to build technological infrastructure

In Belgium we barely use 5G (Developed by Huawei)

In China everywhere
They are very strong in implementation of technologies (For example facial
payments)

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60
 Chinese pride
China is already in recovery after the recovery
Fight back against the corona crisis by organizing very strict lockdown
Consumer trust is back
Chinese consumer like to support their own brands localisation
Farmers couldn’t bring the products in all the Chinese cities because of Corona
Chinese customers support them by buying the products online

The experience economy

New economy style
Experience is essential, perception of the consumer

Example: the progression of economic value

Experiences are unforgettable
Coffee beans in a café vs at home You pay a lot for the service
Starbucks, you pay a lot more  You pay for the experience

Example: Ratio Shanghai

Personalist coffee recommendation by AI
Consumers place their orders via we-chat
They can customize everything about their coffee
Next time will give you recommendation based on data

Example: Tomorrowland festival

Experience about music, being young, festivals

Example: Eva air

August
Hello kitty themed fathers-day flight to nowhere
After take-off goody bags
Good meal

Example: National museum

Virtual journey into pearl industry
Introduction of the history of the industry
VR diving for oyster with VR glasses and motion sensor

61
Sharing economy
New style of economy
Customers want to involve into active participants instead of passive consumers

Example: Uber
Biggest taxi company in the world without having any taxi’s
It’s a platform

Example: Airbnb
Biggest hotel chain platform to rent a house or apartment

Example: World Wildlife Fund

Combat plastic pollution by sharing knowledge via platform
Used in cities
Solve the plastic pollution

Other examples: Job sharing, bike sharing, …

Attention economy
New style of economy
Attention economics is an approach to the management of information that treats
human attention as a scarce commodity, and applies economic theory to solve various
information management problems
More Relevance More attention
Services in exchange for their attention
Social media sites, search engines
For example using Facebook advertising

How long do we have human attention?

Ability to concentrate very low by people because of phones, advertising, social
media Shorter attention span then a goldfish
Concentration is going downhill

Example: Personalized advertising in the future

Watch clip

Example: Ultra-short movies

Has to last 5 max minutes
Hasn’t been a success

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Example: Light phone 2
Phone for humans
Only tool that can’t reduce your attention
Selling very well

Example: Brave
Web browser
Paying users for watching adds
Payed in “badds”= basic attention tokens, you can use them for paying hotels and
brandsgift cards

Techno economy
New style of economy
Block chain technology
5G, smart cities, AI, big data, robotisation, IOT
Economy ruled by technology

Stardom economy
New style of economy
Taylor Swift: Highest payed artist gets money from touring not only from Spotify, deezer
Messi
Elizabeth Billington: Big opera star singer in 18th century
Bidding higher amount to programme her in the theatre
10000 Pounds for giving a concert
A fraction of what Taylor Swift earned now

Phonographs record and reproduce human voices  the reason why artist earns more
Now  you can listen good music at home don’t need to go to the opera hall
Ipod  music becomes cheaper artist needs to perform back to earn money
5% of the best artists earn more than the other 95% together
Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Alibaba  have so much power stardom economy
Football watching more and more the top games in other countries number of Belgian
football watchers decreased rise abroad

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Purpose economy
New style of economy
Trying to build op purpose for a brand or society
Tony’s chocolonely
Tesla
Personal motivation to international impact
Striving for positive impact

1. Statement
2. Promise
3. Contribution
4. Claim  most important, has a lot impact on society and people

5 different ways
1. Sustainability as a service
Consumers embrace services that allow them to track and reduce their planetary
impact
Intrepid & generation now: Travel companySubscription services let consumers
reduce carbon footprint
App to track the CO2 impact of every purchase(Finland) raw material to the final
product

2. Open source solutions

In 2020, smart brands open source their most purposeful work
Turkey: Open source wash machine keeps microplastics out of oceans filters 90
percent of microplastics (Other manufacturers can use it)

3. Code breakers
Brands break tradition or industry code for ethics or sustainability reasons
Coldplay Band refuses to tour due environmental impact short concerts on
youtube  viewed a lot  money used for environmental non-profit organization

4. Legislative brands
Brands become activists for positive change
Ikea no parking space consumer needs to come by bike, food or public
transport roof became park

5. Purpose capitals
Social responsibility fuels the sustainable cities of the future
Tempo young people needs jobs gain diploma’s to find jobs initiative trains
low-income youth for jobs that contribute to city’s climate plan

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65
Capital in the 21st century
Door val communisme: kapitalisme schiet door waardoor er blind wordt vertrouwd op de vrij
markt. Rusland post Sovjet unie: economisch systeem dat niet werkt.
18de/(begin)19de eeuw: aristocracy (the elite) had al the power and the poor died of hunger
an no healthcare  rijk zijn is erfelijk (door landoverdracht)
Inequality  Increases chance of revolution
Arbeidsklasse wordt afgeleid van de klassenstrijd door andere conflicten aan te wakkeren
ontstaan nationalisme oorzaak WO I
Slaven-economie: slaven konden als onderpand worden gebruikt voor leningen
Using Christmas to increase consumption
Na WO II: minder kapitaal beschikbaar maar meer gelijkheid ontstaan middenklasse
Vandaag: aantal mensen in de middenklasse daalt en meer mensen in armoede.
Door toenemende macht vakbonden: veel meer stakingen (hierdoor ontstaat het idee om
terug naar het kapitalisme van de 19de eeuw te gaan
Idee dat deregularisering leidt tot een kleiner stuk, maar grotere taart en dat iedereen zijn
stuk dus vergroot, klopt niet.
Gordon Gecko: “greed is good”  het werd sociaal acceptabel om voor het snelle geld te
kiezen. Meer ondernemerschap maar ook meer decadentie. Geen belastingen op de hoge
inkomsten/geen herverdeling.  geen regulatie meer van sectoren (voornamelijk banking)
Iedereen kon krediet krijgen hierdoor ontstond er een bubbel van hyptheken kredietcrisis
van 2008: leningen zijn veel moeilijker te verkrijgen.
Rijke mensen voelen zich beter dan armeren en schrijven dit toe aan hun eigen verdiensten
en nooit aan geluk.
Grote bedrijven ontwijken belastingen: systeem niet langer houdbaar
Rise of China: middenklasse neemt toe maar het blijft staatskapitalisme.
Slechts 15% van het spaargeld wordt gebruikt voor productiviteit. (andere 85% zit in
speculaties en zitten vast in het banksysteem)
Vastgoedmarkt: huizen zijn meer waard dan mensen: huidige generatie kan zelfs huur niet
betalen.
Meritocracy: het idee dat je de top kunt bereiken door hard te werken
Geërfde rijkdom genereert inkomenspanningen tussen de klassen
In de westerse wereld: volgende generaties worden armer dan de vorige generaties 
zoektocht naar zondenbokken

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Door automatisatie: denken over kapitaal moet veranderd worden (van industrieel naar
post-industrieel)

(korte samenvatting documentaire):

The ratio of wealth to income is rising in all developed countries.
Absent extraordinary interventions, we should expect that trend to continue.
If it continues, the future will look like the 19th century, where economic elites have
predominantly inherited their wealth rather than working for it.
The best solution would be a globally coordinated effort to tax wealth.

67
Guest lecture: Tesla case
Dutch trendwatcher
Randall van Poelvoorde

Is Tesla a car manufacturer or something else?

Not just a car company, tesla does much more
Also developed software for the cars to make them auto

Focus on the mission statement:

Not car manufacturer
World should be a more sustainable place
With cars
And with rethinking energy through solar and wind
They are building mega packs (Big battery B2B)

The technology S-curve

The S-curve shows the innovation from its slow early beginnings as the technology or
process is developed, to an acceleration phase (a steeper line) as it matures and, finally, to
its stabilisation over time (the flattening curve), with corresponding increases in
performance of the item or organisation using it.

Other trends studied by the guest lecturer

Life extension technologies (IT in the world of medicine)
Robotics

68
Global Societal & Consumertrends: Technology trends
Technology pyramid

Made by Koert van Mensvoort

Definition: All the effects of our human ingenuity
on our environment
Examples: Roads, financial systems, alphabet,
digital networks, …
Man creates technological systems to uproot
himself against unruly/ingenious nature
We don’t want to get wet solution: umbrella, raincoat, rain boots, roof (Example of
technology)

1. Envisioned
Only as a dream, idea when you are building up the technology
Arthur C Clarke had an idea about geostationary communications satellites  went into real
life 2 decades later
Other technology still suck in the envisioned staged examples:
- Back to the future (time traveling): not a technology, not invented yet
- Teleportation: appears in books and movies but is not finalised

2. Operational
The proof of concept
Examples:
- Lab grown meat, artificial meat grown in laboratory
- Wireless electricity
- Flying cars
- Quantum computers
Sometimes fails in this stage because people don’t believe they can earn money with this
Homebase of technology we search

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3. Applied
 As soon as a technology has left the lab it can establish itself into society  it moves
to the apply level
 Digital assistance in your daily life and give assignments to the devices as well
 Google glass
 Amazon echo
 Electric carsCar company stuck in the applied level a long time We have to be
aware that it happens within a context of competing technologies
 Led lights we can use them in the same fitting as other lights ability to adapt to
the existing environment
 Candle lighting, video tapes  are applied today but not so interesting anymore

4. Accepted
 Tv & cinema
 Smartphones
 Microwave
 New technology building up old tradition
 Car, mobile phone, gps standardisation of technology unfamiliar transition
to familiar and normal
 Sometimes technologies are also designed to minick(?) the behaviour of old
technologies with the aim of reaching a higher level on the pyramid
 I-books people get used to the new technology a way of replace paper
books
 Technology are part of our daily life but not of our lifestyle
5. Vital
We can’t live without the technology = second nature
 Mobile phone
 Large cities
 No internet without electricity no e-mail without the internet
 No ETMS needs financial system
 The bottom four levels they can easily be linked to innovative professions
 Envisioned face work for artist, scientist
 Operational face researchers
 Applied level engineers
 Accepted level bring it to society designers, marketeers
 In this face a proper analysis has to be made advantages and disadvantages of a
technology
 It’s about ethics and politics
6. Invisible
 They work so well that they aren’t recognise anymore as a technology
 Clock, writing , money
 We not longer experience them as technology conscious to the unconscious
7. Naturalised
We not longer experience this as technology but as natural

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  Clothes
 Agriculture we bring culture into land harvest fruit and vegetables
 Cooking by heating our food before eat we can take up more calories
 Our stomach has shrunk because of cooking technologies  human nature
 Marriages and division

First revolution
 9000-5000 bc
 people started farmer
 Caused by Climate change, population growth, convenience
 Last 4000 years
Second revolution
 1750
 Scientific revolution Newton
 Caused because there was money, colonisation, international trade occurred
 Agriculture to industry
 Belgium second country where revolution took place
 Last 200 years
3th revolution
 Alvin Toffler trendwatcher
 Writing books
 The Third wavedescribes the third revolution
 The shift to the service-economy
 After World war 2 till the 90
 Last 50 years
4th revolution
 ICT revolution
 Starts slowly in the 70-80
 Transition to the computer aced
 ICT= Information and communication technology
 Mobile communication, apps
 We experienced the devices
 Technology is visible we have to make them and programme
5th revolution
 Artificial intelligence a matted computer used complicated algorithms and
apply them to big data learns uses independently and answer specific
problems  Invisible technology
 At the beginning of this revolution
 Ray Kurzweil 2045 computer will be more intelligent then every human on
earth
 AI the main technology for other technologies  hub technology
History AI
 1997

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 He played against a computer
 First time a computer can win from that world champion
 chess match
 Deepblue a library full of chess matches and computer software machine learning
 pure mathematics
 2011
 created a AI robot was called Watson
 The complete Wikipedia was put into the system but also al the episodes of the quiz
 Watson won a difficult quiz
 A lot difficult than the chess match because now you have to answer immediately and
understand the information and a lot of difficult topics
 Also for medical purpose, diagnosing
Angelina Jolie preveniently did a Brest amputation because of AI predicted Breast
cancer
Melody (robot) helps doctors
2016
 Deepmind
 Creating machine not an answering machine
 Chatbots when you have a question robots answer you

Big data
 2,5 trillion bites of new data
 80% of big data is collected in the last 45 years
 Basically information collected by internet, sensors unstructured organised
 British airways When you take a plane you have to swallow a pill  you can
see the heart rhythm, sleeping, temperatures, stress level collecting data
they want to improve the service(wishes and frustrations) based of this data
 Machine learning will improve after a time he knows how to do it
 Computers learns there self  better answers  we need cloud computing to
store the data
 House of cards
 First series of Netflix originals political series
 Kevin Spacy also because of data he become main actor most streamed
actor in that period

72
  Dementia Australia created TED  computer with dementia  they can
better perform and interact with people with dementia
 Grimes& Endel together they helped users to relax before they sleep
increase energy  better night rest
 Travvis Al maps the customer journey using facial recognition better sense
of customers feelings during the customer journey
 Google latest feature helps identify songs through humming
 Skoda App can listen to the sound of a car to identify internal faults

Robotization
 Is used in Zhengzhou robot cops  helps officer  detect potential fire first
police robot (2017)
 Luka Robot reads children’s books to helps kids in Singapore learn
Mandarine translate words, point and read function, parents can speak in their
voices  to learn a language
 Seoul digital foundationemploying robots to teach seniors to use “cacaotalk”
similar to we chat, WhatsApp  Robots deliver digital skills training to Seoul’s
senior citizens
 Industrial robots  ½ jobs will be gone forever after robotization and AI
 On the other hand technology can be the driver of new profession
 GAFA(google, apple, Facebook, Amazon) dominance/category kings Silicon
valley google has 90% of market share in search engine Facebook has 2
billion users, 1,2 billion WhatsApp users,1 billion messenger users and 600 million
Instagram users  Google and Facebook have together an average of 60 billion
minutes attention worldwide per week
 Facebook knows you better than your friends and family
 Silicon valley the new Rome?
 West roman empire was the tech-society network of roads, aqueducts
 All the taxes of the provinces went to the capital
 Quite comparable with Silicon valley
 When you take a Uber taxy 20% of the money is transferred to Silicon valley
same with Netflix, Apple, Google,…
 Robot taxation  necessity
Universal basic income
- Lot of people will lose their jobs because of technologypotential problems
don’t earn money revolution  solution= universal basic income
- We want that people can spend money
- Bending over this problem universal basic income to reality
Block chain technology
- UBI-tec society of the future we are overwhelmed with technology so visible
and invisible in our society We can’t live without technology
- The data structure the technology
- Blockchain is originally the data structured behind the bitcoin network can be
compared with a ledger

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 - Money today is mainly found in databases ledgers in financial institutions, all
balances and transactions are kept
- Also other registers: Bookkeeping, identity data,…
- Each piece of data is essentially a line in a database
- These database are updated in a central location
- Disadvantage of centrally closed databases : they can’t not easily connected to
other systems without security
- Bank system: centralised and closed
- Block chain: Decentralised and open not just one company owns it peer to
peer network share ownership equally  the block chain can not be hacked
- Block chain is nothing more than a list like in an excel spreadsheet everyone in
the world can see it the owners can change the list it adapts immediately to
every spreadsheet of the world (automatically shares with everyone)  everyone
is looking at the same list of data
- One characteristic makes block chain unique new rules can only be added at
the bottom of the list
- Crypto coins like bitcoin
- Alrosa(2019) Russian Diamond mining group Blockchain technology allows
providence of diamonds to be traced
- Cult beauty & provenance UK beauty retailer uses blockchain for product
provenance  social and environmental impact
- China government embraces blockchain and cryptocurrencies
- Block chain is decentralised but the government wants the control over it
- Yellowheart: The Chainsmokers start a tour blockchain technology used to
control ticket resales

Philosophical things
- In the future more people live in the city self-sustaining cities
- Smart citiesmillion of sensors on busy roads monitor congestion
- Housing 3D printing housing 100 recycle material
- Smart homes  smart lightning, freezer, washing machines, smart mirrors,
toothbrushes, …  will connected by internet
- IOTwill allow more and more devices to communicate with each other
- Work more and more by swiping screens in the house, keyboard for typing, voice
controls,…

How will we transport in the future?

- Flying cars?
- Will be marketed in a few years
- Common in the cities of the future
- Drones, hydrogen
- Self-driving car
- Fewer parking
- More green spaces

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 - Sleeping/working space using for a lot of other purposes
- Less traffic jams
- Hyperloop are transport systems using an air pressing tube where people and
goods can be transported  it doesn’t work with overpressure concept for a
vacuum train
- Mars city
- Setting new boundaries
- 50-60 years human based on the planet and on the moon
Humanity involve
- Watch the video about a cyborg  completely colour-blind antenna planted
into his skull
- Watch another video the first person declared a citizen (Sophia)

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Guest college: Sustainability & Ecology in the 21st century
Introduction
VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

Personal story
Eddy Van Hemelrijck
Master in economies – University of Antwerp

The impact of Corona on our economy

GDP lower
Less production
Less jobs
Impact bigger then WWII

Old narrative -> Our economic progress, measured in GDP, needs to grow. Therefore we
need to create more jobs, increase our production/consumption...

Sustainable development goals

Change measurement goals -> Measuring with a survey to the people of the country
Happy planet index
Not measuring GDP but happiness, wellbeing

The role of the government

Government must act, protect and stimulate

Ecological footprint & HDI

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Doughnut economics
Kate Raworth
What the economy should do
Definition in dutch: De Donut is een economisch model dat economische welvaart meet
door te kijken naar de realisatie van een sociaal fundament zonder het overschrijden van
ecologische plafonds. Simpel gezegd is het doel om de behoeftes van iedereen te realiseren
binnen de draagkracht van de Aarde. (Wikipedia)

History of global debt

1970-2019
Debt is growing a lot
2008 Financial crisis, boom in debt
The world will not be able to pay back debt
The money that is created goes in the financial markets not in the real economy

Positive impact of corona

Less environmental impact
Overshoot day (day that the earth is empty) is delayed

The need for a systemic change

Recession following corona is worst then COVID
Climate change and biodiversity collapse is also bad

Change a few things

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IKIGAI

New narrative
We need to redesign our economyin such a way that people can live their passion with
financial securityand in such a way that our society and the planet can thrive.

Sustainable monetary interest

3 components
1.Universal guaranteed income
2.Demurrage (negative interest)
3.Projects for the common good

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Guest college: Global political trends
Lecturer: Lode Goukens

Book: Les dieux ont soif - Anatole France

Painter who gets involved in politics
Gets involved in giautine
Book tells you about how politics is a process
Process always comes back
Example process: EU

Trends in classic Rome

To popular -> murdered

Big trends in history

- Democracy
- Imperialism, crusades, colonialism
- Bonapartism
- Nationalism
- Multilateralism (On the verge of changing)
- Regime change

Which trends are we talking about?

- Which trends as in topics
- Which as in being a politician
- Trends as in political discourse
Politicians show less respect
Politics is less fact based

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Trends in international politics
- Screaming election fraud when politicians lose an election (bad losers?)
- Identity politics (Black lives matter)
- Cancel culture (If you are not saying what everybody is saying, you will be
canceled or boycotted)
- Legal positivism (Rules more important than principles)
- Normative power (Power based on a norm, system Example: EU values)
- Pervasiveness within family and other personal relations
- Polarisation
- Elite versus deplorables (elitism versus populism)

Agenda being set by elite

- Ageing population
- Fragile globalization
- A technological revolution
- Climate change
- Shifting power relations (Power shifting from Belgium to EU) (Example of trouble:
Brexit)
- New areas of state competition
- Politics of the information age
- Ecological threats

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Explanation of trends

Screaming election fraud

Losers of the election scream about election fraud
First time it happened was in Georgia in 2003
It happened many times in history
This year: Belarus, Georgia, USA
Often leads to revolution
New way of doing politics

Legal positivism
Natural law <> legal positivism
Natural law -> Murder is bad
Legal positivism -> In a war a country has a war document, you can kill other people

EU normative power
Important issue
EU will defend values
Normative values has less to do with what they are imposing

Realpolitik
You do business with a dictator as long as the dictator does things that you like

Dinner table war scenes

Less people talk about politics with anyone, even family
It is very dangerous
It gets very polarized, very fast
Hasn’t been since 1930
This also happens on Twitter
More divorces during elections

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Clash of civilizations
Islam versus western world
Identity politics

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Sustainability in the 21st century: Tony Chocolonely Ynzo Van
Zantenn
Video
This is the video that the lecturer showed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubizr05FjMg

Cocoa beans -> Slavery, bad working environment, low prices

Harken Engel Protocol -> Should be the solution

But it’s a non-binding protocol
In 5 years time nothing has changed

Tony filed a law suit against himself

Because he knew about the slavery and if you buy the products then it’s actually a crime
After that he started a company himself, tony chocolonely

The business
- They want to stay small
- They started with creating awareness
o Shop (You can make your own chocolate)
o Factory (They show how it’s done there with a roller coaster)
- Show people that chocolate can be slavery free
o Transparent supply chain
o Long term relationship with farmers -> Better income for farmers
- They chose to be a normal company not NGO
- They care about their employees: Free chocolate, running shoes, sports, YOGA
- Not paid marketing but mouth to month

Other companies like Albert Hein start producing slavery free chocolate too

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Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p0i_wdpb40
This is the video that the lecturer showed

Who is Ynzo Van Zanten?

Plans to make slave free success?

No cases of slavery in 2-3 years.
They want to make not only their chocolate slave free but

Mission and if 100% slave free?

Yes
Maybe end of Tony Chocolonely
Other sectors

Callebaut relationship, how did it change?

First not welcome
Now: Good relationship now in the last 15 years

5 Principles

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Founder Tony still involved?
Still shareholder
Not a manager

Willy Wonka, is tony a lookalike? (Ex. New factory)

Yes
First it was a coincidence
They want to share the problem and the story

Will the company be taken over?

Pulled out of context
They can reach the mission faster

Blockchain tech used?

In the future
But now not an improvement
Tony's Chocolonely doesn't work with Blockchain Technology. They work with the bean
tracker, a system to monitor & trace the cocoa beans.

Did COVID have an impact on the company?

Nothing sold in airports
But more chocolate at home
More -> Direct sales
Less -> Sales in travel industry

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Guest college: Brands with purpose and brands with values
Lecturer: Kris Michiels (Unilever)
Commercial sciences – HOGent
Marketing director Unilever

Unilever
40 Strong brands
3200 employees
1,5 Billion turnover
Biggest advertiser in Benelux
Daily 2,5 billion consumers contacts (product or communication) world wide

Purpose
Purpose is a hot topic
It’s becoming a crowded space
But it’s not always done right
Not greenwashing

Why purpose
They want to achieve something for people and planet
People are asking for it
People / planet / profit
It attracts millennials and GenZ
It drives penetration (getting more buyers)
It reduces price sensitivity (people pay what you ask)
Creates talkability and fame
Purpose delivers profit

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Long term brand building delivers more growth
Purpose is a win for all stakeholders in the value chain

The Unilever definition

How the brand makes a positive difference to society that is motivating to the people it
serves and relevant to the product truth.

The Unilever vision

We will grow our business, whilst decoupling our growth from our environmental footprint.

The Unilever compass

Health
Environment
Societal

Big themes in Belgium

- Health and hygiene
- Nutrition
- Waste
- Planet friendly
- …

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