TNCT

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." Abraham

Lincoln
Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking Skills in the 21st Century
JC Guiyab
Course Description: The course provides opportunities for
students to discover patterns and extract meanings from
emerging trends. It aids in developing their critical and
creative thinking skills– essential tools for decision making
and understanding “ethics of care”. Global trends in the 21st
century are examined and are either accepted or rejected on
a sound set of criteria. Students will be asked to create and
analyze scenarios that will challenge them to (1) formulate
their stances on issues or concerns; (2) propose interventions
and; (3) formulate alternative features.
• Who are you named after?
• Who would you most like to talk to?
• Worst mistake?
• Worst thing that ever happened to you?
• Your favorite artist and why?
• What kind of music do you listen to most of the time?
• What are you looking for for an ideal jowa?
• Messenger, Text, or Viber?
• McDonalds or Jollibee?
• Party out or party in?
• Milk tea or coffee?t
The only constant in our world is change. We are
facing a change that is becoming faster and faster
in many areas, for example through digitization.
Change brings risks and opportunities. A change
can mean a risk for a company if the market
changes and there is no longer a need for its
products. But change also brings many
opportunities and possibilities for new
innovations. Read here how to identify relevant
trends.
You Have to Play
a PROACTIVE
ROLE.
Definition of trend
A trend is an assumed development in the future that will have a long-
term and lasting effect on and change something. Current
developments are moving in a different direction or intensifying even
more.
Nutritional trends are an example. In the upswing in the 1960s, fatty
food was part of the quality of life. Today, the trends are moving
towards healthy eating and vegan nutrition.
Trends in an industry usually have far-reaching effects. Nutritional
trends, for example, are causing changes in the retail, catering, tourism,
leisure and agricultural sectors.
Give examples of Trends
Trends Vs Fads
Difference between Fad and Trends
Trends have a much longer lifespan than fads. In fact, they can continue
to be fashionable for years and even decades. The primary difference
between a trend and a fad is that trends have the potential to be long-
term influences on the market.
Process of Identifying Trends
• Trend analysis is the widespread practice of collecting information
and attempting to spot a pattern, or trend, in the information.
• Trend spotting is the identification of new trends or attempting to see
the future.
• Trend spotter is a person who notices and reports on new fashions,
ideas, or activities that are becoming popular.
Trend research and identification of relevant trends

You can't travel to the future to know how it will turn out. You can't
read in any book what the world looks like in 15 years. You can only
guess the future. A solid foundation of expertise and facts is important.
The best source for the predictions and characteristics of trends is
therefore to bring together as many expert opinions as possible.
Systematics for identifying trends
Systematics in trend research is not a high science. This involves many
and intensive analyses of:
• Megatrends: There are many public publications about megatrends.
Megatrends are long-term developments over several decades that
have a formative effect on all areas of society and the economy
worldwide.
• Setting: Changes in the business environment also have an indirect
and immediate impact on one's own organization. The analysis of the
environment includes customers, users, customers, customers'
customers, suppliers, administration, neighbouring companies and
industries (e. g. upstream and downstream) etc.
Important questions to be asked and
answered in trend research are the following:
• What impact do megatrends have on our company, our business and
our industry?
• What impact do megatrends have on our environment (e. g.
customers, legislators)?
• What major changes will there be?
• What does this mean for our company, business and industry?
• What are the trends in our industry?
The basis for identifying trends are the right questions as shown above.
Answering them is nothing less than a CREATIVE PROCESS that requires
a lot of knowledge, experience, analytical and creative thinking.
Methodology for identifying trends
The primary research is first-hand research into trends, using the
following methods:
• Interviews with customers, LEAD Users, users, employees and
suppliers
• Expert interviews (science and business)
• Workshops with experts and stakeholders, offering creativity
techniques, among other things
• Delphi studies
Process for processing trends
In order to obtain structured results, a systematic process must be
applied:
1. Collection of information
2. Derivation of trends
3. Thematic clustering of trends
4. Assessment of trends: Relevance for our company, scope of impact,
time (short-to-medium-term)
5. Prioritizing trends
6. Preparation of trends for further processing in the innovation and
strategy process
The Fundamental Trend Elements
Basic Needs
• We’re all human. Trends – and behavior more broadly – are ultimately
rooted in our basic, fundamental, rarely-if-ever-changing human
needs, wants and desires
• examples: creativity, self-improvement, safety, status.
Drivers Of Change
• Shifts are the long-term, macro changes (such as urban transition,
aging populations and climate change) that play out across years or
even decades.
• Triggers are more immediate changes that drive the emergence of a
trend. These can include specific technologies, political events,
economic shocks, environmental incidents, and more. For example,
the Snowden/ NSA revelations caused many to re-evaluate the trade-
offs they were making when sharing their personal data with ‘free’
online services.
Innovations
the third element of every trend is innovations: the startups, new
products, services, experiences and campaigns that are resolving points
of customer tension, and creating new levels of customer expectation.
Emerging Expectations
• learning how to draw powerful insights from the way leading brands
and disruptive startups–from Apple to Uber, Chipotle to Patagonia–
redefine customer expectations.
Good Examples
UBER
AIRBND
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
GRAB
PAYMAYA
Assignment:
• Study the following generations and identify some trends that took
place:
Baby Boomer
1946 1964 56 74
Generation
Generation X (Baby
1965 1979 41 55
Bust)
Xennials
1975 1985 35 45
Millennials
Generation Y, Gen 1980 1994 26 40
Next
Reference
• https://www.whataventure.com/collaboration/trends-101/