2022 at The Future Laboratory

The Highlights

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What a year! After more than 20 years in existence, The Future Laboratory is no stranger to tumultuous change, uncertainty and volatility. Yet despite the challenges that we have all faced and those that lie ahead, we remain buoyantly optimistic about our individual and collective futures as we say goodbye to 2022.

Throughout the year, our researchers, analysts, writers, visualisers and strategists have delivered solutions to enable our readers, members, clients and community to make a better future happen by daring to think differently and imagining a brighter future.

This year, our trends intelligence platform LS:N Global has grown from strength to strength, with new members joining and existing subscribers continuing to take advantage of our global insights and inspiration. Our Strategy team have also continued to deliver great work to existing clients as well as taking on opportunities with some amazing new brands.
 
As we all take some time at the end of the year to pause and reflect on what we have been through and what lies ahead, we encourage you to take strength from the power of the imagination and the ability we all have collectively to create the future we want to be part of. As Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad, co-authors of Citizens, told us:
 
‘In this future, people are citizens, rather than subjects or consumers. With this identity, it becomes easier to see that all of us are smarter than any of us.’
 
We hope you manage to get some rest, respite and relaxation in the weeks to come. We will be closing our physical and digital doors at the end of the day on Thursday 22 December and re-opening them to face all that 2023 will bring on Tuesday 3 January.

Over the festive period we’ll be sharing the top trends, interviews, spaces, campaigns and innovations on LS:N Global. Here is our full publishing schedule:

23 December – Beauty, Health & Wellness
28 December – Fashion
29 December – Luxury, Travel & Hospitality
30 December – Food & Drink
3 January – Youth & Media
4 January – Retail 

In the meantime, you can discover some of The Future Laboratory’s highlights from the past 12 months. From our move to our new home in Haggerston to trends and foresight events and reports, discover everything we launched in 2022 below.

Looking to the year ahead, you can now download our 2023 events calendar here.

We look forward to our continued engagement with you in the New Year.

With very best wishes,

The Future Laboratory

Published by:

21 December 2022

Author: The Future Laboratory

Image: The Future Laboratory

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Our New London HQ

Even before Covid struck, our working practices had begun to alter and we had started the search for something more compatible with our changing needs. As with so many things, the pandemic accelerated our need for a new space that was more aligned to our requirements in the Transformative Twenties – that and the fact that our office in grade II-listed Georgian townhouse in historic Spitalfields had been sold.

Thankfully, we didn’t need to look long or far, and at the start of 2022, The Future Laboratory moved to a purpose-built space in the heart of one of London’s most vibrant cultural quarters – Haggerston.

Our new home is a special one. Located on the banks of the Regent’s Canal, the fully accessible, zero waste construction has prompted our team to consider our vision for the next stage of growth and development for our business itself.

As part of a series of initiatives to proactively tackle its carbon footprint and environmental impact, The Future Laboratory has launched a sustainability policy comprising tactical decisions on its future that will have direct environmental benefits; the move to our new office was carefully chosen for its sustainability rating and carbon-neutral status, and reducing our office space to less than one third of its previous size will also contribute to a marked reduction in our ongoing carbon footprint.
DISCOVER OUR NEW HOME 

Photography by Cottonbro, Global

The Strategic Networking Masterclass Series

Following the success of our Trends & Foresight Masterclass Series, best-selling author and co-founder of The Future Laboratory, Martin Raymond, used his extensive insights on strategic networking to create a new course, The Strategic Networking Masterclass Series.

The series aims to help professionals master the art of connecting with impact and intent with our second masterclass series.

It guides users with how to deepen your knowledge, increase your value, and improve the impact and reach of your professional, cultural and social networks – as well as mastering the hidden laws that will help you to become a super-connector and go-to knowledge broker.

It comprises eight in-depth online modules, each backed up with easy-to-follow 20-minute video lectures led by Martin, audiocasts that you can listen to and learn from on the move, and further reading and resource modules.
SIGN UP TODAY 

Trend Tracker

Trend Tracker : Six New Macrotrends

The Future Laboratory has been identifying and tracking macrotrends for two decades. As The Transformative Twenties begin, we have mapped out how all these trends have evolved.

This year, we've added eight new macrotrends to the interactive microsite, including:

: Neo-collectivism
: Hyperphysical Stores
: Accredited Beauty
: Guilded Luxury
: The Paralysis Paradox
: Adaptive Appetites

Use our bespoke Trend Tracker to learn how Experiences, Brands and Consumer behaviours have changed – and what this means for the future.
DISCOVER TREND TRACKER 

Our Online Events Programme

We were thrilled to host a series of global online events this year, introducing our new macrotrends with packed programmes of practical insights, exclusive debates, and executive summaries of new sector directions.

Hosting a line up of incredible guest speaker panels, we heard from likes of: CDaniella Loftus, founder and CEO of DRAUP; Lottie Rowlatt, head of learning at Haeckels; Freddie Mason, creative strategist at Bompas & Parr; and Torquil McIntosh, co-founder of Sybarite; alongside The Future Laboratory's expert analysts and strategists.

Members of our trends intelligence platform LS:N Global can catch up with our previous events in the Webinar section of the platform now.

You can also explore our upcoming events for 2023 below by downloading our full calendar.
EXPLORE 2023 EVENTS CALENDAR 

Departures in the Wadi Rum Desert by Adorno. Photography by Iñigo Inchaurraga
Trend Briefing 2023

The Return of Trend Briefing

After a three-year hiatus, our Trend Briefing event returned to London at the Royal Academy of Arts, where we explored how, post-Covid, markets are in flux, and the realities of Brexit, COP26 and ongoing global unease are now affecting consumer behaviour.

Our Trend Briefing 2023 event embraced a more interactive and discursive format in which we tackled the solutions as well as outlining those trends and strategic challenges that 2023 will throw at us.

Switching our focus to the year ahead, our team presented a new macrotrend, The Paralysis Paradox, that all brands and businesses should be incorporating into their planning. We also hosted the first of our annual Futures 100 Innovators Awards at the event, showcasing our top 10 finalists before announcing the overall winner.
CATCH UP WITH THE HIGHLIGHTS 
The Future Laboratory

New Bespoke Foresight Report Offering

What’s new? We formally launched three new styles of bespoke reports that you can now book with The Future Laboratory. 

Our bespoke reports can be used externally to deliver thought-leadership and drive marketing  or internally to help you and your team to make decisions with confidence. 

We do this by combining innovator and early adopter thinking with desk data, original quant research, consumer ethnography and our Futures 1,000 experts to create engaging, case study-rich reports and articles. 

Explore our bespoke foresight reports below or get in touch here.
EXPLORE BESPOKE FORESIGHT REPORTS 

Photography by Cotton Bro

Diversity & Inclusion at The Lab

The main difference between our 2022 & 2021 Diversity & Inclusion approach is that our structure is circular. Our mission has always been to create an environment where people feel they can be their authentic selves. However, as stated by our training provider The Other Box, diversity & inclusion is forever work, therefore the end goal has been removed and replaced with a circular continuous learning format. The ultimate goal we have is liberation, not just of our employees but the clients we deal with as well. We define liberation as freedom from oppressive systems, these include the transphobic, racist, ageist, ableist, Islamophobic we have all wrongfully been taught to accept as just.

We have four main pillars that make up our circular D&I strategy, the sections being covered are: Framework by Paige Owusu, Relearning by Cliff Bunting, Reformation by Alena Joyette & Healing by Fiona Anderson. The team is made up of staff members from different positions & backgrounds to provide a rounded view of the employee experience. Together we strive to move beyond equality into the realms of equity, where marginalised groups who have been disenfranchised are given a true level playing field to achieve success in the workplace.

You can catch up on our full Liberation strategy here and our D&I at The Lab blog series below to find out more.
EXPLORE OUR D&I AT THE LAB SERIES 

11 New Trend Reports

Our downloadable trends intelligence reports reveal the latest key trends, market shifts and changes in consumer behaviour for the years ahead. 

Written and visualised by our strategic foresight experts, our reports draw on research published on LS:N Global, combining key markets, rising trends and our annual sector macrotrends into a beautifully designed PDF that you can download and share with your team. 

This year’s reports are packed with practical insights and inspiring case studies defining the future of sectors such as Retail, Beauty, Health & Wellness, Luxury, Hospitality and Food & Drink.  We also provide a  set of strategic thought-starters, opportunities and worksheets to help you apply the research to your own business. Explore the full library below.
BROWSE REPORTS LIBRARY 

Feels like UGG by UGG
Photography by Laura Lewis for The Future Laboratory

Together we are stronger

In November, we announced that we are joining forces with Together Group and its family of founder-led luxury lifestyle agencies.

As foresight specialists, at The Future Laboratory we pride ourselves on knowing what’s new, next and game-changing. And for the past year, the game as we know it – politically, culturally, corporately – has changed radically and irrevocably. Old hierarchical brand structures have fallen away, while among next-generation brands and consumers themselves there is a greater push towards togetherness and collectivism, as we identified in our recent Neo-collectivism trend.

This isn’t just about collaborating or partnering with others to improve your position in the game (whatever that game may be). It is also about using the talents, skills and insights of the partners you work with to strategically improve your collective firepower when it comes to dealing with those BIG issue challenges that the year ahead will undoubtedly place before us.

Against the backdrop of these shifts, and in the great tradition of The Future Laboratory daring to know and daring to do differently, we have become part of a select group of creatives that really are making a difference to how our collective tomorrow looks, and how we can help our clients to co-create that tomorrow in ways that benefit them – and, crucially, the collective aspirations of their customers.

We are very much looking forward to using Together Group’s collective energy, creativity and independence from the mass ubiquity of the old-world agency model to make what is set to be a difficult coming 12 months for our many clients navigable, optimistic, and of course, with the right thinking, actionable and profitable.
FIND OUT MORE

 

Excited to see what 2023 will bring?

In this year's Future Forecast 2023 collection, featuring a PDF trend report and access to an hour-long webinar, you’ll discover 50 cross-sector trends and innovations, 10 industry disruptors, and the directions to monitor according to The Future Laboratory’s analysts.


ACCESS THE COLLECTION

Member of LS:N Global? Get access for free here.