Welcome to this 34th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading.

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This is what I noticed this week, thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter to those who look into the future.

Strategic blindspots

Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new opportunities and avoid missing emerging risks

AI Generates Hypotheses Human Scientists Have Not Thought Of. AI Is No Match for the Quirks of Human Intelligence. Trick your brain.

Restaurants Can’t Get Enough Ovens to Open New Stores. A severe translator shortage. Why I think NFTs will force Hollywood, Harvard, Salesforce, Nintendo etc to reinvent themselves. Hotels are growing more accepting of a new class of guest. Monetizing men’s vulnerabilities. The Intersection.

We have scheduled the dates for our “Strategic Blindspots” course which will take place early 2022.

Our future

500 Terabytes of Data into CD-Sized Glass Disc. The Batteries of the Future Are Weightless and Invisible. In Switzerland, a Plant-Based Hard-Boiled Egg. How might climate change affect European gastronomy? The return of touch. Renting pop-up offices. These Robots Follow You to Learn Where to Go. These instruments could change the future of music. the blueprint for our future lifestyles. Eerily Realistic Robot Arm Powered by Synthetic Muscles. A Death Full of Life.

The 2022 trends reports are starting: Ten trends to watch in the coming year. Paint companies’ 2022 colors of the year.

We provide in-house training to executive teams and board to feed their strategic planning process and investigate future scenarios. More here.

Weak signals and tiny patterns

Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?

Hyper yachts. Chipmakers Are Sending a Warning. Amazon’s bizarre Supreme-like store. Spending hours cutting grass in video games (in French). Crackdown on “Excessively Entertaining” Content. Babies In Helmets. A ‘Family On Demand’. Decathlon turns the wheelchair symbol into a set of ability icons. I dream of Covid. Billionaire defends windowless dorm rooms for California students. Creating my library brought order in a world of chaos. The sleeping bus in Hong-Kong. Wild, Creative, Disturbing: Hyperpop.

On our radar

I registered with Cambridge University in the UK to an intense course on sustainable real estate: Twenty per cent of new homes in Amsterdam to be constructed from timber. Basketry Gone Wild. Carpark rooftops into urban farming sites. Sustainable living along with personal workspace: The emerging new asset class. Massachusetts to put solar panels wherever they fit. Financing urban forests.

Hodgepodge discovery

Articles for the curious mind …

How 12th-century Genoese merchants invented the idea of risk. A new theory of what goodness is made of. Keen on Shepherding. Bionic Gloves Gave Pianist Martins His Hands Back. . Longevity Linked to Proteins That Calm Overexcited Neurons. The Magnificent Bribe.

Down the rabbit hole

This week, I went down the hole of Spin Masters’ techniques and misinformation.

Feeling Good

Time for Nothing. Snowliage. Create 3D models to draw. Human footprints. A beautiful timeline of leaving and waving. Nature furniture.