Lars Tvede - Supertrends: 50 Things You Need to Know About the Future

Lars Tvede

2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tvede, Lars, 1957- author.

Title: Supertrends : 50 things you need to know about the future / Lars Tvede.

Description: Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom : John Wiley & Sons, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019040990 (print) | LCCN 2019040991 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119646839 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119646853 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119646846 (ePub)

Subjects: LCSH: Economic forecasting. | Business forecasting. | Technological innovationsForecasting.

Classification: LCC HB3730 .T899 2020 (print) | LCC HB3730 (ebook) | DDC 303.48/30112dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040990

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040991

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: pialhovik/Getty Images

This book has so many sources that I and the Wiley team decided to put the approx 60-page source list online on www.larstvede.com. This also makes it easier for readers to link directly to the source material for closer inspection. For those reasons, there is no source list at the end of this book.

Apart from this, unlike most of my previous books, I wrote this one with some assistance, for which I am of course extremely grateful! I must add, however, that none of those who helped and inspired me can in any way be held responsible for the contents of the book. I had the final word throughout the entire process. Anyway, this was the team:

Jens Ulrik Hansen: Futurist and senior management coach who helps large companies develop working methods to cope with our rapidly changing world. Jens told me about the changes such companies face in terms of creating flexible, creative organisations without ending up in chaos.

Jrn Larsen: Founder and CEO of the Swiss software company Trifork, which currently employees a permanent workforce of about 800. In addition to developing software solutions for customers worldwide, Trifork holds about 50 conferences a year on future technologies. Trifork has also created some 100 spin-off companies, mainly within the software sector. I have developed the Supertrends app and supertrends.com website with Jens, Jrn, and Trifork.

Nicklas Brendborg: Nicklas managed to achieve the highest average ever recorded in a Danish high school and, together with Lars Horsbl, wrote the bestseller Topstudent. He has just completed his bachelor's degree in Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Copenhagen and is the author of an upcoming book on anti-ageing.

Lars Horsbl: Also a member of our Youth Board and co-author of the bestseller, Topstudent. Lars holds a bachelor's degree from Copenhagen Business School, where he was selected for the elite GLOBE (global learning opportunities in a business environment) programme. He is now studying Business Analytics and specialising in Artificial Intelligence and big data. He also runs two podcasts: Ejendomsinvestoren (Property Investor) and Fremtidsfabrikken (The Future Factory), the latter together with Eske Gerup.

Karl Iver Dahl Madsen: Engineer, former Vice Chairman of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, and former member of the Board of Representatives of the Technical University of Denmark. Karl specialises in mathematical modelling and aquaculture. He also possesses an impressive ability to analyse issues open-mindedly and objectively.

Sune Aagard: MA (History and Journalism). I was introduced to Sune by the Danish Foreign Minister, Anders Samuelsen. Sune has worked at the Danish national newspaper, Brsen, and as Head of Communications and Director for the Liberal Alliance party.

Eske Gerup: Member of our Youth Board. Eske is a student at Copenhagen Business School, where he is on the elite GLOBAL SCLM (global supply chain and logistics management) programme. Together with Lars Horsbl, he runs the podcast Fremtidsfabrikken, for which the two of them interview entrepreneurs and investors about trends in the start-up environment and the technologies of the future. Most recently, Eske was hired by McKinsey & Company.

Andreas Faarup: Also a member of our Youth Board. While at high school, Andreas won an EY Young Talent competition and went on to conduct a research project at the University of Copenhagen on Industry 4.0 and digitisation. He is now an International Business student at Copenhagen Business School and has worked for the likes of IBM, Barclays, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs, and PwC.

Again, my heartfelt thanks for your contribution to this book. I know that you are all passionate about the fact that we humans can go through life with a great deal of knowledge and insight.

We're on the verge of the biggest bear market in 300 years.' This was the opinion of the famous financial analyst, Robert Prechter, in an interview in The New York Times in summer 2010. A bear market is a stock market with falling prices. In other words, Prechter was expecting a colossal downturn with depreciation of more than 90%. This was not the first time he had predicted a disaster. Just one year previously, in June 2009, he had forecast a sharp fall; while in 2011, once again he predicted that the bear market is not over. The markets would fall, fall, and fall again! Each time, his predictions spread like wildfire. The only problem for the people that listened was that the markets actually went up, up, and up again.