2022 was quite the year. As corporations and their employees returned to the office and investment firms reviewed their long-range analysis, uncertainty was the watchword and many clients old and new approached us for help with trends, scenario planning and looking ahead, and for training in strategic foresight as they bolstered their own teams.
After the obligatory January trends pieces which included a huge piece on the Top 40 Trends in creativity for Cossette, a one- in-a-million opportunity from Baillie Gifford came our way. Tracey was picked as one of ten world-class speakers to join the analysts and partners of the investment firm at their Forum for the Long Term in Edinburgh. Baillie Gifford had kindly supported Tracey’s book, The Future of You throughout 2021 and featured it in their Trust magazine. Two days of in-depth discussion about longer range investment in the world around us was truly inspiring. Tracey also took the opportunity to speak at the Edinburgh Science Festival on a panel about trust in technology and digital identity.
Speaking engagements with the Tesco Pension Board, the top tier of Rentokil ( a fascinating international business), Snapchat’s annual event Snap Forward, Coca Cola and the team in Europe on their first day back to the physical office which was great. Coca Cola in Italy, PZ Cussons, Samsung, Lego and Jaguar Land Rover were kind enough to engage us on some uniquely brilliant futures initiatives, events and projects.
But the public sector turned to us too. Tracey headlined a key event in Northern Ireland for the Ards & North Down Council (nice to meet Madam Mayor!), and we completed two futures projects over six months, one on the Future of Learning for Generation Z in the Metaverse for the Federation of Awarding Bodies which was launched via FE News and a panel debate at the annual conference, and a Horizon Scanning project on the Future of Social Housing for DIN and a number of social housing associations across the UK.
Numerous media appearances on futures, trends and digital identity came along as did the opportunity to write a Letter to Liberty for the Academy of Ideas. Tracey’s letter called Defending the Digital Self also became a debating topic at the Battle of Ideas in Buxton alongside a panel debate about online politics: social media tool or cesspit? Tracey continued to moderate panel sessions and conference events and host her podcast, The Future of You - and it was a year in which physically getting back together with people for conversation and opinion felt all the more special - given that is how our Futures are Made.