FIELD OF EXPERTISE: Foresighting & Horizon Scanning

Over the past 15 years, foresight and horizon scanning have become increasingly established in strategic planning and transformation of large organizations. Reliable and quality-assured knowledge of future trends, developments and breakthroughs as well as innovative solutions and methods has always been relevant for the strategic management and reorientation of large organisations.

In times of big data, artificial intelligence, media filter bubbles, the increasing speed of innovation and the question of reliable knowledge about trends, trend bridges and future business opportunities and risks becomes inherently relevant for the prosperous future of organisations. In strategic management, it is too easy to miss out good investment opportunities and take high transformation risks.

The aim of this field of expertise is:

• To develop imparting knowledge and methods about future trends, trends, social trends and threats to society in order to put technological and organisational media hypes such as “Smart Home”, Smart Solutions, Industry 4.0 and Blockchain into a long-term reliable context.
• Discussion of new investment opportunities and risks based on long-term quality-assured trends, societal trends and technological innovations against the background of adaptive evidence-based management of long-term transformations such as digitization.
• Neutral accompaniment of transformations in organizations, which in an increasingly faster and more complex world, where business opportunities depend increasingly not only on knowledge, but also on the wisdom, when and how this knowledge is used.

Topics that are addressed within the scope of this section are:

• Digital transformation and its implications for strategic management
• Big Data and Innovation Management
• The importance of knowledge as a strategic resource for organisational development
• The critical reflection of current trend reports against the background of global competition for investments

Markets develop and disappear. Regardless of the sector, strategic management is constantly confronted with the question of when investment opportunities arise, when research pays off and when risks need to be avoided. With representatives from the area of raw materials, production and services, the department will certainly deal with quality-assured knowledge about the global future.