The 11 megatrends of the Zukunftsinstitut are an important compass for the long-term development and future planning of companies. They help move your company forward, derive innovative business models and discover future markets at an early stage. My three-part blog series, which starts with this post, highlights the aspects mentioned — and helps you identify the megatrends that are important for your industry and your company.
When I talk to companies about megatrends, questions often arise such as: What actually constitutes a megatrend? Over which time corridors can we observe them? What megatrends are there right now and who has defined them? Here is the most important thing in brief:
Megatrends are not fast-moving fads, but change our economy, our thinking and our actions in the long term — we're talking about periods of several decades. She described and examined in more detail the Zukunftsinstitut, founded by Matthias Horx, which is well-known among experts.
According to the Zukunftsinstitut, 11 megatrends can be observed as of 2025: future of work, connectivity, demographic change, eco-intelligence, identity dynamics, globalization, health, mobility, knowledge culture, urbanization and security.
While reading about one or the other megatrend, you may have nodded your head or shaken it in opposition. A suitable response, because not every megatrend affects every company equally. An urban start-up in the mobility sector has different megatrends in mind for corporate development than an established mechanical engineering company in rural areas, the food trade or public administration.
But how do you find out which megatrends are particularly important for your organization? There are three questions you can ask here:
The megatrends connectivity and surety Affect pretty much everyone. Because this includes digital transformation, cybersecurity and data protection — all areas in which there is a backlog of catching up to do in this country. Auch Future of Work and mobility Since the pandemic, companies, divisions and administrations that are not active in the manufacturing sector have been changing. If you check out the 11 megatrends and scale them to what they mean for your organization, you get important impetus for shaping the future.
The mega trend health This is reflected today, for example, in the occupational health management of a company. The aim is to reduce the number of sick days and improve employee satisfaction. The Demographic change In turn, there are age-diverse teams that require new forms of leadership. And that too knowledge management is playing an increasingly important role for companies in view of the departure of the boomers.
Knowledge culture is a megatrend that more and more companies are keeping an eye on in order to maintain their competitiveness. Knowledge management, internal training and innovation promotion are becoming increasingly important to drive digital transformation and the use of artificial intelligence.
Taking megatrends into account is an opportunity to position companies well for the future. Take advantage of the opportunity of professional advice to explore the effects of megatrends for your company. I would be happy to support you — let us shape the future of your company together!
P.S.: Read about the effects of megatrends on business models and future markets in the next two blog posts.
