Future Trends Speakers

Michael Pawlyn

The lead Eden Project designer believes lessons can be learned from nature in how we conduct business and construct our buildings. He points to technology that mimics natural eco-systems, like the remarkable Namibian beetle that creates its own fresh water. In presentations Michael shows how restorative design borrowing from 3.6 billion years of R&D now makes it possible for manufacturers and retailers to achieve zero waste – as Millennial consumers expect.

Mary Portas

Mary is one of the UK’s leading voices on retail and brand communication. Her proposals to rejuvenate the high street have sparked debate and influenced policy at a local level. In presentations Mary picks up on the changes in consumer behaviour as a result of the economy, the digital revolution and efforts to protect the environment. With critical insight, she examines how different retail sectors are responding and how brands of all types can best stand out.

Rory Sutherland

One of the most respected creative thinkers in the ad industry, Ogilvy’s Vice-Chairman once suggested to Microsoft that they enable people to share office documents on the internet. The idea was dismissed but Rory has gone on to build a career out of the counter-intuitive and the original. With a sharp wit he examines what influences our choices and why irrational thinking tends to win out.

Bruce Daisley

Having led Twitter's business across three continents, and worked with some of the world's biggest companies, Bruce now examines the lessons in what makes a company great, and what motivates people in their jobs. He is the author of The Joy of Work: 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall in Love with Your Job Again, and host of the Eat Sleep Work Repeat podcast. Bruce is regarded as one the most respected thought leaders on the subject of workplace culture, and the future of work.

Thimon de Jong

Thimon is a behavioural expert and the founder of Whetston / strategic foresight. He has helped clients like Ikea, Morgan Stanley, Google, and Novartis to future proof their leaders and business strategies. A sought-after global keynote speaker and leadership trainer, Thimon has been ranked ‘highest-rated speaker’ at more than one hundred business conferences and leadership programs. Audiences praise his entertaining, interactive sessions, full of practical take-aways that are rooted in research.

Jeremy White

Previously responsible for WIRED’s coverage of all new products, Jeremy now looks at design and products pushing boundaries as Innovation Editor. He reflects on what makes a good new product, how innovation happens, and when technology can improve an existing idea. He also covers everything from AI to cybersecurity, wearables to fintech, and considers how rapid advances in technology, user interfaces and design will affect businesses and how they see themselves.

Sophie Hackford

A first-hand witness to many of the latest innovations and the creative thinkers behind them, Sophie is a practised translator between academia, technologists, corporates and governments. Rather than providing answers, she challenges organisations to question themselves and reassess their core business. If cheap satellite technology allows you to watch your competitors’ supply chain from space, how will that affect what you do? What questions can you now ask, using these new technologies? Today your competition doesn’t look like you, and Sophie helps to uncover where the new threats and opportunities lie.

Hannah Fry

Having studied fluid dynamics and working briefly in F1, Hannah returned to academia and now lectures in the mathematics of cities. She’s also a science broadcaster, bringing numbers and data to life on TV and radio in programmes including The Joy of Data, City in the Sky, and The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry. She examines how maths underpins almost everything and the world of data: how it’s gathered, what it can (and can’t) tell us, and when to look more closely at its predictions. Hannah also encouraged the public to download the BBC Pandemic app for her look at how a flu-like disease can spread through day-to-day contact in the prescient BBC programme Contag...

Lyse Doucet

One of the BBC’s most widely respected journalists, Lyse has covered some of the most tumultuous events around the world, from the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan to the Arab Spring uprisings and the war in Ukraine. Despite the conflict and terror, she’s an unshakeable optimist, seeing the humanity and unity of people in the toughest of circumstances. She analyses the political and social uncertainty the world faces, and considers the nature of risk. She also reveals the lighter side to reporting from some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Christine Armstrong

Communications and management expert, and acclaimed author, Christine considers what modern, values-driven, inclusive organisations should look like and how they should operate. Touching on work-life balance, workplace culture, 'hybrid work',  management and mental health, she examines the new challenges to old ways of doing business. From remote working to diversity strategies, she points out the misleading assumptions and dares organisations to think differently about what they do, how and where they do it. She was named sixth out of the top fifty Future of Work influencers in the world and is known for being fact-led, high energy and genuinely funny. &nbs...

Dex Hunter-Torricke

In a career that encompasses the UN, Google, Facebook and SpaceX, as well as political speechwriting, Dex offers a rare insight in to the intersection of politics, technology, leadership and society. Referring to some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies and individuals, he examines important questions of trust, automation, innovation and values. Looking at the positive and negative effects of an increasingly connected world he sees ethical dilemmas, new types of job, competing priorities and a focus on purpose.

Nina Schick

Having covered politics as a journalist, before advising politicians and their campaigns, Nina now explores how technology, and especially AI, is changing the relationship between people and power. From how AI plays a role in fighting modern conflicts to the battle for influence and control over energy and minerals, from propaganda to trade wars, she considers the complex interplay of geopolitical relationships, technology and a new frontier in information and power.