We consolidated 40+ useful resources to help uncovering the future growth.

Macro PESTLE Landscape Research

PESTLE research is a framework used to identify how external factors – political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal, and environmental could impact a business or a project. Tools often used for this research include online databases, government publications, industry reports, and news articles.

Through these macro landscape research, we aim to identify PESTLE trends. These are changes in consumer preferences, behaviours, societal norms and trends that can impact businesses growth opportunities. It covers macro research in political dynamics, economic and trading information, as well as any social & environmental policy changes etc.

Technology innovation trend also played a critical role in tomorrow’s business. Innovation team need to identify new and upcoming technologies that might disrupt a business or industry. Tools often used include tech industry reports, patent databases, technology-focused publications, which provides insights on the maturity and adoption of technologies.

Below are some useful resources for trends and business innovation trend analysis. While some of the data sources are similar, we categorise them into roughly 3 main categories – Quantitative Numbers Crunching, Qualitative Trend Spotting, Patents & Academic Research.

Quantitative Numbers Crunching

1. YouGov: An international research data and analytics group, providing a broad range of data-driven solutions and custom research services. YouGov
2. World Bank Open Data: Provides free and open access to global development data. World Bank
3. FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data): A database of over 760,000 economic time series from 96 sources. FRED
4. Pew Research Center: Offers comprehensive research on a wide range of topics. Pew Research Center
5. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): APEC is a regional economic forum established to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific region. It provides useful resources on economic trends and policies in the region. APEC
6. Asian Development Bank (ADB): ADB provides comprehensive data and analysis on development issues and economic trends in the Asia Pacific region. ADB
7. China National Bureau of Statistics: This is the central authority for statistical information and data in China. It provides comprehensive national economic data. China National Bureau of Statistics
8. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development): Provides data and analysis on a wide range of economic and social issues. OECD
9. IBISWorld: Offers industry research reports and analysis on over 700 industries. IBISWorld
10. Statista: An online statistics portal providing data on over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources. Statista
11. Trading Economics – China: Trading Economics provides historical data, forecasts, and news for a wide range of economic indicators. The China section provides information related to China’s economy. Trading Economics – China
12. Euromonitor: Provides comprehensive data and insights on industries, economies, and consumers worldwide. Euromonitor
13. Kantar: A data, insights and consulting company that provides various reports and insights on consumer trends, media trends, and market trends across different cultures and geographies. Kantar
14. Ipsos: A global research and insights organisation, providing strategic insights to companies around the world. Ipsos
15. Mintel: Provides market research, market analysis, and consumer opinions. Mintel
16. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): Sets standards for sustainability reporting. Provides resources and reports on ESG performance. GRI
17. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Offers a framework for sustainable development and provides data and reports on progress. SDGs

Qualitative Trend Spotting

1. TED Talks: An excellent resource for insights on the latest trends and innovations across various fields, including technology, design, and the social sciences. TED Talks
2. TechCrunch: A leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news. TechCrunch
3. Google Trends: A free tool from Google that provides data and graphs on the popularity of specific search terms over time. It can be particularly useful for identifying cultural trends based on what people are searching for. Google Trends
4. TrendWatching: An independent consumer trends firm, providing insights into emerging consumer trends that can inspire profitable innovation. TrendWatching
5. WGSN: A trend forecasting company, offering market-leading trend forecasting for fashion and the creative industries, design validation and big data retail analytics. WGSN
6. Pantone: Renowned for its colour matching system and yearly ‘Colour of the Year’, Pantone provides insights into colour trends across industries. Pantone
7. Design Week: An online magazine covering the latest news, trends and happenings in the design world, from graphics to interiors. Design Week
8. Artsy: A platform for collecting and discovering art, Artsy provides insights into emerging artists and art trends. Artsy
9. Dezeen: A leading online architecture and design magazine, Dezeen showcases the latest design projects and trends worldwide. Dezeen
10. Cool Hunting: An online publication that uncovers the latest in design, technology, style, travel, art and culture. Cool Hunting
11. Stylus: A trend forecasting and innovation research service that provides reports on various industries. Stylus
12. Lifehacker: A blog about life hacks and software that can help you to be more productive. Lifehacker
13. Wired: A magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Wired
14. Fast Company: A magazine that focuses on technology, business, and design. Fast Company
15. The Verge: Covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture. The Verge
16. Gizmodo: A design, technology, science and science fiction website. It features articles on the latest news and developments in the field of technology. Gizmodo
17. ESG News: A website covering news and developments in ESG investing. ESG News

Patents & Academic Research

1. USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office): The official source for US patents, trademarks, and design patents. Offers search tools, patent application information, and legal resources. USPTO
2. Espacenet (European Patent Office): A comprehensive database of patents from around the world, including Europe, the US, and Japan. Provides advanced search features and patent family information. Espacenet
3. Google Patents: A free and user-friendly database for searching patents by keyword, inventor, or patent number. Includes patent images, citations, and related information. Google Patents
4. PatentSight: A platform that provides patent analytics, landscape analysis, and portfolio management tools. Offers a variety of subscription plans. Patentsight
5. ACM Digital Library: A comprehensive database of publications in computer science, information systems, and related fields. Provides access to journal articles, conference proceedings, and technical reports. ACM
6. IEEE Xplore Digital Library: A database of publications from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Covers topics like electrical engineering, computer science, and telecommunications. IEEE Xplore
7. ScienceDirect : A large database of scientific and technical publications from Elsevier. Includes journals, books, and conference proceedings. Sciencedirect
8. arXiv.org: A repository of electronic preprints in physics, mathematics, computer science, and other fields. Offers free access to research papers before they are published in journals. arXiv
9. Google Scholar: A powerful search engine specifically designed for academic research. Google Scholar
10. Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): A curated directory of open access journals across many disciplines, offering a reliable source for finding high-quality, peer-reviewed research that is freely available. DOAJ
11. ResearchGate: A social networking site for researchers that allows you to connect with other researchers, share your work, and access research papers (some are free, others may require membership). ResearchGate
12. CORE (COnnecting REpositories): A search engine for open access research repositories, providing access to a vast collection of research from universities, institutions, and other organisations. CORE

In-house vs Consulting Firm Innovation Trend Analysis

Traditionally, these macro research and innovation trend analysis are done by business analyst or strategic planning team in an organisation. These research and analysis can be done continuously in-house to inform OGSM plan and business decisions.

While some of the above resources are free of charge, many in-depth reports require subscription fees or additional purchases. Therefore some MNC managements will commission external consulting firms to conduct these research, one for their width of “knowledge base” and two for a “non-bias” consulting report and recommendations.

Pros and Cons compared

There are pros and cons in conducting these innovation trend analysis and research in-house or with external consultants.

The Pros of doing in-house is the knowledge of the industry and own business resources and constraint. However the Cons will be the potential bias of existing success and lack of wider perspectives beyond own industry.

The Pros for hiring external consulting firm is on their width of knowledge. Their cross-industry experience can help identify business innovation opportunities & trends from multiple perspectives. However the Cons will be the lack of in-depth understanding in real-life operation, as well as the organisational constraints that might hinder the recommendation’s execution.

AI empowering Innovation Trend Analysis

We believe all organisation should aim to build in-house Innovation analysis capabilities, especially in the era of rapid changing digital world.

With the maturity of LLM AI, it will empower internal innovation SWAT teams to quickly gather and analyse a wide range of resources and data across different industries. By combining the both the internal and external data stream, innovation SWAT’s Strategist plays a key role in identifying new trends and business growth opportunities faster and better!

Mastering the macro trend spotting is just one part of business innovation capability, next, we will also discuss how to dig deep to harvest customer insights better and faster than your competitions.

The post Innovation Trend Analysis: Uncovering the Future Growth first appeared on Innovation SWAT.

What is Smart Material?

Smart materials, also known as intelligent or responsive materials, can undergo significant changes in their properties in response to external stimuli such as stress, moisture, temperature, or electric fields. These materials have a wide range of applications, including sensors, actuators, and artificial muscles.

Some examples of smart material applications from Wikipedia:

Electric

Piezoelectric materials produce a voltage when stress is applied. Since this effect also applies in a reverse manner, a voltage across the sample will produce stress within sample. Suitably designed structures made from these materials can, therefore, be made that bend, expand or contract when a voltage is applied.

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) change their volume by voltage or electric fields.

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are smart material systems which produce large strains (up to 500%) under the influence of an external electric field.

Temperture/Pressure

Shape-memory alloys and shape-memory polymers are materials in which large deformation can be induced and recovered through temperature changes or stress changes (pseudoelasticity). The shape memory effect results due to respectively martensitic phase change and induced elasticity at higher temperatures.

Temperature-responsive polymers are materials which undergo changes upon temperature.

Polycaprolactone (polymorph) can be molded by immersion in hot water.

Thermoelectric materials are used to build devices that convert temperature differences into electricity and vice versa.

Light

Photovoltaic materials or optoelectronics convert light to electrical current.

Photomechanical materials change shape under exposure to light.

Chromic

Halochromic materials change their color as a result of changing acidity. One suggested application is for paints that can change color to indicate corrosion in the metal underneath them.

Chromogenic systems change color in response to electrical, optical or thermal changes.

These include electrochromic materials, which change their colour or opacity on the application of a voltage (e.g., liquid crystal displays), thermochromic materials change in colour depending on their temperature. And photochromic materials change colour in response to light, e.g. light-sensitive sunglasses that darken when exposed to bright sunlight.

Magnetics

Ferrofluids are magnetic fluids (magnets and magnetic fields).

Magnetostrictive materials exhibit a change in shape under the influence of magnetic field and also exhibit a change in their magnetization under the influence of mechanical stress.

Magnetic shape memory alloys are materials that change their shape in response to a significant change in the magnetic field.

Magnetocaloric materials are compounds that undergo a reversible change in temperature upon exposure to a changing magnetic field.

Others

Smart self-healing coatings heal without human intervention.

Self-healing materials have the intrinsic ability to repair damage due to normal usage, thus expanding the material’s lifetime.

Chemoresponsive materials change size or volume under the influence of external chemical or biological compound.

Smart inorganic polymers showing tunable and responsive properties.

pH-sensitive polymers are materials that change in volume when the pH of the surrounding medium changes.

Challenges and Future Prospects

While smart materials hold immense potential, their widespread adoption faces challenges such as cost, scalability, and integration into existing manufacturing processes.

Researchers and engineers are actively working to overcome these obstacles and aiming to unlock even more innovative applications.

As these materials become more accessible and cost-effective, they will play an increasingly central role in shaping the products of tomorrow.

The post Smart Material for Product Innovation: Better Experience Design and Functionality first appeared on Innovation SWAT.