This book engages the reader around different perspectives between
forecasting and foresight in strategic design, drawing insights derived
from a futures study that can be applied in form of a design-inspired
foresight approach for designers and interdisciplinary innovation teams
increasingly called upon to help envisage preferable futures.
Demonstrating this process in applied research, the book describes a
2016 Financial Services industry futures study to the year 2030. An
industry increasingly at risk in dealing with uncertainty, the Financial
Services sector, is a core pillar of economic activity in most markets,
such as greater China, and inherent within are major drivers of change
linked to consumer behaviors, new technology and disruptive business
models. While the financial services industry exemplifies an ideal case
for design-inspired foresight, the aims of this book are primarily to
establish the peculiarities between traditional forecasting applications
and a design-inspired foresight visioning approach as strategic design
activities for selecting preferable futures. Underlining the
contribution of this book is the value of design futures thinking as a
creative and divergent thought process, which has the potential to
respond to the much broader organizational reforms needed to sustain in
today's rapidly evolving business environment.