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Innovation is fragmented, not monolithic. The next change will surprise us.

By Adam Tinworth

The world wasn't watching as the web was born. Many people laughed at the iPhone, a product from a company not long off life-support. True innovation happens in fragmented worlds away from the mainstream.
New realities

By Martin Recke

Code permeates our lives like an invisible dimension. We talk to voice systems, allow our knowledge to be controlled by algorithms, analyse our emotions with machines, observe ourselves through computers, and fight digital wars.
Global tribalism: can we adapt to it?

By Adam Tinworth

Tribalism is fundamental to humanity - we always gather in communities. But the internet has allowed us to bothe connect globally, while isolating ourselves locally. Therein lies the danger.
The new tribalism

By Martin Recke

Whether it’s the urban-rural divide, the generation gap, or any other cause of division, humans are diving deeper into their own universes and decoupling themselves from one another in favour of new tribal structures.
Lessons from parallel digital worlds

By Adam Tinworth

The digital world is not a homogenous whole, but a series of parallel states, twisting ideas into new forms as they pass between them. And Instagram is becoming a very western version of a Chinese idea…
A bipolar digital world order

By Martin Recke

While the digital world is still dominated by US tech giants, China has risen to be the first challenger. And regions like Africa or India should be watched closely as well.
Politics as design problems of today

By Kristina Bonitz

In the sunny streets of Austin, Texas, the tech industry is starting to escape from the gloom of the last few years, with a more mature, human vision of the future it wants to build.
Parallelwelten

By Martin Recke

What if, somewhere in the universe, there existed a world identical to the one we know? What if there was not only one, but many Parallelwelten, i.e. parallel worlds?
Digital’s easy scale has proven to be ruinously expensive

By Adam Tinworth

The digital unicorns have been enjoying the lucrative advantages of worldwide scale — without paying the price. But there are others costs, that might be even more expensive…
The downsides of scale

By Martin Recke

Scale is almost unlimited in the digital sphere, but its negative effects so far have been externalised. This needs to change.
Warren’s plan to break up the tech companies is the beginning of a mature conversation about tech

By Adam Tinworth

The would-be Democratic Party candidate for US President used SXSW to promote her vision of reigning in big tech. And we should be welcoming this discussion, not running scared of it.
Business resilience – and the attack of the snails

By Adam Tinworth

Technology change is inevitable and unavoidable - but it's often surprisingly predictable. If you can't adapt to survive it, you deserve to face your own twilight of the gods…
Making sense in a VUCA world

By Martin Recke

Our VUCA world is yearning for purpose. Sensemaking makes a lot of sense. It really does.
Automotive after peak car: Valhalla burning?

By Martin Recke

Have we reached peak car, the tipping point where sales and usage of cars start to decline? And what does this mean for automotive, the dominant German industry?
Beyond digital childhood: a new, more nuanced, tech utopianism

By Adam Tinworth

George Dyson wrote that we're at the end of the digital's world's childhood. How do we make sure it grows up into a well-rounded adult?
The rise of hybrid systems

By Martin Recke

The digital world deals with ones and zeros, and this turned out to be highly efficient. But what about the real world, if there is any? Can it be reduced to ones and zeros as well, or is something out there that can't?
Systems Thinking: our guard against unintended consequences

By Adam Tinworth

We live in a world of complex, inter-dependent systems, and any thinking that fails to include that runs the risk of summoning the law of unintended consequences.
Why we need systems thinking

By Martin Recke

Systems thinking is more abstract, and feels more theoretic than design thinking. And there are significantly less sticky notes involved. But it has the power to be a boon for innovation.
Innovation’s price is Future Shock — and we’re paying it now

By Adam Tinworth

Here’s my heretical question: is innovation always good?
We’re trapped in a toxic cycle of fragmentation and centralisation

By Adam Tinworth

Fragmentation is getting a really bad press, right now. There are some good reasons for that.
What is innovation?

By Martin Recke

Innovation is about introducing products that are better than what's already there. What's better and what's not is determined by the user.
Fragmentations

By Martin Recke

Digital increasingly defines reality, but our once unified, single, analogue reality is now fragmented into many different, competing realities.
Forget Big Bang innovation; it’s all built on islands of invention

By Adam Tinworth

We’re looking for interesting innovation in the wrong places. Single, big, transformative innovations are so rare as to be worth ignoring. The interesting stuff happens at smaller scales.
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