By Timothy C. Mack
As we near the end of 2016, AAI Foresight has much to be grateful for, beginning its third year of existence. At the top of that list is the continuing influence of Cynthia Wagner, who has worked her editorial and content magic on reports, blogs, and the Foresight Signals newsletter while holding down a demanding trade association position. Her naming to the list of top women futurists worldwide was long overdue, in our opinion.
AAI Foresight is also grateful to designer Lisa Mathias, who makes words shine, and we congratulate her on her new full-time position as designer at a prestigious association in downtown Washington, D.C.
The AAI Foresight Report series for 2016 continued to offer cutting-edge thought pieces, including Dennis M. Bushnell’s article on the future of humanity and an in-depth analysis on the impact of the Brexit vote on European foresight by Joergen Oestroem Moeller.
Our strategic partnerships in Europe have expanded into the publishing and human resources development arenas. That client base also continues to expand, with the expectation that new North American customers will come on line in 2017.
AAI’s long-term relationship with the Island of Singapore continued with an Arctic ecological change project and a consultation on rewiring a ministry-level trend-scanning program. As well, an ambitious rethink of electric power distribution strategies in the U.K. is just getting under way. And that segues into the electric power sector of AAI’s business, which is still chugging along at a steady pace, as it has for the past couple of decades (under the earlier AAI Research incarnation).
The MIT Enterprise Forum relationship is entering growth mode, and MIT has just announced a new national program in the United States, with the NW group (the second largest node after Cambridge) having a significant role in development. Part of that national effort will be the just-launched Engine Room, a national virtual incubator for longer-term R&D (similar to the original Bell Labs model), followed by a postsecondary “new technologies development and implementation” competition.
As for the “one that got away” story, which seems to have become a tradition, I would include both a briefing for a major Korean automotive manufacturer on the future of marketing, which went totally in house at the last minute (with no outside speakers), and an ambitious AAI program proposed for the oldest and largest Wild West rodeo event in the United States. For the latter project, the AAI team proposal went down to the last cut, with only two bidders remaining, but we were not chosen, for reasons that did not include our lack of experience and expertise.
Otherwise, the best news at our West Coast office location is the return of the rain. This sounds odd for the Pacific Northwest, but the last 18 months have been unsettlingly dry, especially during the wildfire season. So an end to sunny skies and Vitamin D is now underway.
Feel free to contact me for details on AAI Foresight’s work, past, present, or future. And in the meantime, please share your work with us—and the rest of the foresight community.
Timothy C. Mack is managing principal of AAI Foresight Inc. Contact him at 202-431-1652 or tcmack333@gmail.com.
Call for Annual Reports
As a newsletter devoted to covering the global futurist and foresight community, Foresight Signals would like to hear from you. Share the story of your year in foresight with futurists everywhere!
Please send us a brief overview of your futures activities over the past year, such as career changes, awards or milestones, books and reports published, projects launched, appearances in the media, seminars or conferences organized and/or presented to, or noteworthy consultations. Send your report to CynthiaGWagner@gmail.com by December 28.