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Our trend map for 2009: The vital Trends, Risks, and Red Herrings you must know

Ross Dawson, December 19, 2008 11:39 AM US PT

Following our extremely popular Trend Blend 2007 and Trend Blend 2008 trend maps comes…. Trend Blend 2009!

Created by Future Exploration Network’s Chief Futurist Richard Watson, also of NowandNext.com, the 2009 trend map moves on from the subway map theme of the last years to show the multi-tentacled hydra that is the year ahead.

Click on the map to download the pdf (810KB)

To pick out just a few noteworthy elements of the trend map:

CORE THEMES include:
Uncertainy
Ageing
Global Connectivity
Anxiety
Power Shift Eastwards

SUBJECT THEMES include:
SOCIETY: Search for control, enoughism
TECHNOLOGY: Simplicity, Telepresence, Gesture based computing
ECONOMY: De-leveraging, 2-speed economies, Shorter product lifecycles
ENVIRONMENT: Bio fuel backlash, Negawatts, Nuclear power
POLITICS: Virtual protests, Globalisation in retreat, Immigration backlash
BUSINESS: Networked risk, Transparency, Asset price uncertainty
FAMILY: Debt stress, Allowable luxuries, Middle class unrest
MEDIA: Flight to quality, Facebook fatigue, Skimming, Micro boredom

POSSIBLE RED HERRINGS include:
Climate change crisis
Fall of US Empire
Nuclear power
Device convergence

GLOBAL RISKS include:
Major Internet failure
Influenza pandemic
Major earthquake in economic centre
Obesity
Electricity shortages
People taking trend maps too seriously

As usual, this is released on a Creative Commons license, so feel free to play with it, adapt it, and improve it!

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2009 – be sure to take advantage of these upcoming trends!

3 Comments

Alx Klive said:

Not seen this before and it is smashing stuff. The 'multi-tentacled hydra' as you call it is a superbly effective way to present all the information and relevance. This is such great work in bringing together the numerous issues and trends that face us.

It would be very cool to offer an online interactive flash version, that lets people play around with the order of the issues, and possibly edit the issues too. A dedicated site could then let people create and share their own versions in a gallery and you could then use collaborative filtering to analyze the consensus and produce a consensus view. To let people have the opportunity to agree on what is most likely to be significant would be a great upgrade.

All in all though brilliant stuff.

December 20, 2008 5:29 AM

Ross Dawson said:

Many thanks Alex!

If you haven't already, check out the trend maps for 07 and and 09, and have a browse down the right hand column of the blog for some other visual maps, and at the

Great suggestions, which we'll aim to implement over the next little while - probably gradually rather than all at once! We're working on a Media Timeline that will have interactive elements - hopefully out in the next few weeks.

December 20, 2008 5:33 PM

Colby Stuart said:

This was such a fascinating map and explanation that I have shared it with others. I know this will open a lot of further discussions. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

December 27, 2008 11:12 AM

Ross Dawson is globally recognized as a leading futurist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, strategy advisor, and bestselling author. He is Founding Chairman of four companies: professional services and venture firm Advanced Human Technologies, future and strategy consulting group Future Exploration Network, leading events firm The Insight Exchange, and influence ratings start-up Repyoot.

Ross is author most recently of Implementing Enterprise 2.0, the prescient Living Networks, which anticipated the social network revolution, and the Amazon.com bestseller Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships (click on the links for free chapter downloads). He is based in Sydney and San Francisco with his wife jewellery designer Victoria Buckley and two beautiful young daughters.