Case study: Future opportunities in emerging technologies

Client and assignment

A business division of Degussa used the assistance of the FutureManagementGroup in the development of future opportunities in emerging technological fields.

Goal

Project content and process

1. The opportunity development was performed within a trend and innovation day, with participation of about 60 top managers from seven nations. Executive officers of Degussa and some major clients took part as well.
2. To provide an introduction, speeches on the future technologies selected to be investigated were held by renowned experts, the FutureMananagementGroup contributed on the methods of future management.
3. In the afternoon future opportunities were derived out from future technologies in three parallel workshops facilitated by the methodological guidance of moderators from the FutureManagementGroup. The focus in the workshop lay on the identification of potential new products and solutions, but internal processes and structures were challenged as well. 

Results

• About 260 future opportunities have been identified in the three technologic areas.
• The participants of the trend and innovation day chose a total of 17 favourites that are supposed to be primarily pursued. After an internal filtering process selected opportunities will be realized in actual products

Client feedback

The participants of the trend and innovation day appeared fascinated by the high quantity and high quality of the opportunities they developed in only one afternoon. These opportunities will be of high value for the product strategy. “The FutureManagementGroup gave an overview on the most important future factors and therewith of the trends, technologies, and issues of the future. The many valuable practical examples extended our thinking horizon and enabled us to identify a multiplicity of new opportunities for our company. The valuable system of the Eltville Model and the very professional and motivating approach led to a very good result in a very short time”

Dr. Oenbrink (Senior Vice President) and the managers of Degussa AG.