Press release TrendWatcher Of The Year Awards 1516

[Klaus van den Berg]

The Trendwatcher of The Year Awards 2015/2016

‘Innovating with Visions & Trends for 2016 And Beyond’

Amsterdam, 26 October 2015 / This week, the TrendWatcher Of The Year Awards (TWOTY Awards) are presented for the sixth time. This year the annual event will be held at the Accenture Innovation Awards in Utrecht on Friday 30 October from 9 to 11 a.m. Please book your free places quickly as we have limited capacity.

The organisation of the TWOTY Awards encourages a broader and more open view of the future and this means that we are always on the look-out for new visions in the field of trends and possible futures. The TWOTY Awards are organised by SecondSight, an institute at which trendwatchers, trend forecasters and futurists share their visions and ideas about the future. What will be important over the next few years and why? And which developments are relevant to 2016 And Beyond? An independent jury of communication and marketing specialists, strategists and innovation experts review the documents submitted to them and examine which trends and visions of the future are relevant and why. On which developments could and should business and government focus?

Innovating and working on the future are goals that we increasingly hear about. ‘More people than ever before are working on innovation and are thus working on the future’, says Andrea Wiegman, initiator of the TWOTY Awards, ‘but the future is more complex than it may seem at first glance. And innovating without a vision or an idea about trends can be counterproductive. We believe that it is vital to place several visions side by side to allow people to develop their own vision.’

The nominees for TWOTY1516 are:

-       Trendwatcher of the Year - Jacqueline Wolfs, Sander Duivestein and Guido van de Wiel

-       Trend Forecaster of the Year - Truus Dokter, Carlos Cuellar Brown and Yang Design

-       Futurist of the Year - Rachel Armstrong and Justien Marseille 

-       Upcoming Talents - Delany Boutkan, Steven van den Haak, Sanne Visser and Silvia Naber

‘You cannot innovate without a vision of the future, according to Wiegman. ‘The fact is that you have to know what is trending in a certain society, if you want to know what to work on or what to develop in the next few years. And the same is true vice versa: trends are valuable only if words are put into action. Now is the time to approach the future in practical terms and to link vision development to innovation. That is why I present the TWOTY at the Accenture Innovation Awards this year. And of course it is the perfect occasion for a party as well. We are celebrating thinking about the future. Market and trend researcher Klaus van den Berg will play his TWOTY Nu-Disco playlist. We start off the day with a glas of bubbles to toast the many futures that are currently being made!’

Read more about the nominees, the jury process and the TWOTY Awards. For more information about the TWOTY’s 2015-2016, the nominees or if you would like to attend the TWOTY Awards, please phone or email Andrea Wiegman - [e-mail] or [phone].

Social media: @TWOTYs    #TWOTY1516   #2016AndBeyond   @SecondsightNL