Resources

Minitrends Resources

The book MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends was written as a “how-to” book \to help readers not just learn about discovering and profiting from Minintreds, but actually provide the tools and resources to do so. The book includes nearly 100 URLs and many other suggestions for readers to find information. Some of those resources are listed below, along with some additional ideas.

Impact Wheels — We highly recommend the Impact Wheel is an excellent multi-purpose Minitrends discovery and exploitation tool. It can be applied in many situations where exploring for or discovering impacts and implications that are non-obvious is necessary.

Associations organized for the analysis of emerging trends include:

• World Future Society
• Rand Corporation
• Institute for the Future
• International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
• Centre for European Policy Studies
• Economic and Social Research Institute
• The Club of Rome
• The National Institute for Research Advancement
• Association of Professional Futurists
• Strategic Planning Society

Business and Technology Updates from Individuals – Visiting these sites regularly can often suggest interesting Minitrends.

• CNET live
• CommandN
• Cranky Geeks,  (video clips are proceeded by an advertisement)
• Tekzilla
• Walt Mossberg’s Personal Technology
• Pogue’s Pages

Top Lists – One way to discover Minitrends is examining the comments and actions of people with non-traditional visions and the ability, resources, and contacts to make these visions come true. Here are a few publications that feature current leaders, as well as those just beginning to exert influence:

• Inc. magazine’s 2010 Tops Lists
• Time’s 2010 The World’s Most Influential People
• Fortune’s 2010 50 Most Powerful Women in Business
• PCWorlds’ The 50 Most Important People on the Web
• CNN Money’s 50 who Matter Now
• T3′s 50 Most Influential People in Tech
• E-Week’s 100 Most Influential People in IT

More Suggested Reading by John H. Vanston:

Technology Forecasting: An Aid to Effective Technology Managementby John H. Vanston, Ph.D. This management guide details technology forecasting techniques that contribute to better decision making.

Five Views of the Future™, A Strategic Analysis Framework: Overview and Methods – COMPLIMENTARY — Signature Technology Futures, Inc. White Paper by John H. Vanston — TFI has developed this strategic analysis framework to allow maximum advantage of a large variety of proven methods when conducting technology/market forecasts.

Testing the Tea Leaves: Evaluating the Validity of Forecasts by John H. Vanston, Ph.D. and Lawrence K. Vanston, Ph.D.– COMPLIMENTARY –This article appeared in the The Industrial Research Institute’s (IRI) prestigious journal Research-Technology Management and provides a set of tools that can assist in discriminating between good and bad forecasts.

Better Forecasts, Better Plans, Better Results by John H. Vanston, Ph.D.– COMPLIMENTARY — This article appeared in The Industrial Research Institute’s (IRI) prestigious journal Research-Technology Management and provides a more in-depth description of TFI’s signature Five Views of the Future™, A Strategic Analysis Framework mentioned above.

 

Introduction to Technology Market Forecasting by Lawrence K. Vanston, Ph.D. and John H. Vanston, Ph.D.  Written by leading technology forecasters, this book includes discussion and examples of several substitution models including the Fisher-Pry and Gompertz models.

Please visit John H. Vanston’s Amazon Author Page for a complete listing of his publications.

Other Suggested Reading:

Practical Tips for Forecasting New Technology Adoption by Lawrence K. Vanston, Ph.D.– COMPLIMENTARY –This article appears in the prestigious international telecommunications journal Telektronikk and provides advice for addressing issues for successful forecasts.

Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives by John Naisbitt — The Classic!

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne

Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day by Dave Evans

Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, Twelfth Edition edited by August e. Grant and Jennifer H. Meadows in association with Technology Futures, Inc.

A New Telecommunications World by Lawrence K. Vanston, Ph.D.– COMPLIMENTARY – Report discusses the disappearing narrowband voice services market and gives forecasts of the probable telecom future.

We will continue adding more resources from the book and outside sources as we continue the launch of the MINITRENDS book and blog.

Technology Forecasting: An Aid to Effective Technology Management