We asked 13 movers, shakers and thinkers from different industry sectors what they reckon the big trends, developments and challenges will be in their sector in the coming year. This is what they had to say:
Tom Lawton – Inventor and founder of BubblePix
The dragons are dead. Crowdfunding will continue to boom, especially with Kickstarter opening its doors to the UK; the greatest nation of makers, innovators and tinkerers.
Although it’s still got teething problems, hopefully we’ll start to see more SME product development companies, who have the right approach and established supply chains, collaborating with grass roots innovators to realise a new world of ideas. All power to the people.
Another trend will be emotional connections. Consumers are looking for deeper relationships with their products. So expect to see more hardware supported with an online ecosystem of some sort. Everything is becoming social.
And lastly, tools that work and last. When times are hard people can’t afford premium products. But times have been hard for a while and now the saying ‘buy cheap, pay twice’ is ringing true. If the future is less and not more then it’s time to buy things that are well made and actually last.
wwwtomlawton.com
www.bubblepix.com
