Appendix 2. Leaders - Exemplary Foresight Practitioners and Organizations
Mid-Size Companies (100-499 Emps) Doing Leading Foresight Work (non-Govt, Defense, or Consulting)
Organizational foresight leaders and previous leaders (“prev.”) are listed below in bold, where known. Check LinkedIn Advanced Search, using org name and relevant foresight terms (strategy, foresight, forecasting, design, innovation, scenarios, etc.), org site search, (site:domainname searchstring) and general Google search to find current and past foresight leaders at each org. Use multiple negatives to eliminate urls or terms you don’t want, and use quotes to get exact phrases, like “strategic foresight” and “future of”.
| Company | Foresight Leaders; Company Description | Region (HQ) |
|---|---|---|
| Adaptive Insights | Leader in cloud-based corporate performance management. | 3, 1 (London, Palo Alto) |
| Airbnb | Global marketplace for listing, discovering, and booking lodging. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| AngelList | Social network for angels funding early-stage startups | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| BrightSource Energy | Largest solar thermal plant. US-Israeli renewable energy pioneers. | 1 (Oakland, CA) |
| DonorsChoose | Charles Best; Educational needs crowdfunding platform. | 1 (New York, NY) |
| DraperFisherJurvetson | Tim Draper, Steve Jurvetson, Founders; Venture capital | 1 (Menlo Park, CA) |
| Dropbox | Cross-platform file sync and sharing, online backup. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Expect Labs | Anticipatory software listens to conversations, suggests relevant info. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Fitbit | Wireless activity trackers for quantified health and fitness. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| ForeSee | Customer modeling and experience surveys, annoying pop-up style. | 1 (Ann Arbor, MI) |
| i4C Analytics | Analytics for business forecasting, prediction, optimization. 5 markets. | 3 (Milan, Italy) |
| iHub | Innovation hub and hackerspace for Nairobi technology community. | 5 (Nairobi, Kenya) |
| Indiegogo | International crowdfunding site. Backing crowdfounding (JOBS Act). | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Kaggle | Predictive modeling & analytics competitions. 95K data scientists. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Kickstarter | World’s largest crowdfunding platform for creative projects. | 1 (New York, NY) |
| Lit Motors | Eric Miller, Transportation Futurist; Self-balancing motorcycles. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Oxford Innovation | Operates 21 Innovation Centers for companies and govt bodies. | 3 (Oxford, UK) |
| PEDCO | High performance engineering, planning, and sustainable design. | 1 (Cincinnati, OH) |
| Predictix | Predictive analytics & decision suppt. for apparel, grocery, hardlines. | 1 (Atlanta, GA) |
| Quirky | Crowdfounding consumer products innovation platform. | 1 (New York, NY) |
| Rapiscan Systems | Chuck Brooks; Global security equipment manufacturer. | 1 (Torrance, CA) |
| Relex | Supply chain optimization and forecasting solutions. | 3 (Helsinki, Finland) |
| Rethink Robotics | Rodney Brooks, CTO; Industrial Robotics | 1 (Boston, MA) |
| SXSW | Film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences. | 1 (Austin, TX) |
| Tagetik | Corporate performance mgmt, planning, and forecasting. | 3 (Lucca, Italy) |
| TED | Edutainment | 1 (New York, NY) |
| Social networking and microblogging service. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) | |
| Uber | Ridesharing and vehicle for hire transportation services. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
| Valve | Video game development and digital distribution leaders. | 1 (Kirkland, WA) |
| Vontobel Asset Mgmt | Long-term growth & value investment firm. $42B in assets managed. | 1 (New York, NY) |
| XL Hybrids | Hybrid drivetrain conversion technology for fleet vehicles. | 1 (Boston, MA) |
| Yelp | Urban guide and business crowdrating and review platform. | 1 (San Francisco, CA) |
Know other foresight leaders that should be here? Let us know. Want to help edit this page? Email us.
