How can we meet the Future: Introduction to Foresight Thinking with Suzanne Stein, of OCAD University
By Helen Kontozopoulos, MEIC
First posted on Mobile Experience Innovation Lab, OCAD University, Jan 2014

MEIC presents Suzanne Stein from OCAD University who introduces foresight thinking and ideation techniques that can enable mobile entrepreneurs to use “foresighting” for their business strategy. In turn enabling businesses the ability to look at the past, present, and future trends that might impact their industry. With this disorderly world of overwhelming amount of information, we need techniques to be able to start looking at the patterns of change over time and how those patterns impact the future, so by using foresight thinking and strategy it helps businesses to meet the future in the present.

Foresight techniques can be described as systematic approaches to gathering intelligence about possible futures and enabling present day decisions. The analysis of foresight thinking is to look beyond the short-term fads, and deeper into trends that are creating actual change in your industry. The difference between a trend and a fad is time and impact. Fads are short in duration in time and impact, while trends last longer and have a greater impact to creating change. A foresighter like Suzanne is able to see the difference and interpret their meaning in the overall significance.
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One of the most important aspects of this is analysis. Suzanne explains the need for businesses to gain perspective over time and create scenarios for future strategy. When doing a foresight analysis, and seeing all the changes happening within an industry, we might end up asking ourselves “here is what is changing, so what? why do I care?” Instead, we need to ask: How will these changes lead to market opportunities for my business and how will we be able to take advantage of them sooner than later.

Creating a Timeline
Seeing your business within a larger industry and societal system in timeline format gives you the foresight perspective. The timeline is a tool to plot the signals, trends, and drivers that have happened over time. Signals include: social, technological, economic, environmental, political, and values. These timelines include the past, present, and future, blocked into five to seven year spans over fifty+ years. In the Identifying Signals ad Trends video is a perfect example where Suzanne looks at using a timeline.

With a whiteboard, markers, categories, sticky notes, and industry experts, a group was able to plot the changes to the mobile industry over time and possible trends. Within the timeline you can see how trends were created within different signals, their uptake, and mass adoption by society that led to changes.

The importance of looking ahead, say seven years, might give your business the indication of where the industry is heading. If your team hasn’t looked at it, you might be too late in the game, so you end up playing catch up. For Suzanne “it means your organization will probably recognize it, but it’s already in everyone’s faces, and there are other entrants already there, it will be fairly saturated.” Foresight is a method where you meet the future, before new entrants or competitors do.

After looking at the timeline and seeing what the future might bring for your business, scenarios are created and applied to your present strategy. Scenarios are based on the top trends you think will affect your business and how you need to be ready for the challenges and opportunities that might come from those trends. The whole point is to be prepared—as to be pro-active and not just reactive when faced with the future.

Video 1: Introduction to Foresight
Video 2: Identifying Signals and Trends
Video 3: Crating and Analyzing Trends

Grant Writing and Business Planning with Diane Davy, Executive Director of WorkInCulture
​By Helen Kontozopoulos, MEIC
First posted on Mobile Experience Innovation Lab, OCAD University, Jan 2014

In this week’s video series, Diane Davy from WorkInCulture presents information about how business planning can help the grant application process for Canadian content creators within the mobile sector. Diane’s three videos are also good primers for anyone who is in thinking about applying for a grant.


A large part of applying for a grant is having a strong and compelling business plan. It demonstrates to funders that you have strategies and objectives in place, that you possess a deep understanding of the market, the customer, and the business environment, and that you area able to deliver on that plan.


A business plan is a “description in words and numbers of your business with a focus on the future” Diane says. Seems daunting? It is the most time consuming aspect of the grant application process, but it will be the best time spent when developing your business. Give yourself the time to do the research and to write a cohesive and compelling plan. If you do, you will impress your funders.
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Parts of a business plan include the following:

• Mission Statement “Why does my business exist and for whom?”
• Goals “Where are you trying to get to?”
• Strategies “How are you going to get there?”
• Outcomes and Measurements “How will you know when you got there?”
• Financial Information “What will it all cost?”

“Why am I in business?”
The first part of your business plan is your mission statement, it is the guide for your plan, helping you make decisions through each section, bringing it all together under one focus defined in the beginning. When first writing your mission statement, Diane asks business to ask themselves the question: “Why am I in Business?” It’s for you to create a clear answer, to know what you are offering and it’s benefits and how it will bring value to your customer.

Understanding your market
You need to further prove that you understand your market and be able to clearly define your potential customers, in demographic terms, and their “wants or needs” says Diane. This is where taking the time to conduct research for your plan pays off. You need to be able to define your market, its size and potential, and your value proposition to differentiate your product/service within the marketplace.
Research is where you will gain the insights you need to develop your plan. You can use various tools and techniques, such as surveys, social media inputs, past project research, and online reports that you may quote to send a strong signal to funders that you understand the market you are entering. The goal of all the research is to prove that there is a real need to what you are offering.

Funders are like investors
When creating your financial reports for your business plan, Diane suggests taking the perspective that the funder is an investor. Funders take your numbers very seriously and so should you. They are investing in the future success of your business based on the numbers and the plan you are showing them. Some of the financial statements you might need include, profit and loss statements, short-term or/and long-term forecast statements, and cash flow statements. If you’re not strong with numbers, hire a financial expert or advisor to help you with this section.

Matching up your stories
The most important part of the plan as Diane points out, and many miss when creating their business plan, is that the two main parts of your must fit together. You need to make sure that “the story you are telling in numbers matches the story you are telling in words,” Diane refers to the written parts of your business plan versus the financial statements.  If you are asking for something in the first part of your business plan and it doesn’t match what you are asking for in your financial statements, then there’s a disconnect and the funders will not approve of your grant or loan. Both need to work together to create a successful plan for your business.
Your plan is there to prove you have a product or service that a target market wants or needs, and you are able to deliver if you receive the grant you are applying for.


Diane has some great examples about the parts of a business plan in her videos, check them out on our Mobile Ex YouTube channel:
Part 1: Tips for Business Planning
Part 2: Marketing Strategy
Part 3: Grant Writing