Magnus Lindkvist

Magnus Lindkvist is a Swedish trend spotter and one of the world’s most sought-after trends experts. He is the author of several books on trend research and future thinking and offers companies interesting and practical solutions for sustainable growth. In 2005, he founded ‘Pattern Recognition’ in Sweden, which aims to help companies grow in a forward-looking way. Prior to this, he worked as a brand strategist at ‘Differ’ and ‘Grow’. He knows the world like the back of his hand. Ideas are central to his lectures. How they clash. How they change the way we work, create and live.

Lindkvist studied at the Stockholm School of Economics and the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television in Los Angeles.

Lindkvist is an active member of TED, an annual conference held in California that counts some of the world’s leading innovators, scientists, thinkers and artists among its members. He is also a lecturer at the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, a partnership between the Stockholm School of Economics, the Royal Institute of Technology, the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, and the Karolinska Institute medical university.

He has received numerous awards and his performances and books are widely praised. His talks are inspiring and encourage his audience to think seriously about the future. Drawing on current and future events, he demonstrates how the way business is conducted is set to change. He highlights how companies can capitalise on current trends and position themselves for the market.

The Swede explores what is – usually incorrectly – defined as ‘reality’. This reality is who and where we are, and what our thoughts are. It is not, therefore, an accurate representation of the world. To understand how things are developing, how people live and work, what decisions they make and what they will consume, companies must identify long-term changes in objective reality. However, there is a blindness to change that prevents us from recognising even fundamental shifts with which we are directly confronted.

Lindkvist offers companies the opportunity to improve their analytical capabilities. How does one identify trends that have a lasting impact on society, and how can these be utilised (product development and marketing)? The 2008 financial crisis was not an abrupt change either, even if it was perceived as such by observers. It was the consequence of fundamental developments unfolding over decades, such as market globalisation and the interconnection of the financial system. For Lindkvist, these are gigatrends.

In his talks, he explains the trends that will shape the business world of the future with humour and exceptional insight. He weaves key current trends into a forecast of what life, society and the economy might look like in the future. He demonstrates remarkable pace, cool storytelling and politically incorrect humour that keeps the audience – undoubtedly a global one – laughing and talking long after his talk has ended.

He is regarded as Sweden’s best export hit since ABBA and meatballs. For over three decades, he has been travelling the world in search of good ideas. He combines insights from pop culture, philosophy, economics and art to create champagne for the brain. With his wry humour he masters the art of letting opposites collide, creating a magical lecture that changes the way you think and create.