Made to measure is back?

Mass customisation has long been discussed and sought after, and some notable progress made since Henry Ford's attributed statement 'Any colour as long as it's black'. Three developments, each taking a different approach, may move us nearer to that elusive goal of quick, easy and relatively inexpensive made to measure goods - from shoes, to furniture, to replacement machine parts.

Prior2Lever, a London based company, hope to launch their customised sports shoes in April 2006. The shoe is designed based on a 3D foot scan which produces a digital model, then 'fitted' based on pressure profiles recorded during exercises wearing a sensor laden insole. The result: a perfect fit and less chance of injury: and, who knows, potentially improved performance?

The second approach from Bemz, a Swedish company, builds on the success of Ikea sofa designs, and targets their customer base providing both parties with the potential for additional business. Bemz provide a range of alternative covers - upgrades, redesigns, refreshers, variations etc - for Ikea's most popular sofa models, in materials of the customers' choice.

The third, being developed at Bath university in the UK, could be the first ever self replicating 3D printer. Opinion is divided as to whether it is feasible, but the researchers aim to create a machine that can literally reproduce itself, and indeed any other machine component or missing item in a home or factory. The self replicating rapid prototyper, if it works, could make the price of such machines drop from the current price of around $25,000 to around $500.

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Latest Additions

Every week, we are adding new content to Shaping Tomorrow.

As interest in shaping the future grows exponentially around the world we are finding many more interesting links than we can sensibly report in our members newsletter.

During the past week, we have added new links as follows:

25 organization
23 industries
16 society
11 environment
9 politics
7 healthcare
6 technology
5 economics
1 lifestyles

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By viewing the new material and the links in our database you can anticipate how tomorrow will be different for you and your organisation.

Only Shaping Tomorrow members can regularly access the full database.  Membership costs just 25 British Pounds (+17.5% tax for those based in the European Union), or $49 in the United States. You can pay using one of many credit cards directly at our web site.

Why put yourself at a disadvantage to our members and your competition. Click here to join, today; you won't find a more comprehensive trends service at such low cost anywhere!

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Integrating Foresight with Decision-making

A two-day training event entitled "Integrating Foresight with Decision-making" is offered:

• to managers, policy-makers, decision-makers, strategists, innovators, and horizon scanning teams within public or private organisations
• by Third Eye Training, a collaboration of SAMI Consulting in partnership with Infinite Futures in the UK.

The focus of the course is integrating the results of scanning and change research into thought leadership for strategy creation and decision-making:  how do you do it, and what tools can you use?

Prior to the course, participants will receive a kit with a syllabus, short readings, and an initial horizon scanning assignment, which includes their logins to the Shaping Tomorrow

The course is scheduled for 20-21 April at Wolfson College, Oxford.  Wolfson College is a 20th century graduate college in the north part of Oxford, with beautiful grounds overlooking the Cherwell River and excellent meeting facilities.  The "retreat" atmosphere will enhance both focus and creativity.

To book call contact Dr. Gill Ringland (07899 847387) or Dr. Wendy Schultz 

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More researchers needed

Shaping Tomorrow's continued growth and developing services means we are constantly looking for more professional researchers and content providers. They contribute to our newsletter, database, blindspots and newly created Horizon Scanning service.

We need you to:

• add new links,
• check existing links and retire old material from our website
• improve the sourcing and descriptions of all of our material
• capture and describe the key trends associated with the material 

You will need to be detail-conscious, web-savvy and interested in the subjects, geographies or industries you choose to research. The rest we can teach you.

In return, we offer free Personal Membership of Shaping Tomorrow including the ability for you to create your own gratis public database using our taxonomy, possible client work and acknowledgement of your insider role within our community. Or, alternatively, we can help you create your own private database and taxonomy at very competitive prices. So why not use us to market your work to our thousands of members an organisations at no cost, other than time, to you.

If interested, please contact Mike Jackson for an exploratory discussion.