About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

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10 predictions for 2017

We explore the trends, social movements and technological breakthroughs set to shape the agenda during the next 12 months.

In Futurescoping

Declining trust in technology, future-proofing our workforce, armchair volunteers and a Brexit fairy tale. The 10 predictions presented here offer a vision for the year ahead. Like all our predictions lists, it’s a mix of the plausible and the more aspirational.

Not everything here is desirable, but if 2016 has taught us anything it’s that forecasts can fall spectacularly short of the mark.

Our hope is by imagining these possible futures we will encourage discussion, debate and, more importantly, action on how we can shape our world in the days to come.

We hope you enjoy this year’s list! As always, you can look back on the progress of our previous year’s forecasts. You can also read more on why we believe accuracy is not the most important measure of a successful prediction.