Lars Thomsen

Lars Thomsen, born in Hamburg, Germany in 1968, is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential futurists of our time. During his studies of business economics at Saarbrücken University in the early 1990s, he discovered that a majority of companies were lacking the tools and ability to anticipate and forecast change and related disruptions in their respective markets over the next ten years – especially those, that were triggered by paradigm shifts in technologies and business models.

Instead of linear forecasting on historic data, Thomsen introduced a new method of defining and calculating inflections points (Tipping Points) within the timeframe of the next ten years that were driven by paradigm shifts, cross impacts and a combination of market and price logic assumptions.

He started consulting corporations and governments throughout Europe by the age of 22 and founded his current company in 2001: The future matters AG which by now is working for more than 800 clients worldwide. Lars Thomsen is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences. His lectures inspire through a balance of provocative and fact-based foresight that together illustrate possible future scenarios. His extensive professional network helps him facilitate frequent one-on-one meetings with innovation leaders around the world. Around 30% of his time is spent traveling for future research and exploration. In addition to his professional activities, Lars is also a guest professor at three universities, a member of several international Think Tanks and the World Future Society in Washington, D.C.

Lars is a citizen of both Switzerland and Germany and lives with his family near Zurich.