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INNOVATION

Innovation management, taken further.

Methodically grounded, delivered with AI: from trend analysis through user research and innovation sprints to a working prototype. We have been building digital products since 2007 and AI solutions since 2015 — proven with DAX corporates and the Mittelstand.

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What does "AI-assisted" actually mean?

It doesn't mean an AI has the ideas. It means the slow parts get faster — which leaves more time for the parts only people can do. Trend research that used to be two weeks of reading now produces a defensible map in two days. Fifty user interviews whose analysis would have blocked a team are processed in hours — including the quotes that give the client their argument in the workshop. A prototype that would have taken a quarter of engineering time stands in two weeks and can be put in front of real users. What this makes possible isn't "the same, but cheaper". It's something different: testing more options before you commit.

Understand
Foresight and user research
Trend analysis, future scenarios and genuine user understanding — with our own deep research tooling for innovation management, so that you work on the right questions. Typical formats: trend and technology analysis, scenario work, user interviews, journey and touchpoint mapping.
Design
Design thinking and innovation sprints
Workshops, learning journeys and sprints that turn ideas into concepts that hold — with AI tooling across the innovation funnel. Typical formats: innovation sprints, design thinking workshops, business model design, concept testing, keynotes and facilitation.
Build
Rapid prototyping — AI-assisted
From concept to a working prototype in weeks rather than months — with AI both as a tool and as a product component. Typical formats: clickable prototypes, functioning MVPs, AI prototypes on AIDGEN, user testing on the real thing.

Who we work with

Our AI projects come from energy, telecommunications and the mid-market: we introduced a company-wide corporate GPT at Stadtwerke Hürth, built an autonomous AI sales agent for Erste Energie, developed the AI target picture with EnBW, supported Swisscom on AI strategy — and we build AI solutions for Hornbach. Before and alongside that: digital products and innovation work for large enterprises and mid-sized companies across retail, automotive, telecommunications and media — including Deutsche Telekom, BMW and METRO. The difference to a conventional provider: we don't stop at the recommendation. What we design, we can also build — we run an AI product of our own in the market.

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Formats we offer

Not every ambition needs a project. Sometimes an impulse is enough, sometimes a day, sometimes half a year.

Keynotes and talks

For leadership groups, kick-offs and conferences. For when an organisation first needs to grasp why the topic concerns them.

Workshops and innovation sprints

One to five days, with a concrete result at the end. Not idea-gathering without consequence.

Learning journeys

Teams learn on the road: at companies that have already done it, in formats that stick.

Facilitation

When the substance is in the building but someone from outside needs to hold the threads together.

Projects from question to product

The standard case. Understand, design, build, embed.

Disciplines and methods

Our work rests on an academic foundation: service design, innovation management, strategic design, design thinking, and the business and social sciences. Day to day that means human-centred design, iterative work, rapid prototyping, journey and touchpoint mapping — extended with AI tooling that doesn't replace those methods but accelerates them.

Frequently asked questions

How is futurest different from a management consultancy?

We don't stop at the recommendation. A strategy nobody builds is a document. We build alongside you — and because we have an AI product of our own in the market, we know what actually happens when a concept meets real systems and real people.

Do we need an AI strategy before we start?

Usually not in the form people ask for. A sixty-page AI strategy nobody reads costs more than three honestly tested use cases. The faster route runs through concrete questions: where is time actually being lost in your business, and how much of that can today's technology solve?

Do you work with mid-sized companies?

Yes — and often with better results than in a large group, because the decision paths are shorter. What's missing in the Mittelstand is rarely the idea. It's the capacity to pursue it alongside the day job. That's exactly where we come in.

Desirability · Feasibility · Viability — now AI-assisted
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