Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond speaks to Ariane van de Ven, a French trend forecaster and cultural analyst. Ariane works with Fortune 500 companies, organisations and brands around the world to help them set up their first trends and forecasting departments and programmes.

In this episode, Ariane explains how forecasting is all about ‘connecting people to culture, to drive insight, fuel empathy, and above all seed innovation’. She also explains how she hones her global vision on innovation and trends through travelling the world and meeting with ‘super-smart people’. Listen to this episode now.