We describe ourselves as a strategic foresight research and consulting firm. So, what does that mean? It means that we help our clients prepare for the future by understanding what the future may bring and then helping maximize their opportunity to take advantage of it.

Our work in strategic foresight depends on a deep understanding of current conditions (both those of our clients and more generally), which we then marry to a deep and sympathetic appreciation for trends, implications, outliers, and opportunities. Often using a skillful combination of quantitative analytics and qualitative interpretation, we strive to deliver clarity, understanding, and confidence for those seeking a path forward.

Research and consulting

We undertake research and consulting projects that are centered on mission-critical issues, whether market growth, infrastructure development, policy formulation, product design, strategic growth, or threat assessment. Our current work, and the practices within which it is generated, offers some indication of the scope of the topics and concerns with which we’re engaged.

Our practice areas – transportation, energy, space, institutions of governance and civil society, and national security and law enforcement – reflect a constellation of areas where we believe a particularly rich and actionable engagement with the future is of critical importance.

Additional services

In addition to our signature three-year research streams on topics of particular importance in our areas of practice and the frequent consulting projects that accompanies those research streams, we also offer workshops, scenario development, trend mapping, and customized talks and presentations.

Pinyon workshops are high-intensity collaborative explorations of possibility. We help policy makers, planners, strategists, marketers, and others engage with the trends and uncertainties of the future. The results are better brand positioning, better customer satisfaction, new markets, new products, truly effective policy, and better risk management. Above all, the Futures Workshops help participants think broadly and differently.

Often, thinking successfully about the future requires a deep – sometimes, visceral – engagement with the ideas, contexts, and circumstances of possible futures.  Pinyon scenarios go deep, creating narratives that encourage – and occasionally require – stepping outside of comfort zones and the usual way of thinking.  We prefer immersive experiences that engage a participant’s creativity and imagination, while teaching skills for recognizing and take advantage of change.

Pinyon trend mapping and navigation offers an opportunity for organizations to go beyond competitive analysis or predictive modeling.  Trend mapping and navigation offers an ongoing perspective on emerging trends and their interactions. Often based around a product, policy, or industry, these three, six, or twelve-month programs track, analyze, contextualize, and report on critical trend emergences, changes, and integrations. The result is a clearer and deeper understanding of a product’s, policy’s, or industry’s place in its future ecosystem.

Our talks and presentations offer organizations an opportunity to hear about trends and the future from a broad perspective.  Ideal for group meetings, we can work with a particular theme or come with our own.  The object is to broaden horizons, present material in a new way, and engage and excite listeners about what’s next.

Are we right for one another?

Underlying all of our work is a belief in human ingenuity and resilience. We believe that although the future is unknowable, we all are uniquely able both to prepare for, and thrive in it. We welcome clients who wish for the same.