Magnus Lindkvist is a futurologist and lecturer within business intelligence and trends and an expert on present and future trends. Magnus is a graduate of Stockholm School of Economics, he has an MSc. in Business and Economics. He is also a graduate of the UCLA School of Film, Television and Theatre and has made a career out of fusing the measurability and tangibility of the business world with the imaginative storytelling of Hollywood. He founded his company Pattern Recognition in 2005 to help companies make sense (and money) out of the future. Before founding Pattern Recognition, Magnus worked as a brand strategist at Differ and as a planner/account director and management group member at brand strategy agency Grow. In 2008, he created the world's first academically accredited course in Trendspotting and Future Thinking at Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship. In 2009, he won the coveted "Business Speaker of the Year" award in Sweden. Magnus is a member of renowned conference TED - technology, entertainment and design, a congregation and yearly seminar in California featuring some of the world’s foremost innovators, scientists, thinkers and artists among its members. Most prophecies present the future merely as an extension of the here and now – what we find out about is next summer's already confirmed trends. With his talks and his four books Magnus Lindkvist challenges our entire way of thinking about and looking towards the future. "What I do is intellectual acupuncture", says Magnus Lindkvist. "I use little needles to prevent inertia and induce a rush of blood to the head. Sometimes the effects are immediate. Sometimes they kick in after a little while." Magnus Lindkvist's intellectual acupuncture needles are made up of a journalist's relentless curiosity, the rock-solid knowledge of an economist and the thirst of an unrelieved rock star to mesmerize an audience. The combination of these three has made him one of the world's most sought after speakers on trends and future-thinking.