About Speaker

John Willshire is the Managing Partner of Smithery, an independent Strategic Design Practice founded in London in 2011. Smithery enables organisations to take an active role in shaping their futures as they navigate an increasingly uncertain landscape. This approach involves fostering the ability to perceive and understand emerging realities, then acting on these insights to drive appropriate internal innovation. John’s work is grounded in a broad range of expertise, spanning futures and foresight, innovation, design, economics, and market research. A highly skilled facilitator and keynote speaker, he has recently collaborated with Changeist to build a Future Trends and Signals System for UNDP, crafted a community engagement strategy focused on climate and health for the Wellcome Trust, and developed a new strategic approach to capability building within Unilever. In addition, John leads the Innovation and Future Thinking summer course at IED Barcelona, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.