Lux Suggested Expert Broadcasts

As a valued Lux client with an Advisory- or Executive Partner-level membership, you have access to a unique benefit: live broadcasts with Lux experts for your team or organization. These are similar to the 1-1 inquiries you love but are designed to engage your team or, more broadly, other teams across your organization. Broadcasts are invaluable live events to ideate, share feedback, and collaborate with your peers and Lux experts.

Lux Expert Broadcasts are designed to educate and stimulate your curiosity and creativity on a variety of topics that are relevant to you. Please work with your Client Experience Manager to build your team’s broadcast series based on our suggested menu, which covers a wide range of industries and topics.

Learn from the best
Lux experts are world-class researchers and analysts who have deep knowledge and insights on emerging technologies and market trends.
Engage your team
Lux webinars are interactive and dynamic, allowing you to ask questions, share feedback, and collaborate with your peers and Lux experts.
Inspire your vision
Lux webinars will help you discover new opportunities, challenges,and solutions for your innovation goals and strategies.

In the ever-evolving landscape of AI, dualities emerge as fundamental aspects of its application in consumer insight and ethnographic research. At Lux Research, we’ve pioneered the integration of AI to serve a twofold purpose: as a robust automation tool and as an insightful assistant. This webinar delves into the intricate dance between these roles, examining how AI’s capability to autonomously analyze vast cultural data intersects with its role in enhancing consumer-centric innovation and strategic applications.

AI as an automation tool represents a shift in ethnographic practice, allowing for the handling of complex data analyses that traditionally required extensive human effort. This transformative approach enables a more profound exploration of cultural insights, offering a broader understanding of consumer behaviors and societal trends.

Transitioning to AI as an assistant, we unveil how our technology acts as a collaborative partner that augments the intellectual capacity of researchers and strategists. This AI assists in contextualizing insights within business frameworks, thus fostering a creative and interactive brainstorming process that propels strategic decision-making.

During this session, we:

  • Discuss the operational efficiencies and depth of analyses afforded by AI in automating the initial stages of ethnographic research.
  • Explore the dynamic role of AI as an interactive assistant, guiding the application of cultural insights to actionable business strategies.
  • Present case studies demonstrating the transformative impact of AI on our ethnographic research methodologies and consumer-centric outcomes.

 

Join us to explore how the dualities of AI can be harnessed to achieve unprecedented levels of insight and applications in the realm of predictive anthropology and consumer-driven innovation.

The ongoing success of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies is called into question as input costs rise, regulations and labeling requirements proliferate, and global supply chains weaken or break down. Geopolitics, climate change, and shifting consumer behavior drive ongoing stress into the industry. However, companies can still create growth by focusing on opportunities with waste streams. Food and agriculture wastes have significant value as feedstocks used to create an increasingly diverse set of products, including lipids, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and other industrial products and intermediates. But commercializing circular opportunities is difficult, with numerous challenges, including resource availability, business model, consumer demand, and regulations. This webinar provides a framework to help you identify opportunities based on waste attributes, available technology, and emerging markets.

Entering or growing international markets often relies heavily on demographic data. This session demonstrates how demographics reveal limited insights without cultural context. Learn how anthropological research uncovers nuanced consumer behaviors, values, and societal forces that drive engagement in diverse markets. Discover best practices to gain cultural empathy, adapt offerings, and build authentic connections. 

Traditional reliance on economies of scale in manufacturing makes it difficult to quickly change products and production processes. Consequently, many companies haven’t been able to readily adapt to disruptions in supply chains or shifting market dynamics. Yet, to meet business and sustainability goals in this increasingly unpredictable world, flexibility is more critical than ever before — and fortunately, thanks
to innovation and new technologies, it’s also more achievable. This presentation highlights innovations for achieving greater flexibility within your organization, including tools that can equip innovation and research teams.

Heavy industries like steel, cement, and aluminum are crucial to society but are also major emitters of greenhouse gasses. Companies in this space are all under significant pressure to decarbonize but are they making enough progress?

This webinar uses the Lux Carbon Canvas to map industrial companies, evaluate their decarbonization efforts, and build future strategies for industrial decarbonization.

Renewable sources of carbon can include recycling, biomass, and CO₂ from direct air capture or biogenic point sources. However, these sources each have different qualities, different availabilities, and different technologies needed. In short, each carbon source implies an entirely different value chain. Where do these value chains and technologies fit in the current and future landscapes? Will there be one winner or a mix, and how will the carbon economy evolve moving forward? Lux Research discusses the drivers for the carbon economy and how to make sense of a growing landscape. We highlight key case studies across the many options available and showcase which technologies can give a decisive advantage.

A successful, sustainable packaging strategy needs to address three variables of innovation: regulations, technology, and consumers. It is often easier for companies to consider emerging regulations and technology developments, with the third variable of consumer sentiment missing from the equation. However, not taking a human-informed approach to innovation will slow companies in setting their sustainability agendas in motion and, ultimately, achieving their targets.  Join us as we delve into the consumer piece of the sustainable packaging equation regarding antiplastic sentiment, greenwashing, and safety and uncover interconnections and gaps between policy, tech development, and consumers to inform packaging strategies. 
While robotics solutions have been around for several decades now, outside of narrow manufacturing uses, companies have struggled to scale these solutions to handle real-world complexity at a reasonable cost. The pandemic exposed the already-weakened labor force in agriculture, and stakeholders in the sector are taking a fresh look at robotics. In agriculture, in addition to improving operational efficiency, robotics solutions offer advantages such as being able to address rising costs of crop inputs as well as sustainability concerns.  In this webinar, we dive into early uses of robotics, opportunities, and hurdles in the agriculture space and explore how some of these innovations might impact the chemicals and energy industries as well as other sectors. 

The words human insight get thrown out a lot these days. Yet when we ask organizations what the term really means, we often get disparate responses. The reality is that leaders within organizations themselves haven’t come to a clear agreement on what defines a truly human insight and how it can be effectively operationalized within the research and innovation work stream. In the midst of the AI revolution, it has become increasingly crucial to prioritize human-centricity to prevent it from being overshadowed by the AI madness. Join us for this webinar as we delve into the power of anthropology in fostering human-centricity and ensuring that generative AI is aligned with human needs.

The consumer health industry continues to face significant challenges going into 2024 in the current market downturn. For one, aggressive growth strategies of the past were positioned for higher demand for consumer health services. While the pandemic is technically still ongoing, most people have moved on and learned to live with the new reality, while higher interest rates have made the industry approach growth more conservatively. Second, a lot of these growth strategies were hoping to entice consumers with fancy new products and services without first understanding consumer behaviors and attitudes toward addressing their health condition. That lack of understanding doomed these strategies.

In this session, we’ll explore the value of connecting anthropological insights to technology assessments for the creation of innovation strategies that truly address the health conditions consumers care about, and then we’ll highlight how companies can build a tech assessment roadmap from there. Whether you represent the chemicals, materials, consumer packaged goods, or another industry, or if your organization is involved in any part of the value chain in a consumer health product, this session will leave you with a fresh approach toward technology assessment for a good product-market fit.

Given growing market demand for alternative options that can meet new standards in sustainability, performance, and economics, the algae industry is experiencing a resurgence of investment. This has led to business opportunities across technology sectors, including agriculture, food and nutrition, personal care, and biobased materials. However, based on several technology shortcomings across the value chain, this space still has a long road ahead to overcome low margins and serve as a driver for decarbonizing the production of ingredients and materials. This webinar outlines promising sectors for micro- and macroalgae innovation opportunities and technology pitfalls to avoid along the value chain.

Consumers today have an increasing desire for sustainable products, yet green attributes alone aren’t enough to drive adoption and willingness to pay a premium. Discover key insights from new Lux Research on the missing triggers that shape consumer desire for sustainable alternatives.

In this session, we discuss:

  • The common sustainability triggers used in marketing and why they fall short
  • The “missing concerns” that make sustainability personally relevant for consumers
  • Emerging differentiators beyond sustainability that influence choice
  • A framework to identify the right mix of triggers for your context
  • How to bring future promise and other “missing concerns” to life through products and messaging
  • Tactics to drive adoption and overcome price sensitivity

 

In this presentation, we unlock a new desirability formula and make sustainability irresistible for your consumers. We provide attendees with a blueprint for marketing, innovation, and growth strategies that appeal to eco-aware consumers and justify a price premium. 

While “reshoring” and “resilience” may be the watchwords for new U.S. industrial policy, global disengagement isn’t the goal — and other nations certainly aren’t standing still either. Meanwhile, despite the new opportunities being created by strong policy actions like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, protectionist actions can create threats as well. Beyond supply chains, multinational companies need to watch for vulnerabilities in their “innovation chains” as not only physical goods but also the IP, manufacturing techniques, and expert personnel themselves are subject to controls. This presentation places policy in a global context and explores the strategies companies can deploy to respond.

Consumers are becoming more health conscious and taking extra steps to prevent disease and enhance wellness. They are adopting a holistic approach toward building a healthy lifestyle, continuously tracking their physical, nutritional, and mental well-being. They also are looking for products and services that provide actionable information they can use to achieve these improved health outcomes. In this webinar, we will discuss how this megashift in consumer attitudes can translate into profitable business opportunities for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. We will also dive into what go-to-market strategies CPG companies can adopt to leverage these opportunities.

The self-care market holds exciting potential but navigating its cultural nuances is key. This webinar explores the subcultures, tensions, and paradoxes that shape the meaning of self-care. Learn how anthropology helps distinguish fleeting fads from impactful wellness innovations.  In this webinar, you will discover how to analyze self-care language and rituals to identify unmet consumer needs. Attendees will leave with a framework to provide mood management solutions rooted in cultural insights. 
Hydrogen will be an important tool for Asia to reach carbon neutrality. Domestic production of hydrogen will be present, but it wont be enough — major industrial nations like Japan and South Korea will have to rely on hydrogen imports to meet their demand for renewable energy. In this webinar, Lux Research discusses the main options for importing hydrogen, focusing on ammonia. We will showcase the evolving technology landscape across ammonia generation, cracking, and power generation and discuss the emerging opportunities for technology innovation.
Hydrogen will be an important tool for Europe to reach carbon neutrality. Domestic production of hydrogen will be sizable, but it won’t be enough — the EU will have to rely on hydrogen imports to meet its demand for renewable energy. In this webinar, Lux Research discusses the main options for importing hydrogen, focusing on ammonia. We will showcase the evolving technology landscape across ammonia generation, cracking, and power generation and discuss the emerging opportunities for technology innovation.
Sustainability is more than decarbonization, and industrial players face increasing scrutiny over a broad range of ecological impacts from their production processes. Sustainable manufacturing has been getting a lot of buzz — but among all the confusion and hype, companies are starting to figure out what it means and put it into practice. Implementation, more than technology, is the limiting factor in sustainable manufacturing.   This presentation breaks down sustainable manufacturing — what it is and what it isn’t — and highlights success stories and pitfalls in implementation.

Europe’s agrifood sector is facing a sea change due to supply chain disruption — from fertilizer shortages to evolving policy and geopolitical changes. The European Green Deal and its Farm to Fork Strategy have created a pressing need for Europe to refurbish its innovation strategy. Europe has a high appetite for technology innovation, but slow-moving agrifood regulations necessitate a diversified approach from companies in the agrifood and consumer packaged goods value chain.

This presentation will highlight how upstream and downstream players can capitalize on both near- and longer-term opportunities, covering topics from regenerative agriculture to precision fermentation.

Decarbonizing operations and adapting manufacturing processes are key for industrial firms to meet their sustainability goals – but on their own, they arent enough. Companies will also have to explore new business models in order to combine sustainability and growth. This presentation builds on Lux Researchs digital customer journey framework to help identify where business model innovation can support the development of sustainable products and the circular economy.
The EU has long been a leader in sustainability policy, pioneering approaches such as carbon emissions caps and marketplaces, chemical restrictions for environmental health and safety (e.g., REACH, or Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals), and more. In 2022, the U.S. appeared to take the lead on climate policy with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a muscular set of grants and incentives. While some in the EU have decried the IRA as protectionism, the stage is now set for an era of much stronger government intervention. How should the EU draft its policy responses, and how should companies prepare for the next phase?

Emerging technology trends can shift rapidly over the course of a year, and this was truer than ever in 2023. While policy spurred the deployment of many sustainable technologies, startups are finding a tough fundraising environment as interest rates rose throughout the year. Sifting through breakthrough developments, new and failed companies, partnerships, technology trends, policy announcements, and everything in between is critical to managing an innovation portfolio.

This webinar examines these developments and trends across Lux’s industry verticals — including oil and gas, utilities, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, and industrials — to pull out common themes and insights that will inform your priorities and hone your decision-making in 2024.

The EU has been a leader in new recycling technologies. Despite that, in 2022, it fell behind North America in terms of planned recycling scale up. Is the EU destined to be an advanced recycling laggard amid a broader weakness in its chemicals sector? Or can the right policy, strategy, and technology make the EU an advanced recycling powerhouse? 

The aviation sector today is entirely reliant on fossil jet fuel, but upcoming regulatory measures in key geographies such as the U.S. and EU seek to promote the adoption of novel technologies to decarbonize the sector. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), hydrogen, and electric aviation are all options being investigated to do so — the challenge is finding a solution that can match the performance, cost, and scalability of fossil jet fuel.

In this webinar, Lux Research explores each of these options, identifying their barriers and challenges while also highlighting winning technologies and their associated opportunities.

The European chemicals industry is grappling with geopolitical tensions, structural disadvantages in feedstocks, and growing pressure to decarbonize. Flagship companies like BASF are now retreating from the region in the face of these pressures. What is the future of the European chemicals industry, and how can it transition to a sustainable economy? Where will it source its carbons, and what kinds of products will it make? This webinar explores these questions and paints a vision for the long-term evolution of the European chemicals industry, touching on topics like hydrogen, synthetic biology, and plastics recycling.

Sustainability is perhaps one of the most misunderstood topics in corporate innovation and brand management today. It is a topic that is certainly heavily intertwined with a false sense of the value of morality. And it often creates a massive say-do gap in research. In today’s environment, it is not an understatement to suggest that every organization in the world is trying to figure out how they can deliver sustainable alternatives to their existing product lines without severely affecting their margins. But every one of these companies will likely attest to the fact that achieving this result is far from easy. So, where does the problem lie? It lies in the fundamental fact that morality, at least when it comes to issues like the environment, which do not seem to affect us in our daily lives, is not an effective way to drive the purchase of sustainable alternatives.
Measures like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and EU Green Deal have inaugurated a new era of industrial policy globally, where governments take a stronger hand in shaping the direction of innovation to meet goals in climate, supply chain resiliency, and other key priorities. Success in the emerging innovation landscape requires not just mastering technical evaluation and financial modeling but also navigating a shifting policy landscape, following evolving consumer demands, and deploying new business models as well as novel products. This presentation draws out the implications of the rising importance of sustainable innovation along with newly aggressive industrial policy and what it means for corporate innovation teams as well as investors, entrepreneurs, and public officials.

Foresight isn’t about predicting the future; it’s about systematically examining patterns of language and systems of meaning that exist just outside the contextual boundary of a trend. By measuring the rate of change and likelihood of a topic becoming relevant, we can gain a deeper understanding of the future and how we can assess whether a technology is keeping pace with emerging consumer needs. Rapidly aging societies are upon us, especially in developed economies like Japan and Singapore. But what does the future of healthy aging look like? Historically, aging has been seen in the context of healthcare needs, but there are a lot of other aspects to aging as well, such as lifestyle, mobility, social support, and nutrition. In addition, not everyone in their senior years needs serious medical attention; many continue to lead healthy, active lifestyles, albeit taking into consideration their altered energy and physical condition. All these factors present a market opportunity. But what are consumers and their loved ones in this category really looking for? Where do we see the biggest gaps and opportunities?

From November 13–17, 2023, the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Council will meet to discuss an international agreement on plastic waste — one that could be as disruptive for the global plastics industry as the Paris Climate Agreement has been for the energy industry. By the end of the week, we’ll have a zero draft of possible regulations, a weeks’ worth of speeches and comments, and the clearest understanding yet of the future of the plastics industry.  This webinar breaks down the key outcomes, implications, and likely future states of global plastics regulation. 
What is body neutrality, and how does it differ from the movement toward body positivity? What implications does a cultural shift like this have on your business? Which categories and industries will be and already are being directly impacted, and which will be indirectly impacted over time? How significant can we expect this impact to be, and how quickly will it drive change? In this webinar, Lux MotivBase Director of Client Advisory Cheryl Auger will use the body positivity trend to illustrate not just how this specific trend is manifesting in culture today but also how similar trends tend to develop and evolve with time. Using the Lux MotivBase Predictive Anthropology platform, Cheryl will provide updated data and analysis on the body neutrality trend, showcasing what it means today and what it will mean tomorrow. If you work in any industry that needs to understand ahead of time how shifting trends can have a positive or a detrimental impact.

Now more than ever before, there is a recognition that shifts in culture have a direct impact; not just on the current lines of business but also on the future trajectory of an organization. Whether it relates to large social issues or the development of new norms and language codes, every shift could leave an organization feeling irrelevant rather quickly (if the right measures aren’t taken), which is why we put this session together. While there’s a recognition of the importance of understanding culture and its impact on a business, there is still a long way to go in an organization’s ability to understand culture and bring it into the inner workings of its operations.

Generative AI was the single hottest innovation trend of 2023: It defined the spectacular rise, fall, and resurrection of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, created the speculative frenzy around Nvidia, and prompted major action from the halls of power in the U.S. and EU. AI’s proponents think it will usher in a new age of human development, while self-described doomers are convinced that it will end civilization. What’s real? What’s hype? What’s pure science fantasy? Sorting through these questions will be key for innovation leaders, who are under pressure to implement AI in their own businesses and processes.

This webinar digs into what generative AI is, what it isn’t, and explores the impacts and implications of generative AI on innovation. 

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