Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 23, 2006 —- Technology-related products and services will increasingly be shaped by 12 underlying principles or “technology values”. These values —- such as simplicity, efficiency and personalisation —- represent the characteristics that consumers will look for in products, services, and technologies over the next 10 to 15 years. This is the conclusion of a new study from the Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm Social Technologies.

The 12 values will have broad impacts across the public and private sectors, with consumers’ collective preferences driving the shape and direction of products and services, according to the report, which draws on more than six years of company research into emerging technologies and changes in global consumer lifestyles. Companies will need to embrace these principles in product design and marketing — and understand the emerging technologies that will be needed to support these values — if they hope to align with consumer needs and desires now and in the future.

As Tom Conger, founder of Social Technologies, notes, “In crafting this research we didn’t want to simply look at what was possible based on a technology point of view or what was happening in the research lab. Instead, we wanted to examine what people actually need and want from future technology-related products and services [my emphasis] based on today’s trends and change drivers. We also wanted to look at which emerging technologies were going to help fulfill these needs and desires in the future.”

For instance, to remain competitive, product makers in many sectors will need to accommodate the value of “user creativity”—the growing desire and ability of millions of consumers to create, augment, or influence design and content and share these creations with their peers.

Methodology: The study’s authors began by creating an inventory of roughly 150 consumer needs and desires, drawing from Social Technologies’ knowledge base of global technology and lifestyle trends, then applying a futures mapping process to extract the 12 key themes. Each theme was then individually validated and amplified through intensive research. To complement the report, Social Technologies has launched a series of workshops to help organisations apply the concept of technology values to practical questions.

The 12 technology values are described in detail on the PRWeb website. Briefly, they are:

• Appropriateness
• Assistance
• Connectedness
• Convenience
• Efficiency
• Health
• Intelligence
• Personalisation
• Protection
• Simplicity
• Sustainability
• User creativity