The Edge of What’s Next: IRI’s Quarterly Trends Analyzer
The Edge of What’s Next examines the strategic environment in which innovation and R&D take place and flags up trends that you should factor into your strategic planning. At the end of each quarter, trends are examined by the IRI Foresights Advisory Board and assessed for their potential impact on innovation. In this report, key trends are described and vital questions you should ask yourself as you conduct your strategic planning are listed. In addition, we include some additional trends at the end of each report that we will keep an eye on to see how they will be impacting innovation.
| April 2026 Report | Trends: – Ramifications of the K-Shaped Economy on R&D – Is Human Interaction Making a Comeback? – Private Equity Takes Over – Will AI Make Physical Labor Obsolete? | |
| January 2026 Report |
Trends: – Heightened Immigration Enforcement is Statistically Reshaping the Labor Force – Return-to-Office Mandates are the New Glass Ceiling – Stemming the Flow of Information | |
| October 2025 Report |
Trends: – The Immigration Squeeze on America’s Workforce (Revisited) – Gen Z at Work: Stability, Strategy, and Shifting Expectations – Speak at Your Own Risk | |
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July 2025 Report |
Trends: – A Southern Manufacturing Resurgence – Alarm Bells for Future Scientists – Is R&D Ready for AI’s Breakneck Pace? | |
| April 2025 Report |
Trends: – Evolving the Role of Federal Agencies – Reimagining Innovation in the Public Sector – Changing Funding Landscape for Doctoral Students | |
| January 2025 Report |
Trends: – Are DEI programs dead? – Are we in a white-collar recession? – Tariff Preparation | |
| October 2024 Report |
Trends: – The challenges women and caregivers face take center stage – Humans vs machines? – Have office workers had enough? | |
| July 2024 Report |
Trends: – College students are dropping out in droves – Smart phone panic – More babies needed in Korea | |
| April 2024 Report |
Trends: – The dangers of unregulated AI – What are the ramifications of food inflation? – How will Gen Z impact the workplace? | |
| January 2024 Report |
Trends: – Flipping the script on plastics – Shifting retirement expectations and what it may mean for the workforce – Will the freedom of speech debate impact industry? | |
| October 2023 Report |
Trends: – Can we finally achieve AI regulation? – Resisting a return to office – Labor action gains steam | |
| July 2023 Report |
Trends: – The European Union as global regulator? – The hard work begins for AI – Can the US staff a manufacturing resurgence? | |
| April 2023 Report |
Trends: – Governments and industry at (even more) loggerheads over sustainability – AI reworking the way we work – Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) accountability spike – Innovation ecosystems remapped |
