Norbert Hillinger studied journalism and corporate communications at the FH Joanneum in Graz. Shortly after graduating he realized that he wanted to use his passion for asking questions and questioning statements. Not in a professional career as a journalist, but in the world of trend and futurology research.

After graduating, Austrian-born Norbert Hillinger worked for seven years in various functions. He worked for the trend research company TrendONE in Hamburg and Berlin. After that he founded his own business as an innovation consultant in 2013. Since then, he has worked for companies in the financial services, retail and entertainment sectors.

Norbert Hillinger Lecture topics

• FANTASTIC REALITY: How we shape our Future
• The future in retail: How will we shop tomorrow?
• The digital workplace: How will we work tomorrow?
• Pop-up stores & concept stores: More sales through retail innovations
• Global trend scouting: Always ahead of the times or behind the market?

As co-founder of the Viennese new work startup GDOS Playroomrocks GmbH, Norbert Hillinger is experienced in moderating trend and creative workshops. He also trained in the application of various co-creation and innovation methods.

In addition to Hollywood studios such as Paramount Pictures or Warner Bros, his clients include Deutsche Bank, Red Bull and H&M as well as large consulting firms. He supports them in the areas of trend scouting, strategic foresight and innovation management.

TED Speaker Norbert Hillinger is a frequent speaker on future topics at international congresses and customer events. Moreover he has been running the Berlin Retail Tour service for several years. He was inviting international retailers to the German capital to visit various concept and pop-up stores as well as innovation hubs and start-ups in a learning journey.

With short interruptions Norbert Hillinger worked in the Foresight Team of 2b AHEAD ThinkTank GmbH during the last years. He organized international Learning Journeys to Silicon Valley. He served as Head of Foresight for a short period of time. And he led various future vision and future study projects in this context. In the course of these activities, he dove deep into financial services and healthcare topics. In addition to that he conducted numerous in-depth interviews with international industry experts and futurists.

Furthermore to his work for Themis Foresight, Norbert Hillinger is primarily involved in the education sector with a focus on reskilling and upskilling. In 2020 he supported the edtech scale-up ThePowerMBA. And since mid-2021 he is building and expanding the enterprise network for the international IT bootcamp provider Ironhack in Germany.