Imagination as an underrated tool
The future does not simply appear by chance; it is conceived, narrated, designed, and ultimately built. Imagination is the most important tool in this process because it opens up spaces of possibility where we can try out how something might be before it becomes reality. Science fiction writers have impressively taken on this role for decades. They have used words to design worlds that were often an extrapolation of their own reality or an expression of wishful thinking. Some of these stories have inspired innovations by describing qualities that later provided creative impulses.
From fiction to reality
History shows that many of these visions were astonishingly accurate. Edward Bellamy conceived the idea of the credit card in his 1888 novel Looking Backward. Around 60 years later, it became a reality, and by the 1980s, it had become part of everyday life around the world. In 1927, Fritz Lang presented his vision of video telephony in Metropolis. The first technical prototypes were developed in the 1960s, but it was not until Skype was launched in 2003 and smartphones became available in 2010 that video telephony became an everyday means of communication.
In 1961, Stanisław Lem described a device that strongly resembles the smartphone. In 2007, Apple achieved a breakthrough with the iPhone, and within a few years, the device fundamentally changed the way we communicate. And in 1920, Karel Čapek coined the term “robot” – today, millions of industrial robots are in use worldwide and are shaping the economy and the world of work.
These examples show that imagination has the ability to envision futures that become technically possible and reach economic market maturity – sometimes after 100 years (space travel), sometimes after decades, and sometimes surprisingly quickly.
Utopias, dystopias, and the role of regulation
Imagination is not just evident in utopias that provide guidance, but also in dystopias that serve as warnings. George Orwell’s 1984 is the most striking example of this: a warning against total surveillance, which has now become a reality in some countries. This highlights how important it is not only to allow imagination, but also to negotiate it socially and accompany it politically. When innovation becomes reality faster than regulation can keep up, there is room for developments that we later perceive as dystopian. Facial recognition and deepfakes are technologies that have spread at record speed, while political processes have lagged behind.
Denmark provides a positive counterexample: starting in fall 2025, a new copyright law will come into effect that guarantees citizens rights to their image, voice, and appearance. This will allow them to demand the removal of AI-generated images that were created without their consent – a clear signal that regulation and freedom of innovation can be considered together.
From distant fantasy to tangible vision
But imagination alone is not enough. Imagination only becomes economically and socially relevant when visions are so tangible that they motivate people to engage with them.
Design visions differ from literary visions of the future in this respect: they think boldly ahead, but not so far ahead that the present no longer feels connected to them. Design visions build bridges between the now and tomorrow.
My experience shows that reality, more often than not, catches up with this kind of forward thinking faster than one might initially believe. The “sweet spot” is where visions open up space for action that is large enough for change but close enough to be seriously discussed and implemented.
The “sweet spot” is where visions open up space for action that is large enough for change but close enough to be seriously discussed and implemented.
Conclusion: Imagination is a strategic skill
Imagination is not a luxury, but a strategic skill. It inspires, reveals possible futures, and opens up options that go beyond mere planning. Fiction has repeatedly shown how valuable this glimpse into new worlds is. But design visions bring an additional quality into play: they make the future not only imaginable, visible, but also negotiable and tangible.
The future is created through imagination and becomes tangible through design, but only when we have the courage to translate its best qualities into concrete experiences we move forward, in the right direction.
Interested in the topic of innovation, inspiration and the dynamics of new product visions? Here are some of the resources and further reading links.
Julian Bleecker, Nick Foster et al. – The Manual of Design Fiction (2022) -> Compilation of current methods on how fictional designs accompany innovation processes.
Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby – Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction and Social Dreaming (MIT Press, 2013) -> How to use design as a tool to create not only things but ideas, to speculate about possible futures.
Friedrich von Borries (2016) – In his manifesto, von Borries advocates for a creative design (of survival, society, the self) that eludes the totalitarian logic of securitization and imagines new forms of coexistence in opposition to the ideology of no alternatives.
Fleischmann (2008) – „Past futures and technoscientific innovation: The mutual shaping of science fiction and science fact“ -> Interviews with scientists who attribute their early enthusiasm for science to fictional inspiration.
Jessica Bland and Lydia Nicholas (2013) – "Better Made Up: does all innovation begin as science fiction? Science fiction and real-world innovation have always fed off each other. The history of the electronic book shows us things are more complicated than fiction predicting fact"
Kwon, Yoon, Varshney et al. (2024) – "Suspense and surprise in the book of technology: Understanding innovation dynamics"
