311 Institute codex · 2025 edition
What is shaping the future of business, technology and society?
Discover 350+ global megatrends shaping the future of business, technology and society. Every STEEP trend, every line-of-business trend and every sector trend, in one constantly updated codex.
In short
The Annual Trends and Foresight Codex is Matthew Griffin's catalogue of the megatrends and microtrends shaping business, culture and society, covering STEEP, line of business and sector trends in one place. The third edition, published in February 2025, runs to 575 pages and includes three strategic foresight programmes for turning trends into scenarios and strategy.
Who it is for: It is for business leaders, boards, strategy and innovation teams, entrepreneurs and governments who need to track the trends shaping their markets and act on them early.
The codex in numbers
Two purposes
See the forces reshaping markets, societies and technology, and how they connect.
Turn what you learn into decisions, plans and strategies for your organisation.
Eight mini books
How to use the codex
Global economic trends
Global environmental trends
Global political trends
Global societal trends
Global technology trends
Universal line-of-business trends
Sector-specific trends
Three foresight programmes
A focused session to explore the trends that matter most to your organisation.
A more detailed programme to chart a plan of action and build strategy.
Our most comprehensive programme, for ongoing organisational exploration and transformation.
Key findings
Bring the codex to your organisation
Book a keynote session, executive briefing or foresight workshop session built on the Annual Trends and Foresight Codex and tailored to your sector. Or start with a free 15-minute expert call.
Questions and answers
Megatrends are powerful, transformative forces, backed by observable and verifiable data, that shape the future of global business, culture and society. The codex compares them to the ocean: a large force moving in one direction, while smaller microtrends act like currents and eddies that decide where you finally land. The automobile, electricity and the internet are classic examples.
The codex's technological trends section covers artificial intelligence, creative machines, robotics, synthetic biology, the Internet of Things, blockchain, tokenisation, immersive reality and general purpose technologies. It also tracks wider forces such as the accelerating rate of change, technological decoupling and the standards shadow war, and cross-links each trend to the others it affects.
The codex sorts trends three ways: STEEP trends (societal, technological, economic, environmental and political), universal line of business trends such as workforce, security and supply chain, and sector specific trends for industries from aerospace to telecoms. STEEP and most line of business trends affect everyone in similar ways, while sector trends hit some industries much harder than others.
The codex includes three strategic foresight programmes, Horizon Lite, Horizon Pro and Horizon Elite, which take teams through programme prep, future framing, futures research, futures scenarios and future strategy. 311 Institute also runs keynote sessions, executive briefings and foresight workshops that help leadership teams apply these trends to their own organisation and sector.
Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, wrote the codex as part of his Codex of the Future series. The 311 Institute is a global futures and deep futures advisory that looks up to 50 years out and works with brands, governments, investors and NGOs to explore and shape the future.
The codex is free to download from this page after a short form. You can read it as a single book or as eight mini books covering the introduction, economic, environmental, political, societal and technological trends, line of business trends and sector trends. The content is the same in both formats and the codex is regularly updated.
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