What are the big trends of the South By Southwest this year? As expected, numerous offers from the fields of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and wearables were represented with head mounted glasses, bracelets, necklaces and watches in every other booth; this trend has definitely been enforced. True to: “Simply place your order and fly”,  remote controlled flying drones were everywhere – from finger-sized models to those with  10kg payloads. Electric Skateboards, driver-less cars and autonomous robots that communicate across the Internet – everything was there in Austin.

But many companies and start-ups still are struggling with implementation: playing air guitar with a wrist strap that converts movements in music? Yes, it is fun, but what’s next? Measuring your fitness stats? – no problem, but how does that help me improve my performance? Drones and driver-less cars have high value, but what meaningful applications are there and who is responsible if something unexpected happens? How do we make sure we do not only produce “one hit wonders”? And what is a “wearable”?

Wearables are, as Lauren Bowker of “See the Unseen” in London aptly describes as, “packaged in plastic, connected to our mobile electronics”. Where are the haptic experiences – where is the magic?

It is at this point that the discussion becomes interesting. Each trend has a counter-movement. At best, this counter-movement recognizes the potential of the new trends and brings it into our everyday world.

Novalia from the UK did not invent anything new, but made, with a clever combination of small computers and conductive ink, printing interactive – a familiar and at the same magical feeling as if a magazine has suddenly turned into a tablet.

Imogen Heap put sensors on gloves. In this way a musician can use digital instruments, and control effects or music just with movements. A choreography can become a piece of music, a concert can be a performance, music videos can be accentuated with movement data computer-generated graphics.

But back to Lauren Bowker. Her work-collective, See The Unseen, works with futuristic materials, code, and chemistry to make the magic in our world visible. Together with their clients they have created products that respond to pressure, wind, humidity, temperature and interact with many other factors. The starting point of their evolutionary history was a jacket that changes colour by absorbing CO2 making visible to what degree the wearer is exposed to air pollution. Now, five years later, See The Unseen is ahead of its time with fascinating products that appear magical.

That’s what I as Innovations Director at Serviceplan seek; The point at which the interaction, the world of adventure and not the technology comes first. For me, the trends of tomorrow not only revolve around technology, wearables, Big Data, or drones, but especially valuable usage scenarios. It should not be about who makes what gadgets, but about how we bring  the future magic into our everyday lives.

About South By Southwest

Taking place annually in Austin, the Texas “Festival Style Conference” South By Southwest (SXSW) comprises three conferences in the fields of music, film and interactive. With an extensive program of lectures, workshops, networking and a variety of different trade shows and award shows, the SXSW Interactive with more than 30,000 visitors to the most visited part of the festival.