Nick Foster Keynote Speaker

Royal Designer for Industry
Former Head of Design at Google X
Futures Designer, advisor and author

Nick Foster's Biography

Nick Foster RDI is one of the world’s foremost practitioners of Futures Design. In 2021, he was awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry – the highest accolade for a British designer – in recognition of his significant contributions to the field.

Nick has spent much of his career in Silicon Valley, navigating the future for global technology icons including Google, Nokia, Sony, and Dyson. Most recently, as Head of Design at Google X, he led a multidisciplinary team of designers and researchers in developing countless nascent technologies, from brain-controlled interfaces and intelligent robotics to stratospheric internet balloons and neighborhood-scale nuclear fusion.

Despite the ambitious nature of his work, Nick is widely recognized for his grounded and occasionally irreverent approach to the future, and is well-known for his 2013 essay The Future Mundane. He is a prolific author and speaker, and in 2025 released the bestselling book Could Should Might Don’t, which explores how we perceive and shape the years ahead. Whether addressing the World Design Congress or a private boardroom, Nick brings a unique perspective that led Fortune magazine to describe him as “one of the world’s foremost leaders in speculative design”.

Nick was born in Derby, the home of the industrial revolution, and a city once synonymous with innovation, manufacturing and technology. In 2001, he earned his Masters degree from the Royal College of Art and in 2018 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

He has lived in California since 2012 with his wife, Jayne.

Thinking about the future

The role design can play in business

AI and Technology

Innovation at scale

Creativity and imagination

Silicon Valley culture

He is one of the world’s leading Futures Design practitioners, helping organisations imagine and shape what comes next in technology and society.
He translates emerging technologies and speculative ideas into grounded, practical insights that leaders can use to navigate uncertainty and innovation.
He brings exceptional credibility through senior design leadership roles at Google X, Nokia, Sony and Dyson, working on breakthrough technologies at the frontier of possibility.
He is a thought-provoking speaker known for combining visionary thinking with a refreshingly human and accessible perspective on the future.
His insights equip organisations to think more creatively, challenge assumptions and design strategies for a rapidly evolving world.