Anne Lise Kjaer
Anne Lise Kjaer (born 15 March 1962 in Denmark) is a London-based futurist and keynote speaker. Her specialism is futures studies and consumer mindsets. She is founder of kjaer global, a trend forecasting agency that works with corporations, including Sony, Nokia, Swarovski, IKEA, Gap and Toyota. In a 2004 interview AbOUT mapping future trends, Matthew Temple of the Financial Times said: “Kjaer’s world is as fertile as Dali’s, only she creates social prototypes.”
Biography
Born in Esbjerg, Kjaer is the daughter of Niels Peter Kjaer, a commercial fisherman, and Inge Agnete Jørgensen. She grew up in Hvide Sande and studied in Herning, graduating as a designer in 1983. She has a son, Vicente, from her first marriage to Columbian artist Oswaldo Macia. She married Norwegian architect Harald Brekke in 2009.
Career
Kjaer is a regular speaker at international conferences, both within Western Europe and in emerging markets. In 2006 she was keynote speaker at Continuum ’06 in New Delhi, India – a joint conference organised by Pearl Academy of Fashion and Nottingham Trent University – choosing as her topic ‘Meaningful Consumption and Challenges of Global Fashion Leadership’.
In 2008 she spoke BledCom, at an international symposium on public relations in Slovenia. The following year saw her presenting at the 12th Annual Adam Smith Institute Russian Automotive Industry Forum in Moscow.
Other activities
Kjaer retains strong links with Denmark and is a regular commentator in specialist and mainstream press. She is a member of Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador Corps and the Danish-UK Chamber Of Commerce (DUCC). In 2001 she held the first Time to Think conference. The 8th International Time to Think Future Trends Conference, in collaboration with Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, took place in Copenhagen in October 2006, taking as its theme ‘Meaningful Consumption'.
Kjaer is a member of the Advisory Board for Challenge Future, a global youth competition designed to foster creativity and innovation.