Matthias Horx (b. 1955) is regarded as an influential futurist on changes in social values and lifestyles under global capitalism. After a career as a journalist, for Die Zeit, among others, he set up the Zukunftsinstitut, a prognostics consultancy, at the turn of the millennium. The author of bestsellers like Anleitung zum Zukunftsoptimismus ("Guide to Future Optimism"), Horx has been teaching courses in prognostics and “trend detection” at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen since 2007.