“The world is changing rapidly. All these developments make it more difficult for us to prepare for the future. We can be ready if we start studying the future now.” 

How the future will be shaped

Alphan Manas is a futurist. As a prolific inventor he spends his time conceiving of and devising inventions which use innovative technologies. Besides designing household gear, security and daily life products, he works on modernizing and functionalizing products that have long been in use. Some of his patented products include: Z-Cart Shopping Cart, MaTTE Water Level, an audience counter, a cooler providing ideal storage conditions and allowing for stock tracking, a food storage mechanism, and a round refrigerator.

He evaluates the trends of different generations, from Baby Boomers (the post-World War II generation) to Gen-Z, on the one hand, and develops ideas to provide better life styles, living environments and products for societies of the near and distant future on the other hand.

He is a technology expert, and works closely with institutions and university technology transfer centres in Turkey and the U.S., to develop projects for developing countries. He is a board member at the “Institute of Ecolonomics” in the U.S., which is a non-profit organisation that promotes economic sustainability in rural areas through the local production of energy, food, housing and other products. The chairman of the Turkey chapter of the World Future Society, Manas also founded the Turkish Futurists Association which is an extension thereof.

As an author of columns published in numerous publications, Manas has a blog accessible at www.alphanmanas.com.

Who is Alphan Manas?

Alphan Manas graduated with a degree in Textile and Apparel Engineering from the Aegean University. He received his Master’s degree in Production Management from the State University of New York. He then worked as a Production Manager at Tenba’s New York factory. In 1987, he returned to Turkey as Country Manager of the Colonial Corporation, part of a Fortune 500 apparel giant and a supplier to American department store chains such as Sears, K-Mart, JC Penny and Wal-Mart. In 1988, he co-founded Exim, followed by Planet and Teknoser, which were then later all brought under the umbrella of his flagship company, Teknoloji Holding, in 1998. He parted ways with his business partner in February of 2006 and established Brightwell Holdings BV in the Netherlands which encompasses seven companies which left   Teknoloji Holding as a result of the reorganization.