The Conference Board and Nielsen launch The Demand Institute.

The Conference Board and Nielsen Holdings N.V. announced the launch of The Demand Institute. Operated jointly by The Conference Board and Nielsen, The Demand Institute is a non-advocacy, non-profit entity focused on illuminating how consumer demand is evolving around the world.

The Demand Institute mission is to strengthen the growth and vitality of the global economy by helping public- and private-sector leaders align strategies and investments to where consumer demand is headed across industries, countries and markets.

“Consumers around the world are estimated to spend over $450 trillion during the next decade on a complete range of goods and services,” said Mark Leiter, executive vice president at Nielsen and chairman of The Demand Institute. “Understanding precisely how that demand is likely to unfold, as well as the forces and factors that will shape demand, is essential knowledge for business and government leaders across both developed and developing markets. The Demand Institute will connect this knowledge to leaders who require these insights to guide their organizations.”

As a member-driven organization, The Demand Institute will create and deliver new knowledge to its members across three areas:

Leadership: Helping CEOs and senior executive teams learn and implement the best practices for leading and managing high-performance, demand-driven enterprises.

Evolution: Improving the world’s intelligence for how consumer demand is likely to evolve around the world over the next 10 years across countries, industries, and markets.

Science: Enhancing the technologies, tools, methods and processes for both uncovering and predicting future consumer demand.

“Executives across industries and geographies have asked us to build a more holistic understanding of where consumer demand is headed in the world, recognizing that this new knowledge will become even more important as our world economy becomes more volatile and unpredictable,” said Jonathan Spector, president and CEO of The Conference Board and vice chairman of The Demand Institute. “We designed The Demand Institute directly in response to their desires. Board directors, CEOs and heads of state recognize that more accurately aligning businesses and government programs to shifting demand creates new opportunities for prosperity.”

“The Demand Institute is a new organization with an important mission,” said James M. Kilts, chairman, Nielsen and former chairman and CEO of The Gillette Company. “During my experience leading consumer-driven companies I’ve always placed an extremely high value on understanding consumer demand. I’m very excited to see The Demand Institute take on the important work of creating new knowledge in this arena.”

“The global economy is not a mathematical abstraction,” said Dipak C. Jain, dean of INSEAD. “It’s a living marketplace animated by people and their needs and aspirations. Understanding the dynamics of consumer spending is critical to anticipate future shifts in how people put their money to work—in both developed and developing economies. The creation of The Demand Institute will provide crucial insights into consumer spending, which is a primary engine for economic prosperity.”

For more information at http://www.demandinstitute.org>