James Bellini is a futures analyst, business consultant, facilitator and broadcaster. He is a speaker at conferences throughout the world specialising in:

a) long-term trends for the world economy; national economic growth and global trade relations; industry trends; social trends and the future consumer marketplace; the future outlook for such sectors as retailing, banking, technology and leisure

b) technology and social issues and the future outlook for business within the context of e-commerce, virtual markets and related developments in e-culture.

Dr Bellini is also a regular choice as moderatorat leading conferences for business and government. After a Masters from Cambridge, a PhD from London School of Economics he was the first British member of the renowned US-headquartered futurology 'think-tank', the Hudson Institute founded by Dr Herman Kahn. He subsequently joined BBC TV as presenter of The Money Programme, Newsnight and Panorama. This was the beginning of more than twenty years as a television programme-maker on business and politics, including seven years with Sky News. He was senior consultant for the Henley Centre for Forecasting and The Economist Intelligence Unit and currently works with leading IT names such as Hewlett Packard and Software AG. He is founder of Media Counsellors, a communications consultancy that advises leading organisations on media relations, not least in relation to the most potent medium of all -- the Internet.

He is the author of numerous books, special reports and consultancy papers on social, political and business trends.

James can best be described as 'an historian of the future' and takes a close interest in the interaction between emerging technologies and the challenges faced by current and future management. Recent speaking and conference moderating invitations have taken him to Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, the United States and to practically every country in Europe. His latest UK engagements include work with -- amongst others -- Institute of Management, London Business School, Lloyds TSB, Legal & General, Hewlett-Packard, ICL, Camelot, Arthur Andersen, Arcadia, Hay Consulting, Colgate-Palmolive, Motorola, Compaq, DERA [the Defence Research Agency] and the Mission Critical Computing consortium.

He has recently been engaged by the Cabinet Office on aspects of its Internet strategy.