This research cluster focuses on business management research in the creative industries in order to create a sound basis for practical industry requirements in marketing and management of the present and future. In addition to the further development of the design thinking approach in connection with trend research, other research focuses are devoted to the change in consumer behavior (consumer lifestyles) and future forms of communication and interaction (human-to-human and human-to-machine). The methodological approaches are interdisciplinary in order to contribute to applied research in the field of marketing and management within the creative industries by means of qualitative and quantitative investigations.