nlmtd welcomes strategic design agency State of Tomorrow to group

Dutch consultancy firm nlmtd has welcomed strategic design agency State of Tomorrow to the group.

State of Tomorrow supports organisations in shaping their future through design thinking around brand, products, and services. A core element of its approach is future thinking – a strategic method that helps organisations systematically prepare for multiple possible futures.

The agency has worked on a range of high-profile projects, including the Portbase harbour management platform, brand and digital design for Elsevier, and the design of the passenger journey at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

According to Tom Maes, Chairman of the nlmtd group, the expertise of State of Tomorrow adds highly complementary capabilities to the firm’s portfolio, which centres around four lines of business: strategy, sustainability, innovation and transformation.

“By adding State of Tomorrow’s design excellence to our transformation work, nlmtd can now deliver an end-to-end innovation service – from concept development through to implementation and continuous improvement,” he said. “We are able to guide organisations from vision to a working product and can help clients realise impact more quickly.”

For State of Tomorrow, the partnership opens the door to larger-scale transformation programmes, enabling the agency to remain involved throughout every phase of the innovation cycle. It also connects the agency to nlmtd’s Tech Discovery team, which was formed following the integration of TNW Programs earlier this year.

The Amsterdam-based agency will continue to operate under its own brand name, with the addition of ‘an nlmtd company’ to its brand.

“This gives us a larger platform to demonstrate the value of design, without changing who we are as an agency,” says Vanessa Flink, Managing Director of State of Tomorrow. “Our clients keep the team they know, while gaining access to complementary expertise and a broader network – enabling us to move from idea to impact with less friction.”

State of Tomorrow was founded in spring 2024, although its roots extend much further back, to 1952. The agency operates under its current name following a management buy-out that saw it separate from the international Edenspiekermann Group.

Founded in 2018, nlmtd has in the period of just seven years established itself among the leading management consulting firms in the Netherlands.