SMITH BRAIN TRUST — It's almost a new year, and across the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, some prognosticating has begun. We asked a group of professors to look ahead at the trends and developments we might see in the next 12 months. Here's what they said. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Why do we want the things we can't have? In the toy market, especially in the holiday season, it's sometimes because demand just takes off like a flying reindeer, surprising Santa, and toy makers and everyone in between. We're referring, of course, to the Hatchimal, the small, furry, motorized creature that pecks its way out of its colorful plastic egg and sings "Happy Birthday." Store shelves and online retail sites have been widely cleared of the little coveted creatures, leaving

Companies worried about disruption need science and technology to stay relevant in the 21st century, but speakers at the fifth annual Smith School Business Summit pointed to soft skills as the real competitive advantage. “If you get leadership, management and culture right, everything else takes care of itself,” keynote speaker David Williams told an audience of more than 300 faculty, staff, students and working professionals gathered Oct.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Demand outstripping supply in North America prompted LEGO to curb promotional activities in the world’s biggest market for toys. First-half sales in 2016, reported on Tuesday, slipped to about $524 million from about $533 million last year.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — A Forbes survey last week revealed 69 percent of its respondents have played Pokémon Go during work hours.

Frozen desserts, spicy sauces and burrito-sized sushi rolls added flavor to a food entrepreneurship conference organized by undergraduate students on Nov. 16, 2015, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “This event is like a startup company that will last exactly three hours,” Smith School professor Oliver Schlake told the audience of about 200 guests at the school’s Shady Grove campus in Rockville, Md. “It’s a learning experience.”

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — San Francisco voters had a chance Tuesday to kick Airbnb to the curb with a ballot measure designed to restrict short-term housing rentals.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Gaming as a customer engagement tool has been around since the invention of dice and playing cards. But Oliver Schlake, a clinical professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- Imagine living on a remote German island in the North Sea. When you need medicine, an autonomous drone flies more than seven miles from the Continent to deliver it. Is this some futurist scene based on rosy projections in a PowerPoint presentation for potential angel investors? Nah. It’s already being done by DHL — in field tests that would be restricted in the United States.