IFTF News from the Future | Spring 2014
Institute for the Future
News from the Future
Spring 2014
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IFTF honored at World Affairs CouncilIn March, the World Affairs Council honored IFTF as a NextGen Changemaker for our work using technology to solve civic problems around the world. Our mission is to help organizations, communities, and individuals like you to think systematically about the future so you can take action for the future today. We hope our tools and research equip everyone to become a changemaker!
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IFTF and the Future of Learning
Learning is breaking out of traditional institutional environments and into everyday settings. This dramatic shift will change everything about educationas we have known it. At IFTF, we're developing tools to navigate this shift and recognizing pioneers of the changing ecosystem.

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From Educational Institutions to Learning Flows | IFTF’s recently-released research map, The Future of Learning: From Educational Institutions to Learning Flows, helps you understand what's driving change and the emerging stories that will shape the world of learning over the next decade.

Learning from extreme learners | Extreme learners are the trailblazers of this new learning landscape. They harness a fast-expanding world of knowledge to learn anywhere at anytime. They take charge of their education—and you can, too. Watch videos of their stories and share your own at Extreme Learners and on Twitter at #extremelearner!

The Learning Shelter
The Learning Shelter | IFTF is proud to be a fiscal sponsor of The Learning Shelter, founded by one of our featured extreme learners, Marc Roth. After joining San Francisco TechShop, a community makerspace, Marc went from homeless to successful business owner. Now Marc is reengineering the homeless shelter with The Learning Shelter, a 90-day program that provides housing, training, and mentorship for the homeless in San Francisco.

Biocurious: an education innovator | The future of learning is happening right here at IFTF. Fast Company named Biocurious, a community space for science, experimentation, and learning, one of the top 10 most innovative companies in education for 2014. Congrats to Biocurious co-founder and IFTF Research Manager Eri Gentry!

Play the Maker Cities game!
Maker Cities game
A maker city is a place where citizens come up with solutions to urban challenges—and do something about it. In a maker city, residents create energy while exercising at the local gym or help make decisions with micro-voting platforms. What would your city look like if everyone had a do-it-yourself maker mindset? Login to makercities.net to tell us and see what others are saying at #makercities!

Join us for an upcoming event!
California Report Card | March 20
Our Executive Director Marina Gorbis joins Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and others at UC Berkeley for a talk about new tools for civic participation. Tickets are free and open to the public.
Aging Forward Series - Equality+AgingAging Forward: Equality+Aging | March 26
Aging Forward is a series of free online conversations with experts about the future of aging. Our next event, Equality+Aging, is on March 26. Register now for this event and join the ongoing conversation at #agingforward.

Cryptocurrencies +Tech | March 27
Bitcoin and new cryptocurrencies are gaining in popularity, but what exactly are they? What do they mean for our future? Meet innovators and leading minds at Cryptocurrencies+Tech, the next event in our +Tech conversation series in Palo Alto! Registration is free and open to the public. You may also follow online at #plustech.

Shenzhen Maker Faire | April 6-7
IFTF’s Lyn Jeffrey and Eri Gentry will be featured speakers at Shenzhen Maker Faire. Register for your free ticket today!

Maker Cities + Global Lives Project Celebration | April 16
On April 16, IFTF and the Global Lives Project will host a celebration of Maker Cities and urban innovation at San Francisco's Folsom Street Foundry. Surrounded by videos of Global Lives’ newest exhibition, Lives in Transit, and demos of the Maker Cities game, grab a drink and share your ideas for urban creativity and civic engagement. Details to come on our website, Twitter, and Facebook page!

Myanmar Futures Exchange | May 3-4
Research Affiliate Lindsea Wilbur is taking the Governance Futures Lab's toolkit to Myanmar at this annual event to explore uncertainties, risks, and opportunities as the country undergoes unprecedented change. Registration is open to the public with a fee.

Food Hackathon: Bologna, Italy | May 8-9
IFTF created a futures thinking guide to hacking the food system for the Food Hackathon in San Francisco last November. Now we’re taking our research to the epicenter of Italian food culture—Bologna. Mark your calendars for a Food Hackathon at the University of Bologna on May 8-9, and stay tuned to IFTF on Facebook and Twitter for more details.

MacroCity Conference | May 30-31
On May 30-31 IFTF's Bettina Warburg joins a diverse set of panelists, speakers and participants to explore the vast, often overlooked networks of infrastructure that surround us. The conference aims to celebrate the numerous people whose countless efforts shape the built landscape every day. Register today!


Immerse yourself in Artifacts from the Future Artifact from the Future: FutureU Imagine that you could take an archaeologist's expedition to the future to consider what daily life might be like in 10, 20, or 50 years. We turn many of our forecasts into Artifacts from the Future to give you this tangible experience. Check out these recently released highlights:

Join us for our annual spring conferences
Ten-Year Forecast: 10 Projects, 10 Hypotheses—May 1-2
Ten-Year ForecastWe face a decade of the impossible. We stand eye-to-eye with challenges that seem unimaginable, and we respond with untested solutions on scales we have never before attempted: molecular-scale manufacturing, massive data tracking and analysis, reengineering of the human mind and body. Each of these responses is a hypothesis about the future, and in this era of impossible challenges and unprecedented experiments, the 2014 Ten-Year Forecast embarks on an “inventive search for new hypotheses.” Join us May 1-2 as the team introduces 10 landscape-changing hypotheses about the evolution of diverse human ecosystems over the next decade. Contact Sean Ness for more about the Ten-Year Forecast.

Health Horizons: The Future of Aging and Health—June 5-6
As we look out toward 2025, we can see demographic patterns that are both unprecedented and seemingly unsustainable. But these numbers conceal a wave of new adaptations by the entire population that have the potential to transform the human experience of aging and how we pursue health, well-being, and joy in our lives. These innovations are shaping a variety of domains in aging—including physical and mental health, caregiving, work and retirement, and technology. Join our Health Horizons program in Sausalito June 5-6 as we share our research on how novel innovations address the demands of aging that will intersect, scale and spread over the next decade. Contact Dawn Alva for more about the Health Horizons program.

Pre-order your copy of Dissident Futures
Dissident FuturesDissident Futures, an anthology based on Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' Dissident Futures art exhibition, investigates possible alternative futures through art—particularly those that question or overturn conventional notions of innovation. The book features a foreword from IFTF Research Director David Pescovitz and will be released May 31.

IFTF: Building a Community of Futures Thinkers
Maker Cities ImmersionsA favorite part of our work is bringing futures thinking to a broad array of people around the world. Based on our foresight tools, we work with organizations and communities of all kinds to imagine possible futures. Here are some highlights:
  • IFTF at Skoll World Forum, Oxford University | Marina Gorbis joins 2013 Future for Good Fellow Gabriella Gomez-Mont for a session that will invite delegates from around the world to explore interesting voices, urban creativity, and the future of social change.
  • Global Maker Cities Immersions | Starting this week, our Technology Horizons program is journeying into the maker cultures of Mexico City, Shenzhen, and New York City. Watch our website for learnings, photos, and videos from these immersions.
  • IFTF at Creating Change 2014 in Houston | We were on the ground at Creating Change, the 26th National Conference on LGBT Equality, in Houston, Texas. Rod Falcon and Jason Tester ran IFTF’s first LGBT forecasting workshop to imagine the future of social justice and equality.
  • Government Service of the Future: Visions from Dubai | IFTF was the lead researcher and generated dozens of exhibit concepts for the Museum of Future Government Services, launched in February at the United Arab Emirates’ Government Summit. The Museum’s 6 exhibitions are bold, and somewhat sobering, visions of how services ranging from border control to healthcare could be delivered in the future. View photos from the museum website and see more from our Governance Futures Lab online.
  • UCSF 2.0 | Following a record-breaking collaborative forecasting game, we led UC San Francisco through a series of foresight and insight workshops. The University is now starting to take action on the game outcomes, engaging with students and faculty to imagine the future of health sciences education, patient care, and research.
Curious about what futures thinking can do for your organization? Contact us today!
Tel: (650) 854-6322
Fax: (650) 854-7850
Email: info@iftf.org





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