What We Do
MAKING THE FUTURE WITH FORESIGHT
Institute for the Future (IFTF) brings people together to learn the tools of foresight in order to make the future—today. Whether you’re a community leader in a struggling neighborhood or a movement-builder who wants to mobilize global crowds, or a strategic leader in a large organization, we have the foresight tools, methods, and research that informs critical new insights that ultimately lead to action.
Institute for the Future is the world’s leading futures education and training organization. For over 50 years, businesses, governments, and social impact organizations have depended upon IFTF global forecasts, custom research, and foresight training to navigate complex change and develop world-ready strategies. IFTF methodologies and toolsets yield coherent views of transformative possibilities across all sectors that together support a more sustainable future. Institute for the Future is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization based in Palo Alto, California.
A Quick Video Introduction to IFTF ...
Practical Tools: From Strategic Foresight to Ethical OS Training
IFTF has pioneered tools and methods for building foresight ever since its founding days. Co-founder Olaf Helmer was the inventor of the Delphi Method, and early projects developed cross-impact analysis and scenario tools. Today, IFTF is methodologically agnostic, with a brimming toolkit of foresight methodologies.
From intimate workshops to global online games, we have a toolkit of frameworks, processes, and platforms to tap the best insights of groups to imagine—and create—the futures they want for their organizations, their communities, and the world.
- Foresight Training—learn the tools of foresight and facilitate conversations about the future
- Design Futures—learn to imagine and prototype informed alternatives to the future
- Learning Journeys—encounter interactive and curated bits and pieces of the future that are already playing out in Silicon Valley
Timely Research: Signals, Scenarios, Forecasts, Maps, Artifacts
Using innovative research methodologies, IFTF draws on its worldwide network of thought leaders and professional researchers to produce leading-edge foresight. This foresight takes many forms, from signals of innovation and disruption to alternative scenarios that help build more resilient strategies. IFTF collates this foresight into strong point-of-view forecasts, maps of the emerging landscape, and artifacts that make the future tangible today.
Global Programs+Initiatives: Partner for the Future
Making the future is an inherently collaborative process, and IFTF Vantage, in concert with IFTF's research labs, and initiatives are the venue for future-oriented leaders to share foresight, build insight, and plot a course of action for their organizations. Our foresight supports long-term thinking and long-term collegial networks.
- Tech Futures Lab—a deep dive into cutting-edge technologies and practices
- Health Futures Lab—cutting-edge perspectives on health care and the larger ecosystems of well-being
- Food Futures Lab—a probe into the dilemmas and innovations in food and agriculture
- Digital Intelligence Lab—helping to address pressing issues facing tech, society, and democracy
- And more ...
More Information
For more information about the Institute for the Future and ways to work with us, request contact:
IFTF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. Our Tax ID # is 95-2540449. All donations are tax deductible.