Institute For The Future

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 2015

Workable Futures Initiative launches with grant from Knight Foundation

Institute of the Future to prototype positive policies and platforms for the on-demand workforce

PALO ALTO, Calif.—June 22, 2015— Looking beyond today’s workforce disruptions toward positive platforms for the next generation of workers, Institute of the Future is launching a new initiative to track the changing nature of work and to help design platforms and policies that meet the needs of a new class of workers. The Workable Futures Initiative is supported by a $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Today’s on-demand workforce is growing rapidly, but facts about this new workforce are scarce. A recent estimate maintains that as many as 53 million people may be engaged in this new way of working—from Uber drivers and Shyp couriers to contractors, freelancers and temp workers of all kinds. Recent studies highlight the ethnic composition of this group (57 percent white), the age of the workers (65 percent under 34 years of age), and even their motivations (flexibility, higher pay, and work satisfaction).

The Workable Futures Initiative will build out our understanding of this new workforce, using a combination of ethnographic research and other forecasting tools. The goal is to reveal the changing rules, meanings, and archetypes of work, family, and community that will shape the experiences of this next-generation workforce.

“The changes we see today aren’t just about the rise of highly sophisticated knowledge workers or the automation of blue collar jobs,” said Marina Gorbis, Executive Director for Institute for the Future. “Nor are they just the stories of the growing freelance economy or the competitive landscape for on-demand worker platforms like Uber or Instacart. All of these are disruptive innovations that are convulsing the workforce today. But it would be a mistake to think that we’re just shifting our full-time W-2 workforce to a freelance 1099 workforce. We’re creating an entirely new class of workers, with unique needs and opportunities. And we have to understand those needs and opportunities.”

The Workable Futures Initiative will map the lives and communities of on-demand workers to help society design work policies and platforms that support a broad spectrum of workers and work habits. The initiative will then prototype and test these ideas for individual workers, as well as households, local economies, cities, and within the global trade arena.

“The way we work is changing dramatically in response to new technologies and work habits,” said Carol Coletta, Knight Foundation vice president for community and national initiatives. “In order to remain competitive and attract the talented workers necessary to build a healthy economy, cities have to adapt. The Workable Futures Initiative will help policy makers and leaders better understand the nature and variety new work arrangements and their advantages, as well as the hardships and concerns these workers face. It proposes a serious re-thinking of the nature of work in our society and the design of products, services, and regulations that support the new realities of work.”

To help cities remain competitive and create incentives for talented people to contribute to their growth, the Workable Futures Initiative will translate new worker habits into urban policies and then explore ways to encode these policies in future platforms.

“We’re poised to have exactly the wrong kind of discussion about these platforms—these new technologies and business models for organizing work,” said Devin Fidler, director of the initiative at Institute for the Future. “When confronted with change, we often want simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down positions. But what we need is a much more nuanced conversation based on real data—and insight—into all the factors that are shaping the choices a worker makes when he or she signs up to be an Uber driver or to take online surveys as an income strategy. Then we need to design our social and economic goals into the platforms as rigorously as we design user interfaces for ease of use. And of course, we need to prototype these positive platforms.”

Institute for the Future is a 47-year-old non-profit organization with a long history of prototyping the platforms of the future to anticipate policy needs. In the 1970s, with grants from ARPA and the National Science Foundation, Institute for the Future pioneered the development of experimental network communications systems—public and private digital messaging systems for groups and individuals that were forerunners of today’s email and chat systems. In the 2000s, an Institute for the Future team, led by renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, designed and prototyped platforms for crowd forecasting tools that used public and expert perceptions to create micro-forecasts about the future. The tools were used to generate insights about innovation in science and technology about what could be.

With support from the Knight Foundation, the Workable Futures Initiative aims to continue this tradition in the rapidly evolving public discourse about the future of work and its impact on cities. The grant forms one part of Knight Foundation’s efforts to invest in civic innovators who help cities attract and keep talented people, expand economic opportunity, and create a culture of engagement.

About Institute for the Future

The Institute for the Future (IFTF) is an independent, non-profit research organization based in Silicon Valley, California. Our mission is to help organizations, communities, and individuals think systematically about the future. IFTF has a 47-year track record of pioneering tools and methods for building foresight, and we are the world’s first and oldest organization dedicated to bringing the skills and benefits of future forecasting to the public.

For more information:

• Learn more about IFTF's Workable Futures Initiative
• Follow @iftf and #workablefutures
• Contact Jean Hagan at 650-854-6322 or [email protected]
• Check out the Knight Foundation announcement and press release

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.

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