Institute for the Future

08/15/2026

What's a "Thought Gym?" What are "Civic Synths?"
At the next IFTF Foresight Talk, on Sept 1 at 9am PT, Professor Helen Maria Nugent, Dean of Design at the California College of the Arts, will give us a behind-the-scenes look at her course, Design Research for Speculation, where students learn to transform rigorous research into compelling, persuasive visions of the future.
Prof Nugent will be joined by two students, Kejia Zhu and Andrea Sofia Rebecca Granda, and we'll get a close look at their remarkable speculative projects: a “thought gym” imagined for a post-labor world and a future with “Civic Synth,” synthetic personas in politics. We’ll also hear how they used AI to push their projects to greater heights of realism.

Whether you're a designer, educator, or simply curious about the blending of design and futures practices, this conversation is not to be missed!

Register: https://bit.ly/4weppss

08/11/2026

Special strategic foresight training sessions starting soon!
IFTF Foresight Essentials starts September 9, scheduled entirely in AEST and NZST. Designed for strategists, innovation leads, policy advisors, and futures practitioners across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
In 6 live-online sessions, you'll learn to:
spot the signals that actually matter
turn trends into decisions your org can act on
move from reactive to proactive planning
build (and stress-test) your own futures project
Walk away with an IFTF certificate and a spot in a global network of foresight practitioners — ANZ included.
📅 Sept 9, 2026 | 9am AEST / 11am NZST
💻 6 sessions, 6 weeks, fully online
🌏 50+ years of IFTF practice, built for your region
Seats are limited.
👉 Register now https://www.iftf.org/trainings/sep-09-foresight-essentials-online/

08/06/2026

Some of Becky's favorite foresight tools... The Futures Wheel and Headline the Future!
Yesterday, IFTF's Andrew Hawn and Becky Cooperman, Principal Consultant at White Knuckle Futures had a great conversation about foresight practice at the IFTF Foresight Talk: Laying a Foundation of Foresight in Board Operations.
What are some of your favorite tools to use when guiding foresight strategy?
Watch the whole episode here.
https://bit.ly/4xjShjf

08/03/2026

🔭 The future doesn't wait for strategy meetings. Learn to see it coming by building your foresight practice.
The news cycle moves faster than your planning cycle ever could. If your team is still reacting to change instead of anticipating it, it's time to build a different muscle: foresight.

IFTF Foresight Essentials is a live, 6-week online training from the Institute for the Future — the organization that's been forecasting global change for 50+ years with the proven Foresight-Insight-Action cycle.

In this course, you'll learn to:
☝️Cut through the noise and make sense of emerging signals
💡 Learn to turn urgent forecasts into actionable strategy
✅ Build and test your own future scenarios
You'll walk away with an IFTF certificate — and a seat in a global network of foresight practitioners shaping what comes next.
📅 Starts September 9, 2026 for APAC Time Zones
💻 Live-online, 6 sessions over 6 weeks
🌍 Open to individuals and teams worldwide

Seats are limited for this cohort. 👉 Register now and start building the skill every strategist will need by 2030.
Register Now: https://bit.ly/4xdo8SQ

07/30/2026

Join the Sept/Oct Foresight Essential Cohort of Learners!
Are you one of the many foresight practitioners in the AEST or NZST time zones? This learning experience is offered at special times just for you!
Now is the time to register for foresight training on your schedule! https://www.iftf.org/trainings/sep-09-foresight-essentials-online/

~APAC Time Zones~
Session 1/Orientation: Wed, Sept 9 | 9-11am AEST | 11am-1pm NZST
Session 2: Wed, Sept 16 | 9am-1pm AEST | 11am-3pm NZST
Session 3: Wed, Sept 23 | 9am-1pm AEST | 11am-3pm NZST
Session 4: Wed, Sept 30 | 9am-1pm AEST | 12-4pm NZDT
Session 5: Wed, Oct 7 | 10am-2pm AEDT | 12-4pm NZDT
Session 6: Wed, Oct 14 | 10am-2pm AEDT | 12-4pm NZDT

This one-of-a-kind course is designed to help individuals and organizations develop their skills in the art and science of foresight. You’ll learn to make sense of the constant stream of news and information; transform urgent foresight into actionable insights; disrupt short-termism; and develop a...

07/28/2026

Make sure to sign up on zoom and join IFTF for a conversation with Becky Cooperman, Principal Consultant at White Knuckle Futures, about how she successfully integrated foresight as a framework into the board of her neighborhood school. https://bit.ly/3Rrqyy0

07/24/2026

Whether you're designing multi-stakeholder foresight processes, grappling with how to structure forecasts for diverse audiences, or simply curious about what open-source intelligence looks like at the frontier, this is a rare inside look at foresight-making where the futurists themselves made the rules. Register for this IFTF Foresight Talk on Thursday July 30 at 9amPT!
https://bit.ly/4ySZ4lV

07/23/2026

Today, we wrap up the 2026 IFTF Experiential Futures training!
Thank you to all the learners and participants who collaborated on this experience and designed new artifacts from the future! We can't wait to see the futures you decide to build!

These images are of artifacts from the future designed and installed by IFTF instructors Jake Dunagan and Jacques Barcia for the Telefonica Museum in Madrid, Spain. We encourage the learners to share their own projects, and stay connected with us!

07/22/2026

Next week on July 30! Register to join the IFTF Foresight Talk with IFTF's Jake Dunagan, 10F Consortium's Scott Smith of Changeist, Vaughn Tan author of The Certainty Mindset, and Bernise Ang of Zeroth Labs.

https://iftf.zoom.us/webinar/register/5017823405716/WN_j8Ng-7kASuGSnmLw-bHOCw #/registration