Institute for the Future and Innovate+Educate Join Forces to Produce Leading Future of Employment Tech Summit in US

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Institute for the Future (IFTF) and Innovate+Educate will host the Close It 2018: Future Meets Now on Oct. 16-17 in Austin, Texas, where researchers and experts in the fields of education, tech, business, entrepreneurship and more will explore the skills needed to succeed in the future workforce and determine how our educational system needs to change to ensure individuals can develop those skills.

With the advent of the gig economy, online platforms and other technology-driven shifts in the workplace, the nature of work is changing dramatically?but services and solutions to help workers adapt are not keeping pace. IFTF and Innovate+Educate are convening thought leaders to research these issues, prototype new services and solutions, and build the awareness that we need to make changes now?to ensure people are prepared for the coming world of work.

"As Close It enters its sixth annual summit we see more momentum now more than any time previously. This year brings together incredible thought leaders from across the globe to tackle the future of work and learn. Having IFTF as a producing partner in 2018 brings both expertise in research as well as futures thinking, and it has been an invaluable partnership for I+E."

"We're living in a tumultuous time, when tech is disrupting higher education, workforce development and the types of jobs available. To ensure our future workforce is successful, we need integrated learn and work options that match the reality of life," said Parminder Jassal, director of the Learn and Work Futures program at Institute for the Future. "Close It is unique in that we're bringing some of the best minds in their fields together to concentrate on connecting learning and work so we can support more sustainable, equitable futures for everyone."

During the conference, Institute for the Future will use futures thinking to help create and advance solutions in four key areas:

• Future Skills: Arm yourself with tools to develop the skills to navigate an uncertain future.
• Equitable Futures: What are the kinds of "universal basic assets" that are needed to create a future of shared prosperity.
• Beyond Organizations?New models for getting things done: Explore how new ways of working will change the pace of business and innovation, empowering organizations to be more diverse, dynamic and distributed.
• Accreditation in a World of Shifting Authorities & Credentials: Our society uses the college degree as a proxy for trust. New kinds of technology-driven innovations such as MOOCs to boot camps to VR simulators that are pushing beyond today's diplomas to create entirely new kinds of reputation and credentialing systems. Will digital badges and micro-credentials ever carry the same weight?

"We need to be having the right conversations now to help learners and workers prosper in the workforce of the future," said Marina Gorbis, executive director of Institute for the Future. "Educators, platform designers, business leaders, policymakers and workers all need to be at the table finding solutions to help build skills and competency in this new world of work."
IFTF is a recognized thought leader in the future of work. It has tracked the intersection of technology and work for decades, starting with the first studies of the uses of Arpanet (the predecessor of the Internet).

About Institute for the Future
Institute for the Future (IFTF) is an independent, nonprofit strategic research group with almost 50 years of forecasting experience. The core of our work is identifying emerging discontinuities that will transform global society and the global marketplace. We provide organizations with insights into business strategy, design process, innovation, and social dilemmas. Our research spans a broad territory of deeply transformative trends, from health and health care to technology, the workplace, and human identity. IFTF is based in Palo Alto, California. For more, visit iftf.org.

About Innovate + Educate
I+E is a national non-profit implementing evidence-based, employer-led strategies to drive competency-based training and hiring for in-demand jobs. Their vision is to create multiple pathways to employment and their focus is on industry driven solutions to education and employment. http://www.Innovate-Educate.org

SOURCE Innovate+Educate