Institute for Alternative Futures
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Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) is a non-profit futures research and education organization. Its mission states: "IAF leads in the discovery and creation of preferred futures". Founded in 1977 by Clem Bezold, Alvin Toffler, and Jim Dator, and has engaged in over almost three decades of futures research and consulting. IAF has developed unique forms of faciliation and futures products centered around forecasting, scenarios, and strategies. In 1982, IAF established Alternative Futures Associates (AFA), a for-profit organization, to assist corporations in their strategic planning.
IAF today, is particularly strong in health and health care, pharmaceuticals, sustainability and learning. It's clients include corporations, government agencies and associations. IAF relies on both qualitative and quantitative methods that ground its research cogently for both futurists and present-oriented policy makers. Use of scenarios in discovering aspirational futures is another major characteristic of IAF futures.
Since 1978, IAF has held Foresight Seminar on Capital Hill to help inform lawmakers to educate policy makers and the public about the issues, trends and forces shaping health care systems and how advancements in scientific innovation may affect health policy. IAF's last Foresight Seminar on Diabetes was conducted on June 23 2006.
IAF has a two tier structure for its on-staff futurists. IAF senior futurists bring extended experience in futures work and other careers to the IAF staff. IAF futurists are younger futurists trained in house usually through IAF's internship program. Current senior futurists include Clem Bezold, Jonathan Peck, Dr. William Rowley (futurist) and Marsha Rhea. Current futurists include Craig Bettles and Devin Fidler.
IAF Founder and Chairman of the Board, Clem Bezold, is a trained as a political scientist, and has been a major developer of foresight techniques - applying futures research and strategic planning methods in both the public and private sectors. He has designed numerous workshops and projects to study future environments in a wide range of fields including health care, law and the courts, the environment, genomics, and science and technology. He is currently working on the Disparity Reducing Advances (DRA) Project - multi-year, multi-stakeholder project developed by the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) to identify the most promising advances for bringing health gains to the poor and underserved and accelerating the development and deployment of these advances to reduce disparities.
IAF President, Jonathan Peck, is a senior futurist who centers his work on health. For over twenty years he has helped public and private sector clients identify important opportunities arising from change. His work includes large research projects aimed at developing forecasts and visions, as well as speeches and workshops. He is the project director behind IAF's 2029 Project, a 15 year look at the future of biomedical research and its impact on health.
One of the senior futurists, Dr. William Rowley (futurist) is a former vascular surgeon and served as a chief executive officer of several medical centers. He is the leading writer behind IAF's recent report on Diabetes & Obesity 2025: Four Future Scenarios for the Twin Health Epidemics. Before joining IAF, Dr. Rowley was Chairman of the Department of Defense Military Health System 2020 (MHS2020) research project, which included four year-long studies of the future of health care and the implications for military medicine.
Senior Futurist Marsha Rhea is an experienced futurist and association executive. Marsha Rhea specializes in helping collaborative organizations create their preferred future. Rhea is also the author of the recent book Anticipate the World You Want: Learning for Alternative Futures, published in 2005 by Rowman & Littlefield Education.
IAF futurists include Craig Bettles and Devin Fidler. Craig Bettles specializes in the rapidly changing field of technology and innovation. He is a leading writer and researcher on such reports as The 2029 Project: Achieving an Ethical Future for Biomedical R&D, Biomonitoring Futures Report: Final Report & Recommendations, and The Future of Chiropractic Revisited: 2005 to 2015.
Devin Fidler works with organizations to better understand the changing strategic landscape of a post-globalization world and what it takes to thrive in this environment.
IAF also colloborates frequently with Senior Fellow Robert Olson. Robert Olson was a founding member of the Institute's Board of Directors before joining the organization. He is also a contributing editor to the recently published book Environmentalism & The Technologies of Tomorrow: Shaping the Next Industrial Revolution. He currently works on projects with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Environmental Protection Agency. Olson continues to write extensively on futures methodology, sustainability, energy and technology.
