The Future of Work and Innovation Economy initiative (FOWIE) at New America advances policy solutions and practice change at the intersection of workforce, economic development, and emerging technology ecosystems to strengthen and expand the American middle class.

We envision an economy that creates family-sustaining jobs, provides clear pathways into them, and uses emerging technologies to improve the quality of human work.

We organize our work around three pillars:

• Regional Innovation Ecosystems & Economic Renewal: Foster policies and practices that grow regional innovation ecosystems in areas of economic stagnation, decline, or at the risk of being left behind amidst technological change.
• Workforce Pathways & the Innovation Economy: Support policies & practices changes that expand affordable and reliable workforce pathways as technological innovation and diffusion change labor markets.
• Workers & Technology: Advance approaches that encourage collaboration among workers, technologists, and employers in shaping the future of AI and emerging technologies.

The Future of Proxy Warfare Initiative is a joint project of New America’s Future Security program and Arizona State University’s Center on the Future of War. The initiative examines the role of proxy warfare in today’s conflicts, and the ways globalization, technological advances, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the rise of transnational non-state movements reshapes requires an update of the way policymakers and scholars study and understand the character of proxy warfare and its current manifestations in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, among other places.

The Future of Institutions initiative explores how global institutions can be reimagined to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century—from climate change and technological disruption to inequality and democratic erosion. We bring together experts from across sectors to develop research, tools, and strategies for institutions that are more participatory, networked, and people-centered.

By prioritizing the well-being of communities and the planet over narrow state interests, we aim to strengthen governance frameworks to address complex, interconnected global crises.