Business & Workforce Development

                                                   FUTURE Focus, July 16 4-6 p.m.

Calling all thinkers, futurists, prognosticators, crystal-ballers, experts, entrepreneurs, and Chamber members and partners! We know what Irvine is today. We know what the region looks like today. We know what industries make our economy roar. We know what challenges we face today and what we are trying to do to manage and mitigate them.

But everything is changing at an accelerated pace. What will Irvine be in the future – 5, 10, 20, 25 years from now?

At our Future Focus, we will ask everyone to look ‘upstream’, challenge the linear assumptions and think about the possibilities and probabilities that may be in our future – everything from education to infrastructure, innovation ecosystem to emerging industries, talent attraction and retention to sustainability, disruption to globalization, AI and robotics to next generation jobs. Imagine! Everything is on the table as we look at ourselves and our city with fresh perspective.

To get you thinking and prepared here are a few questions to start us off:

• Of those challenges we are dealing with now, which ones will be addressed, managed or mitigated and which ones will we be dealing with into the future and why?
• What’s inevitable and what’s not?

• What industries will still be thriving, which will be struggling or dying?
• How will our industries/sectors be disrupted and what are the implications for our economy and workforce?
• Where are the opportunities for Irvine and how do we optimize them?
• How do we navigate an economy that doesn’t exist yet?

So do your homework. Bring your most thoughtful opinions. Help us take a look into the future that we shape for Irvine!