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Change the world and the work of the future with MIT Solve

MIT Solve's latest Global Challenge initiative takes on the work of the future and invites solutions for creating a 21st-century workforce.
By Matt Parke
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With so much media coverage of the problems afflicting the American workforce in a rapidly-changing economy, amplifying solutions that bring workers into new jobs can be a challenge. MIT Solve, an initiative from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wants organizations to take on this Global Challenge and is offering grant prizes to bring these solutions to scale.

MIT Solve’s “Work of the Future” Challenge is part of four worldwide problems in need of “tech-powered and human-centric” solutions. Instead of dealing with the nebulous “future of work” concept, Solve is focusing on the work instead of the anxiety that stories about automation and its effect on the workforce can generate.

“The truth is, there will always be work. The question we’re grappling with is: how will that work make us feel? Will we continue to derive from it a sense of purpose, community, identity, and income? This is what’s at stake,” says MIT Solve on its website.

$10,000 will be awarded to successful applicants from the for-profit or nonprofit organizations for their projects on how to address these specific issues:

  • How to prepare workers with the skills employers need.
  • How data can be used to improve job-seekers’ and employers’ decision-making.
  • Improving the gig economy so workers have the social safety net that traditional workers enjoy.
  • Making robot-enabled workplaces safer for humans.
  • Ensuring representation for all communities so they can participate in the new economy.
MIT Solve wants solutions that can be scaled to include workers and robots for the benefit of all.
MIT Solve wants your ideas for improving the work of the future. Image – Shutterstock

Every year, the folks at MIT Solve invite the best and brightest entrepreneurs to join their community of Solvers. If you have an idea that takes on the problems listed above, apply by July 1 to take part. If selected, MIT Solve will deploy its global network of partners to work on scaling this solution outward to make a meaningful and lasting impact.

In addition to the $10,000 Solve award, the winning applicant will also be eligible for additional prizes from the MIT Solve community and funding from General Motors and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation.

WorkingNation has highlighted several organizations that have taken on the issues mentioned in the MIT Solve challenge. Get inspired by these programs and apply what they have learned to advance your ideas.

  • Upskill America is working to match workers’ skills with the job training they need to advance their careers. Many companies who retrain and upskill their current workforce are seeing positive returns on their investment.
  • Credential Engine, funded by Lumina Foundation, is using data-driven solutions to bring clarity to the credentialing process. The initiative has a growing database of participating postsecondary schools to offer more information for students, policymakers and employers to make smarter decisions about investing in higher education.
  • WorkingNation shared this story about Veo Robotics, which is pioneering a safer workplace environment for humans and their robot co-workers.
  • The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative has a look at the deficiencies of the gig economy and independent contractor work to support its workforce with healthcare and unemployment benefits. Modernizing these programs to suit the needs of this growing workforce will be critical to strengthening the social safety net.
  • Our Do Something Awesome series focused on how the EnCorps STEM Teachers Program is incorporating the skills and experience of engineers and STEM professionals into California classrooms. These teachers and mentors are placed in high needs schools to introduce a new and diverse generation to STEM careers. Watch the mini-documentary below.

While we are concerned about the future of work and the MIT Solve Global Challenge addresses this topic, the other three challenges can play a direct role in shaping our future workforce. Improving educational equity, mitigating the effects of climate change on coastal communities and developing frontline healthcare workers are all critical issues that have their foundation in jobs of the future.

With more than $650,000 in awards available for winning applications and projects, weaving together solutions to each challenge could change the world within the next decade. If you or your organization is up to the task, then submit your application by the July 1 deadline.

Join the Conversation: Share your ideas for solving the Challenges issued by MIT Solve on our Facebook page.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

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