2026 Colorado Future Systems Policy Sprint

Colorado is entering a decisive transition period. The 2026 gubernatorial transition and subsequent legislative cycle offer a rare window to contribute to Colorado’s long-term policy architecture. As the state’s new leadership establishes its priorities and agencies refine their implementation strategies, there is a strategic opening for innovative, non-partisan, evidence-based ideas. To meet this unique moment, the Institute for Science & Policy (ISP) teamed up with the Federation of American Scientists and the Association of Scientific and Technological Centers (ASTC) to surface policy ideas for the Colorado Future Systems Policy Sprint.

From dozens of applications, ISP, FAS, and ASTC chose the nine most-promising for an intensive policy sprint, where contributors honed their ideas into action-ready policy memos, equipped with step-by-step instructions for implementation. The memos span issues central to Colorado’s future: water scarcity, electric grid vulnerabilities, workforce development, energy capacity, and more. All memos are tailored to Colorado’s policy-creation process and are written by Coloradans.

Click the button to learn more about the sprint process and next steps, and see below for the policy memos completed during the sprint.

Workforce Upskilling and Reskilling 

Colorado’s long-term competitiveness and prosperity depend on its ability to attract, train, and retain a workforce equipped for the future. Workforce policy must account for the skilled talent and workforce pipelines that are needed to sustain the diversity of industries and communities across the state. Addressing these issues at scale will require national investments across industries, but we have identified three pathways Colorado can tackle immediately. This includes supporting both urban and rural economies, strengthening career pathways across the full breadth of industries and ensuring all workers have access to upskilling, reskilling, and apprenticeship opportunities. The following three memos offer solutions for upskilling Colorado's workforce, supporting homegrown talent, and creating new pathways for educational and workforce advancement.

• How to Plan for Future Generations of Colorado Business Owners by Jon Mertz. The Colorado Succession Through Apprenticeship Program would turn two problems into one solution: a state-coordinated pipeline that trains graduates to evaluate and operate existing businesses, then connects them to owners ready to show them the ropes and eventually hand over the keys. 

Emerging Technology 

Emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to data infrastructure, are shaping Colorado’s economy, workforce, and communities at a rapid pace. These technologies create opportunities for economic development and improved public services, yet also raise questions around privacy, fairness, consumer protections, workforce displacement, and resource needs. To address these challenges, our cohort developed three memos that begin to address one of the most salient innovations of this moment: AI and the data centers that power them. The following memos chart a path for Colorado's future by upskilling the workforce to leverage this new technology, creating new governance structures to build public trust, and developing technical solutions to sustain long-term growth.

• Coloradans Should Require Data Center Measurements They Can Trust by Benjamin Xie PhD, Cody Ke, and Makenzy Caldwell. Only through independent monitoring, reporting, and investigation on data centers' environmental impacts, can we promote public trust, inform the allocation of natural resources, and enable responsible governance on future data center development.

• Establishing the Colorado Applied AI Workforce Initiative by Stephen Hill. Jobseekers, employees at smaller organizations, and local public workers need more than a weekend crash course in AI. They need practice choosing useful tasks, protecting data, testing outputs, and explaining where human judgement remains necessary.

Land, Climate & Energy 

Colorado’s geography makes it particularly vulnerable to the accelerating impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures, prolonged drought, more frequent and intense wildfires, and shifting precipitation patterns are straining water supplies, threatening public health and safety, and disrupting agriculture, recreation, tourism, and other key sectors of the economy across the state. Successfully navigating this complex policy landscape (e.g., managing economic growth, technological advancement, and natural resource stewardship) to meet ambitious goals will require innovative policy interventions. As the next three memos propose, Colorado should modernize existing infrastructure, build alternative workforce pathways to meet the state's water and energy needs, and simplify permitting processes for low-risk projects.

• Modernizing Colorado’s Canals to Save Water Lost in Transit by Casey Gibson. About 86% of Colorado’s water is used for agriculture, but only about 30-60% of that water actually reaches crops. Conveyance efficiency through canal modernization is a powerful drought resilience and water-saving strategy with proven technical feasibility.

• Modernizing Permitting to Lower Housing and Construction Costs by Thomas Young. Colorado ranks second-to-last in housing affordability. Blame Colorado's notoriously slow permitting system. It's time for an upgrade.