Building a Future For Everyone
Everyone deserves a future and today we have many of the solutions we need to help solve inequality.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2020) 'Building a Future For Everyone', 311 Institute, 28 May. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/a-future-for-everyone/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Everyone deserves a future but the fact is that today not everyone has one. Let's change that.
THE STATISTICS ARE staggering. The world’s richest 1 percent have twice the amount of wealth as 6.9 Billion people, and half of humanity lives on less than $5.50 per day. Additionally, over 2 billion people don’t have a decent toilet of their own, 1.2 billion people don’t have access to reliable energy, 815 million people suffer from chronic malnourishment, 785 million people don’t have access to clean water, over 260 million children are out of school, and over 10,000 people a day die because they don’t have access to affordable healthcare. And all these numbers are before we start thinking about factoring in the impact that climate change and environmental destruction, as well as other issues, including the overall lack of social mobility, will have on people and their lives.
When you are one of the people that these statistics apply to it’s difficult to think about anything other than day to day survival, let alone the future, and ironically if you are a child sitting next to an open sewer in a slum the only thing that you can be almost certain of is that you have no future.
Despite all of humanities amazing accomplishments, and despite that in many cases we already have the technology and solutions we need to solve some of these inequalities, whether it be climate change, education, energy, or even famine, it’s incomprehensible that against the backdrop of such global wealth and global ingenuity that these statistics in many cases are still measured in the billions.
At the 311 Institute and World Futures Forum we salute everyone who is committed to moving the dial and making a difference to improving the lives of everyone living on this precious blue and green spacecraft we call Earth and giving people who have no, or little future, hope. And we’re here to help, to start and stir conversations, share ideas and solutions through our Future World Series initiatives and promote the development of new ones, and work with and support people who want to make an impact and help unleash the world’s exponential potential. After all, everyone has the right to a future …
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Why does this matter?
Everyone deserves a future and today we have many of the solutions we need to help solve inequality.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 28 May 2020. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2020). Building a Future For Everyone. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/a-future-for-everyone/
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