We are living through a civilizational Phase Change — a transformation so deep that legacy systems of economy, governance, technology, culture, environment, education, and meaning (to name only a few) can no longer meet the demands of our time. The Bridge Era is what we call this liminal moment: the turbulent in-between zone where the old world is visibly failing, but the new world is not yet fully built.

This transition is being catalyzed by rapid, converging advances in artificial intelligence and other information technologies, biotechnology, energy systems, materials science, space exploration, and more — developments with the power to reshape civilization itself. The Bridge Era Institute exists to guide this transformation. We convene visionaries, technologists, policy thinkers, and cultural architects to prototype the foundations of the next civilization.

Grounded in systems thinking and informed by the Manifesto for a New Civilization — authored by our founder and executive chairman, Jim Clark, in 2013, and newly updated in 2025 — we go beyond forecasting. We design, test, and accelerate the emergence of post-crisis models across key domains. This is not merely a time of disruption. It is a once-in-history opportunity to remake the world by design.

Our first major initiative, The Future of Employment & Income Institute, launched in 2024, to address what will happen to jobs, livelihoods, and purpose in the AI transition. More initiatives will launch in the months ahead — each addressing a core facet of civilizational transformation.