The best way to understand what the Abundance Institute envisions for the future is to first look to the past. When the World Wide Web went public in the early ’90s, it was a new, uncharted space — free, unregulated, and brimming with potential. Subsequently, that freedom sparked explosive growth, unleashing a wave of opportunities and a technological renaissance that still echoes today.

Now, with AI ushering a new era of wonder and possibility, the Abundance Institute wants to channel the spirit of the ‘90s by carving out room for today’s big ideas to flourish.

Some of those ideas are simmering right now in the research labs of the University of Utah.

As the U endeavors to increase its impact and boost innovative partnerships, it recently announced a unique affiliation with the Abundance Institute to address public policies and regulatory approaches for next generation technologies and new scientific discoveries.

The independent, non-profit organization is dedicated to tackling obstacles that could prevent frontier technologies from taking root, thus limiting their ability to bring economic growth and greater human prosperity. With expertise from the U, the institute plans to help shape the policy and regulatory framework surrounding cutting-edge research, starting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and energy.

“We are proud to partner and explore new ways to turn research into real solutions,” President Taylor Randall said. “This unique alliance is an exciting step toward accelerating progress and bringing bold ideas to life.”

A shared vision of an abundant future is just the beginning of what inspired the U and the Abundance Institute to collaborate.

How the Abundance Institute began

Chris Koopman is unapologetically optimistic. As the founder and CEO of the institute, Koopman is determined to make a difference in the world.

“Pessimism is a choice,” Koopman says. “Stagnation is a choice, and we simply don’t accept that as the final say on what the future will look like. We believe the future isn’t something that just happens, it is something that is created, something that is built.”

Koopman’s path to founding the Abundance Institute traces back to his early work in public policy and academia. After earning his law degree, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he shaped policy debates at the highest levels. He was named to Forbes 30 under 30 for law and policy. He also taught at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.   In 2018, he moved his family to Utah, where he helped launch the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. The Koopmans have been in Utah ever since.

Through the years, as Koopman studied technology policies, he realized more could be done to facilitate the robust conditions accompanying the birth of the World Wide Web.

“I thought, do I want to continue to observe these problems, or do I want to fix them?” Koopman says. “Several of us decided to roll up our sleeves and fix the problems. We believe the Abundance Institute is the way to do that.”

Today, the Institute is a scrappy team of 12 advisors, economists, policy analysts and communicators.

The work of the Abundance Institute

One fundamental element of the Abundance ethos is the idea that fear without knowledge should not be a deciding factor when striving for a future of plenty — plenty of energy, plenty of innovation, and plenty of opportunity.

History shows examples of caution that in today’s context seem ridiculous. Reading in bed was bad for the eyes, bicycle riding was said to cause appendicitis, listening to the radio threatened to soften your brain, and playing chess and completing crossword puzzles were pernicious time-wasters.

The goal of the Institute is to provide better context sooner, so that decision-makers have adequate information to balance risk, perceived or real, and fear, founded or unfounded.

“We advocate for the businesses, industries, and innovators that don’t exist yet,” Koopman says. “If you were to say, ‘Who do you wake up thinking you are fixing the world for?’, it is for those folks. The people who will have the next breakthrough idea. We want to make it easier for them to get that idea into the world.”

To do this, the Abundance team are constantly writing and talking – both online, at state capitols, and in the press. They make informational videos, host events to bring people together, and find new and unique ways to connect with decision-makers.

They aim to steer regulations with clear eyes, reasonable concerns, and measured responses.

Partnering for the future

Throughout its 175-year history, the U has played a key role in advancing new technologies, from creating the fourth node of the internet progenitor Arpanet to developing the first artificial heart. In this partnership with the Abundance Institute, the U provides credibility, access to experts who have encountered regulatory obstacles in developing their research, and opportunities to amplify areas where the U may be an emerging leader.

“The U is a launchpad for big ideas that have the potential to reach far and wide” Randall said. “By removing barriers to progress, we’re looking to reshape our course toward the future and change our world for the better.”

To begin, the Institute will focus on AI and energy, as each is essential to developing the future and each has new technologies that are at risk of being misunderstood. AI draws heavily on available energy to function. An analysis of world energy usage shows that generally, countries with more energy consumption also have a higher per capita gross domestic product.

Koopman points out that the average permitting time to bring new energy plants online is between 5-15 years, which is likely to be outpaced by the rapid development and usage of AI.

This is where his eternal optimism comes in. With a little work, he envisions a Utah where a pioneering approach to sourcing clean, reliable energy has worked so successfully that people no longer worry about its price or availability. The cost of living goes down, and per capita income goes up. What once was scarce is now abundant, and life is better for the next generation. That is his hope and his motivation.

“I believe the future will be better,” Koopman says. “We have no choice but to choose optimism.”