Colorado Institute of Public Policy

Colorado’s Future Conference Series

The Colorado’s Future Conferences are an annual event hosted by the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs, Center for Colorado Policy Studies and Colorado State University, Colorado Institute of Public Policy. The first Colorado's Future conference was convened at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in September 2002. Academic researchers from campuses across the state met with policymakers, stakeholders and interested citizens on the theme How Can We Meet the Needs of a Changing State? Topics included rural change, inner-city redevelopment, school finance, economics and education.

Building on the success of this conference, the series continues to explore issues that could potentially affect the overall quality of life in Colorado.

Past conference topics include:

Sustaining Economic Vitality (2007). Growth, sprawl, and economic development policies can be controversial. Addressing our goals for social and environmental quality important to Colorado while sustaining economic vitality is a challenge worthy of pursuing.
Taking the Plunge: Research as a Tool for Water Stakeholders (2006). Focused on identifying what information is critical, understanding how best to use research, and negotiating differences among various stakeholder interests.
Can Affordable Health Care Be Quality Care? (2005). Concentrated on the growing need to properly balance budgetary constraints while offering citizens access to quality universal health care. Each speaker addressed different ways to increase efficiency while holding firm on rising costs.
Economic Development and Public Policy (2004). Discussed how Colorado's research universities are vital to the state's economic future informing public policy.
Challenge of Change (2003). Conversations explored new topics such as the effect of term limits on policymaking, growth and water issues, as well as the interaction between science and public policy.

We hope to continue this partnership of bringing policymakers, citizens and researchers together in the future. You can access papers from prior years on the Center for Colorado Policy Studies or the Colorado Institute of Public Policy.