Collaborative Intelligence: Leading the Forefront of Enterprise Innovation

In this forward-looking session of the Ten Years Hence series, Matt Alverson ’01—partner at the global innovation consultancy IA Collaborative—laid out a compelling vision for the next decade of business transformation. At the heart of his talk was the concept of Collaborative Intelligence, a methodology that combines artificial intelligence, human-centered design, and agile engineering to enable faster, more adaptive innovation within large organizations. But rather than falling into AI hype, Alverson approached the subject with both clarity and caution: Collaborative Intelligence, he emphasized, is a toolset—not a panacea.

Drawing from his own work advising companies across industries—from healthcare to defense—Alverson made the case that innovation today requires both technical sophistication and moral imagination. AI can accelerate decisions, generate new models, and create massive efficiencies, but it cannot determine what truly matters. That responsibility lies with humans. In his view, the most successful organizations in 2035 will be those that embed foresight and ethical design directly into their workflows—proactively designing the future, rather than waiting to be disrupted by it.

A core theme of the lecture was speculative strategy: the idea that companies must develop multiple future scenarios and “prototype” their way through uncertainty. At IA Collaborative, Alverson’s teams help clients sketch out high-stakes transformations—such as reshaping food systems, redesigning community health ecosystems, or preparing for autonomous infrastructure—and then rapidly test those ideas using AI and cross-functional collaboration. He highlighted how this approach breaks silos and accelerates decision-making while remaining accountable to real human needs.

But innovation at scale also comes with risks. Alverson warned against the dangers of speed without reflection. Generative AI can produce results fast—but without strong frameworks, it can amplify bias, trivialize nuance, or produce elegant solutions to the wrong problems. “What’s the cost of being wrong at scale?” he asked. Companies must evolve from viewing innovation as just product launches to seeing it as a form of civic design—a responsibility to serve not just markets, but communities and futures.

Ultimately, Alverson issued a challenge: to build the future with greater intentionality. The next decade will not be shaped by code alone, nor by creativity in isolation. It will be shaped by those who can combine technical mastery with human insight, velocity with reflection, and profit with purpose.