Intelligent Futures Inc.

What Intelligent Futures Inc. does

Intelligent Futures Inc. is a Calgary-headquartered consulting firm founded in 2008 that serves Canadian mission-driven organizations (municipal governments, health authorities, and nonprofits) through three interconnected practice areas: Strategy Design, Community Dialogue, and Capacity Building. The firm packages consulting as discrete, named service offerings — The Futures Brief, The Strategy Sprint, The Mid-Flight Check In, The Host Table, The Engagement Design Studio, and the newer AI Clarity Sprint — built on proprietary methodologies including the Futures Triangle, GBA+ (Gender-Based Analysis Plus), trauma-informed leadership practices, and its own Five Tests of the Common Good framework. There is no software product or technology platform; the underlying "technology" is institutional knowledge codified into frameworks, supported by an active thought-leadership engine (Orange Papers, Insights Hub blog, Culture Deck) and B Corp certification achieved in April 2023.

Revenue is generated through bespoke, project-based professional services engagements sold directly to clients via a website inquiry form with a 48-hour response commitment. The firm operates with 1–10 employees, is founder-owned and bootstrapped (no institutional capital), and is led by John Lewis as President & Founder. Distribution is exclusively direct sales, with demand generated through content marketing, B Corp messaging, and conference presence (notably the 2025 Canadian Institute of Planners national conference). Selected clients include Interior Health Authority, Calgary Arts Development Authority, City of Beaumont, Town of Paradise, Town of Cochrane, County of Kings, City of Edmonton, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership (with CMHC), Morguard Investments, and IslamicFamily; engagements range from Climate Resilience Leadership Training to multi-thousand-participant community dialogues such as the Connect Bonnie Doon (5,653 participants) and 2024 Olympic Plaza Transformation (3,332 participants).

Strategically, Intelligent Futures has expanded from its planning and community-engagement core into adjacent verticals — healthcare climate resilience, housing and homelessness solutions-labs, culturally grounded housing (Halal Housing Lab), and AI governance (via its partnership with Solway). The firm maintains a curated ecosystem of delivery partners (Framework, Level Playing Field, B&A Studio, Bunt and Associates, Alpin Martin, SAS Architecture, Another Way, ASK for a Better World, Solway, Tatâga Inc.) rather than scaling headcount, and has accumulated multiple Canadian planning awards (2025 CIP Award for Planning Excellence; 2024 APPI awards; 2024 Mayor's Urban Design Award for Housing Innovation; 2020 APPI Award of Planning Merit; Canadian College of Health Leaders Energy and Environmental Stewardship Award). Operating geographies span Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Name

Intelligent Futures Inc.

Legal name

Intelligent Futures

Website

https://intelligentfutures.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Intelligent Futures is a Calgary-based, B Corp-certified consulting firm founded in 2008 that delivers strategy design, community dialogue, and capacity building services to Canadian municipal governments, health authorities, and nonprofit organizations through named, project-based engagements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Talent Management & Workforce Planning Consulting (BPAHAGAA)

Keywords

• Strategic consulting services
• Community engagement consulting
• Foresight and strategy
• Capacity building training
• Public sector consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Strategy Design Consulting: Bespoke consulting engagements helping organizations navigate complex strategic decisions. engagements include The Futures Brief, The Strategy Sprint, The Mid-Flight Check In, and the AI Clarity Sprint. Revenue is generated on a project-by-project basis, likely through fixed-fee or time-and-materials engagements.
2. Community Dialogue Consulting: High-stakes engagement and facilitation services for organizations seeking to understand stakeholder views, experiences, and ideas. Offerings include The Engagement Design Studio (design-only) and The Host Table (design and delivery). Revenue is project-based consulting.
3. Capacity Building Services: Organizational development and training engagements that develop practical knowledge, skills, and tools to improve how teams decide, collaborate, and deliver. Includes modular leadership training programs such as Climate Resilience Leadership Training.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Intelligent Futures is a management consulting firm that delivers strategy design, community dialogue, and capacity building services to mission-driven organizations. Its Strategy Design practice offers structured foresight, AI governance, and strategic planning engagements; its Community Dialogue practice designs and facilitates high-stakes stakeholder engagement and collaboration events; and its Capacity Building practice delivers modular leadership and organizational development programs such as Climate Resilience Leadership Training. All engagements are bespoke, sold directly to clients, and grounded in proprietary frameworks including the Five Tests of the Common Good, the Futures Triangle, and GBA+.

Product overview

Intelligent Futures is a consulting firm that offers three interconnected practice areas—Strategy Design, Community Dialogue, and Capacity Building—designed to help mission-driven organizations navigate complexity and advance the common good. The Strategy Design practice includes structured service offerings such as The Futures Brief (strategic foresight), The AI Clarity Sprint (AI governance, delivered in partnership with Solway), The Strategy Sprint, and The Mid-Flight Check In. The Community Dialogue practice offers The Host Table (event design and facilitation) and The Engagement Design Studio (process design for internal teams). The Capacity Building practice develops skills, confidence, and shared understanding within organizations. This is a services-based portfolio rather than a software product platform, with each offering designed for specific moments of organizational complexity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Design A core consulting practice area helping organizations find clarity in complex moments and build confidence to act through structured offerings including The Futures Brief, The AI Clarity Sprint, The Strategy Sprint, and The Mid-Flight Check In, designed for leaders navigating complexity who want progress that serves the common good.
• The Futures Brief A structured foresight engagement that helps leadership teams look past the immediate horizon, surface forces shaping their context, and develop strategies that hold up across plausible futures, using tools such as the Futures Triangle, Signals Scanning, and Scenario Creation.
• The AI Clarity Sprint A six-week sprint helping organizations move from informal AI use to a clear, organization-wide framework for responsible AI adoption, delivered in partnership with Solway, with deliverables including an AI Policy Framework, Staff Decision Guide, Opportunity & Risk Matrix, and Common Good Impact Map.
• Community Dialogue A core consulting practice area helping purpose-driven organizations design and deliver engagement that produces results, encompassing The Engagement Design Studio and The Host Table offerings across board retreats, community engagement processes, stakeholder consultations, and multi-party negotiations.
• The Host Table End-to-end design and facilitation of collaboration events including working sessions, summits, and co-design workshops, with deliverables comprising an Event Design Brief, Run of Show, Expert Facilitation, and a Post-Event Synthesis Memo.
• The Engagement Design Studio Expert process design for organizations that have internal capacity to run engagement but need expert help designing the process, delivering an Engagement Process Map, Facilitation Guides, and a Delivery Coaching Session.
• Capacity Building A core consulting practice area helping organizations grow their ability to lead, adapt, and act in the face of change by developing practical knowledge, skills, confidence, and shared understanding, including modular leadership training programs such as Climate Resilience Leadership Training.
• The Mid-Flight Check In A focused, facilitated check-in on strategic plans designed for organizations partway through a multi-year strategy to assess progress, test assumptions, and surface adjustments, delivering a Progress Assessment, Agreed Adjustments, and an Updated Direction Memo.

Quantifiable outcome

• 96.8% of Citizen Reference Panel participants reported feeling heard, respected, and valued
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Tatâga Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntelligent Futures is a proud 'Herd Member' of Tatâga Inc., working together to create meaningful partnerships, reconciliation, and sustainable solutions. Tatâga Inc. is an Indigenous-owned organization, and the relationship reflects the firm's commitment to reconciliation and Indigenous partnership in its work.
• SolwaycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe AI Clarity Sprint is delivered in partnership between Solway (providing practical AI engineering) and Intelligent Futures (providing systems-level strategy and governance). This partnership combines AI technical expertise with strategic thinking to help organizations move from informal AI experimentation to confident, responsible AI adoption.
• FrameworkminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFramework partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Citizen Reference Panel for the Arts in Calgary, engaging Calgary Arts Development Authority as the client.
• Level Playing FieldminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLevel Playing Field partnered with Intelligent Futures on the County of Kings Accessibility Plan, leading on-the-ground site assessments examining real-world accessibility conditions across public spaces and services.
• Another WayminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnother Way partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Halal Housing Lab project for IslamicFamily, contributing to the co-design of culturally grounded housing models.
• SAS ArchitectureminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSAS Architecture (operating as HIP Edmonton) partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Halal Housing Lab, contributing architectural design expertise.
• ASK for a Better WorldminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerASK for a Better World partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Halal Housing Lab, supporting the co-creation and testing of practical options for values-aligned housing design and financing.
• B&A StudiominorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerB&A Studio partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Connect Bonnie Doon project, contributing design expertise to the community dialogue and redevelopment process.
• Bunt and AssociatesminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBunt and Associates partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Connect Bonnie Doon project, providing planning and development expertise.
• DESIGNCORPminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDESIGNCORP partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Connect Bonnie Doon project.
• Alpin MartinminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAlpin Martin partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Connect Bonnie Doon project, providing urban planning and landscape architecture expertise.
• City of SaskatooncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe City of Saskatoon partnered with Intelligent Futures on the Saskatoon Housing Lab, working with Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership and CMHC to convene housing and homelessness service providers for structured dialogue and prototyping.
• Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCMLC partnered with Intelligent Futures on the 2024 Olympic Plaza Transformation engagement, alongside the City of Calgary, to gather community input for the redesign of Calgary's civic gathering space.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• FSG: Global social impact consulting firm advising foundations, corporations, and nonprofits on strategy, evaluation, and collective impact. Comparable to Intelligent Futures in mission-driven strategy, though with materially larger global footprint.
• Counsel Public Affairs: Canadian public affairs and government relations firm offering strategic counsel on policy, communications, and stakeholder engagement. Comparable to Intelligent Futures on the public-affairs / stakeholder engagement side of the practice.
• Global Public Affairs: Canadian public affairs and strategic advisory firm with offices across Canada advising corporate, nonprofit, and government clients. Comparable on Canadian public-sector strategic advisory and stakeholder engagement.
• The Bridgespan Group: Global nonprofit and social sector strategy consulting firm advising philanthropists, nonprofits, and impact-led organizations on strategy, scale, and organizational effectiveness. Closely comparable in client type and strategic advisory focus.
• StrategyCorp: Canadian management consulting firm providing strategic advisory and government relations to public and corporate clients. Operates in the same Canadian public-sector strategy space as Intelligent Futures, with broader practice breadth and a larger team.
• Earnscliffe Strategy Group: Canadian government relations and public affairs consultancy working with corporate, association, and government clients on strategy and stakeholder engagement. Overlaps with Intelligent Futures on Canadian public-sector strategy and engagement work.
• The Strategic Counsel: Canadian research and strategy consulting firm providing public opinion research, stakeholder engagement, and strategic counsel to government and corporate clients. Comparable to Intelligent Futures on the research- and engagement-enabled strategy work for Canadian public-sector clients.

Direct peers

• La Piana Consulting: US-based nonprofit and philanthropic strategy consultancy helping mission-driven organizations with strategic planning, collaboration, and capacity building. Mirrors Intelligent Futures' Strategy Design and Capacity Building practice areas.
• MASS LBP: Canadian public engagement consultancy designing and delivering high-stakes community consultation and deliberative processes for governments and mission-driven organizations. Closely comparable to Intelligent Futures' Community Dialogue practice.
• Tamarack Institute: Canadian nonprofit focused on community change and collective impact, advising and capacity-building for mission-driven organizations and municipalities. Closely overlaps with Intelligent Futures' Community Dialogue and Capacity Building practices.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/intelligent-futures-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Intelligent Futures Inc.