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Sean Ness, Head of Business Development, Institute for the Future

Sean Ness oversees business development at the Institute for the Future (IFTF), where his focus is on the Technology Horizons and Ten-Year Forecast programs. A self-described nerd growing up, Sean read all he could about science as a kid and immersed himself in maps for hours at a time. He also set his chemistry set on fire a few times, took junior high computer classes on a TRS-80, and was on his high school ecology team.

After earning a B.S, in polymer science with a minor in chemistry from Pennsylvania State University, Sean ping-ponged between research organizations including Forrester Research and software start-ups like ComputerWire before joining IFTF in 2004. In 2006, Sean co-founded the STIRR Network, a group that helped catalyze early-stage entrepreneurial activity in Silicon Valley and beyond, through 2009.