HP Inc. and the HP Foundation announced applications are open for the 2026 Future of Work Accelerator, a joint program designed to scale the impact of organizations that are expanding access to technology, skills, and economic opportunities for future workers.
For the first time, the 2026 Accelerator will be open to both nonprofit and mission-driven for-profit organizations, and will return to the US, where the program began in 2022. Five organizations will be selected to receive US$100,000 in funding, US$100,000 in HP technology and solutions, and six months of virtual training by HP and its social impact partners, MIT Solve and Global Impact Advisors.
“As HP’s 2025 Work Relationship Index shows, we know that success for future workers depends on access to technology, skills, and economic opportunities,” said Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing and Corporate Affairs Officer at HP Inc. “We’re enabling more productive, collaborative, and fulfilling ways of working while ensuring disconnected communities are equipped to participate and thrive.”
Expanding access to technology—and the skills to use it
In an increasingly digital world, people without access to technology and the skills to use it are often locked out of economic opportunity. According to research from the National Skills Coalition, 92% of U.S. jobs now require digital skills, leaving those without them at a growing disadvantage in today’s labor market.
The rapid rise of AI threatens to further exacerbate the digital divide, even as it accelerates innovation and creates new opportunities. HP’s 2025 Work Relationship Index found that while workers with daily Al access are generally more optimistic about their future at work, nearly 1 in 3 knowledge workers lack Al training.
As HP celebrates its 10-year anniversary alongside the 5th year of this program, the Accelerator is returning to the U.S., where it began in 2022, to scale the impact of organizations that are helping disconnected communities thrive in the future of work.
Powering the future worker
HP believes that professional growth and fulfillment start with access to technology, skills, and opportunity. Since 2022, the Accelerator has supported 35 nonprofit organizations across 13 countries, tackling the digital divide in education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. Now, with AI reshaping the workplace, the Accelerator is seeking to support solutions that will help the future worker thrive.
In 2026, the Accelerator is open to U.S.-based nonprofit and for-profit organizations with demonstrated impact in disconnected communities, targeting those most vulnerable to economic shocks—youth, on-demand workers, and small businesses. Eligible programs, products, and services will have moved beyond the idea stage, into execution, and reach an average of 25,000 people per year. The deadline to submit is February 6, 2026, at 5 p.m. PT.
For more information, please visit hp.com/accelerator.
Striving for impact
In 2021, HP set a goal to reach 150 million people by 2030 through its social impact programs and partnerships. In addition to the Accelerator, our strategy includes HP LIFE—the HP Foundation’s free business and digital skills training program—and partnerships with organizations such as YMCA, Goodwall, Real Madrid Foundation, Mission 44, Girl Rising, and others. HP’s programs and partnerships have reached 65 million people through 2024.
