Technology and Public Purpose

The Technology and Public Purpose Summit 2023 convenes experts and explorers to discuss how we can build a future where public purpose drives innovation.

The summit is in-person only. RSVP is required. 

The Blockchain for Impact Workshop is a half-day event that explores the potential of blockchain technology to promote positive social change in three domains: International Development, Public Goods, and Regenerative Economy.

This event is invite only for in-person participation; RSVP is required for remote participation.

The Technology and Public Purpose Project would like to thank Polygon Labs and Impact Plus for their help coordinating the workshop.

Join the Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project for a study group on “Scaling Innovation for National Security.”

This three-part study group will be organized by TAPP fellow, HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, and Former U.S. Deputy CTO Nick Sinai, and explores the intersection of national security, technology, and innovation to solve national security challenges. Experts from across the defense innovation ecosystem will share their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for scaling new technology to advance U.S. interests. 

This study group is open to anyone with an interest in learning about innovation and national security. No background in national security or technology is required! Our goal is to explore the intersection of these two fields and identify new opportunities to drive innovation and solve national security challenges. 

Sessions: 

• Session 1. Perspectives from the Pentagon, with the Honorable Michèle Flournoy
• Session 2. Scaling Innovation: An Entrepreneur's Perspective, with Josh Lospinoso
• Session 3. Innovating for the Warfighter, with General Joe Dunford, USMC (Ret.)

DAO Harvard is a three-day conference that will bring together practitioners, policymakers, and academics to engage in conversation regarding the research, legal, and policy considerations of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). 

The conference is co-hosted by Harvard Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project and Harvard University's Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics.

For any inquiries please reach out to Sarah Hubbard at sarah_hubbard@hks.harvard.edu  

The Technology and Public Purpose Project invites you to a hybrid book talk with Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role On Any Team co-authors, Nick Sinai and Marina Nitze.  

Come learn over 50 tactics, each with real-world examples, for making lasting change in bureaucracies from PTAs and HOAs all the way up to the White House and Fortune 500 companies. Nick and Marina will be joined in conversation with Associate Director of the Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project, Amritha Jayanti, who will serve as moderator.  

Speakers and Presenters

Nick Sinai is a HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project (TAPP); along with serving as an advisor to the Harvard Open Data Project, Harvard Computer Society's Tech For Social Good, and Upsolve.  He serves on the board of the non-profit Coding It Forward. 

Marina Nitze is currently focused on improving America’s child welfare system. She was previously the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2013-2017), helped found the United States Digital Service, and served as a Senior Advisor on technology in the White House under the Obama Administration.

How do you strategically plan your career, decide on roles, and prepare for transitions? Join DJ Patil, investor, entrepreneur, former US Chief Data Scientist (Obama Administration) and Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Non-Resident Fellow at the Belfer Center, as he walks you through a process he has used with hundreds of people including many in top government positions. In fact, it's a process he's gone through many times over himself as he's transitioned  between different sized companies and government.

Picking your next step after graduate school can be difficult, but DJ's session will help you feel more at ease as you learn the art of smooth career transitions and strategic career planning.

This is a hybrid event. The event will be followed by a networking session from 3:00-3:30PM in Malkin Penthouse. RSVP is required.

Chief Data Officer for GivingTuesday, Woodrow Rosenbaum, will dive into how the organization seeks to leverage recent experiences and innovations in data engineering and machine learning to better our understanding of how aid is deployed during crisis (and what can be done to improve this process). The session will further explore how this knowledge can be operationalized and digitized into a useful format for other actors in the sector.

RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served following the event from 3:00pm-3:30pm.

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become flashpoints for what ails democracy. But what if the technologies that power public discourse could serve society’s best interests instead of undermining them? Join William Powers, CEO of Public Mind, best-selling author, and former Washington Post columnist, in conversation with Bina Venkataraman, editor-at-large for The Boston Globe and fellow in the Technology and Public Purpose Program at Belfer, for an in-person discussion on inventing a new future for social media.

RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served.

The Perspectives of Web3 virtual series led by the Technology and Public Purpose Project convenes a multidisciplinary group of speakers to address the emergence of opportunities and challenges in web3.

Registration is currently open for the third and final session in the series, Policymaking in Web3, happening on December 1st from 4:00-5:00PM ET. 

Join Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project for a timely study group: "Policy for the Endless Frontier: Origins and Ambitions of The CHIPS and Science Act." 

This six-session series, conducted by Doug Calidas, Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, will explore the origins of The CHIPS and Science Act, focusing on the competing policy priorities its authors sought to advance. It will also dive into long-term impact of the law and a discussion of possible actions that future congresses may consider taking to advance American leadership in high-tech manufacturing and scientific research.

The study group will meet every Thursday from 5:00 - 6:00pm ET from October 6 - November 10, 2022. The first session will be conducted in person, with following sessions conducted remotely. More details to be confirmed with registered participants.

Registration is required to attend the study group; see details below. You must be a Harvard affiliate to attend.