Technology and Public Purpose

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.

The recent decision by Big Tech to ban prominent politicians, including President Donald Trump, and enforce strict content moderation against hate speech, mis/disinformation, and violence is a new precedent that could prove consequential for the future of online speech—and for the future of democracy. 

Join Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project as it brings together leading experts to discuss the timeliness, constitutionality, and societal implications of Big Tech's latest demonstration of power. 

The Boston Tech Hub Faculty Working Group, hosted by former Secretary of Defense and Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Harvard SEAS Dean Frank Doyle, will convene its second session of the spring semester on the topic of Chinese technology companies and state funding of American academic institutions, and their effects on American national security. The session will examine the issues around the relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s private sector; China’s influence and actions on American academic institutions; how these efforts may negatively affect America’s national security; and what should be done to mitigate national security risks.

The Boston Tech Hub Faculty Working Group, hosted by former Secretary of Defense and Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Harvard SEAS Dean Frank Doyle, will convene its second session of the fall semester on the topic of asteroid mining and in-space manufacturing. This session will examine current applications, capabilities, limitations, and ongoing debates regarding acceptable use, regulation, and governance of the two technologies.

Join the tech projects and programs at the Belfer Center on Wednesday, September 25th from 4:30-6:30pm at Beat Brew Hall for informal networking and the opportunity to learn more about our work and how you can get involved!

**RSVP Required**