Social Impact Un-Pitch Day
Sponsored by the Center for Technology, Society & Policy and the Information Management Student Association
Are you a local non-profit or community organization that has a pressing challenge that you think technology might be able to solve, but you don’t know where to start? Or, are you a Berkeley graduate or undergraduate student seeking an opportunity to put your technical skills to use for the public good?
If so, join us for Un-Pitch Day, where Berkeley graduate students will offer their technical expertise to help solve your organization’s pressing technology challenges. During the event, non-profits and community organizations will workshop their challenge(s) and desired impact. Organizations will then be partnered with graduate student technology mentors to define and scope potential solutions.
All attending non-profits and community organizations will have the opportunity to pitch their pressing challenge(s) to student attendees with the goal of potentially matching with a student project group to adopt their project. By attending Un-Pitch day, organizations will gain a more defined sense of how to solve their technology challenges, and potentially, a team of students interested in working with your organization to develop a prototype or project to solve it.
The goal of this event is to both help School of Information master’s students (and other UC Berkeley graduate students) identify potential projects they can adopt for the 2016–2017 academic year (ending in May). Working in collaboration with your organization, our students can help develop a technology-focused project or conduct research to aid your organization.
There is also the possibility of qualifying for funding ($2000 per project team member) for technology projects with distinct public interest/public policy goals through the Center for Technology, Society & Policy (funding requires submitting an application to the Center, due in late November). Please note that we cannot guarantee that each project presented at Un-Pitch Day will match with an interested team.
Registration
Registration is required for this event.
Tentative Agenda
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Non-profit/Community Organization Attendees
Workshop with Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup, to frame your problem definition and impact goals.
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Non-profit/Community Organization Attendees & I-School students
Team up with student technology mentors to define and scope potential solutions and create a simple visual artifact outlining the idea.
5:00 – 5:30 pm
Open to the public
CTSP will present details about public interest project funding opportunities and deadlines.
5:30 – 6:00 pm
Open to the public
Attendee organizations present short project pitches (2-3 mins) to the room.
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Open to the public
Open house for students and organizations to mingle and connect over potential projects. Appetizers and refreshments provided by CTSP.