Poptech
Encyclopedia
PopTech is a nonprofit open innovation laboratory and network of thought leaders who are dedicated to finding, incubating and accelerating ideas, people and projects that change the world. PopTech consists of a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping the future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges.”

History

PopTech was founded in 1996 as the Camden Technology Conference, named for the location where it convenes its well-known annual thought leadership conference. The organization was founded by an informal group of Camden residents and distinguished technologists, including Robert Metcalfe
Robert Metcalfe
Robert Melancton Metcalfe is an electrical engineer from the United States who co-invented Ethernet, founded 3Com and formulated Metcalfe's Law., he is a general partner of Polaris Venture Partners...

 (co-inventor of Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....

 technology) and John Sculley
John Sculley
John Sculley is an American businessman. Sculley was vice-president and president of PepsiCo , until he became CEO of Apple on April 8, 1983, a position he held until leaving in 1993...

 (former CEO of Apple). Although initially focused on the social impact of information technology, PopTech has substantially broadened its focus in recent years to include projects, media and events aimed at accelerating the impact of world-changing people and ideas. PopTech is now overseen by its Curator and Executive Director, Andrew Zolli, who joined the organization in 2003.

Annual PopTech conference

The annual conference draws nearly 700 attendees and is held in the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine. The conference brings together leaders in business, science, technology, design, innovation, social change and other fields to share ideas that are shaping the future. Each conference is focused around a different theme; past themes have included "American Reimagined" and "Brilliant Accidents, Necessary Failures and Improbable Breakthroughs." The 2011 theme is "The World Rebalancing."

Speakers and performers from around the world participate in the conference. Musical performances, short films and demonstrations are interspersed with talks from leaders, innovators and change agents. Past speakers and performers include Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

, Amos Lee
Amos Lee
Amos Lee is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. Lee has four albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele. In...

, Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...

, Victoria Hale
Victoria Hale
Dr. Victoria Hale founded the nonprofit pharmaceutical company The Institute for OneWorld Health in San Francisco, California in 2000 and was its chairman and CEO until 2008. She remains on the iOWH board as Chair Emeritus...

, Cary Fowler
Cary Fowler
Cary Fowler is the executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, based in Rome, Italy. Previously, Fowler was Professor and Director of Research in the Department for International Environment & Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway. Fowler holds...

, Reggie Watts
Reggie Watts
Reggie Watts is a Seattle-based comedian and musician. His shows are mostly improvised and consist of stream of consciousness stand-up in various shifting personae, mixed with loop pedal-based a cappella compositions. He also performs regularly on television, radio, and in live theater...

, John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, Van Jones
Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, and attorney. Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations. In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California non-governmental organization working for alternatives to violence...

, Louann Brizendine, Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...

, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

 and Kevin Kelly. Speakers and performers are not paid by PopTech.

The Fellows Programs

Each year, PopTech selects 10-20 high potential change agents from around the world who are working on highly disruptive innovations in areas like healthcare, energy, development, climate, education, and civic engagement, among many others. Fellows work in both the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds, have a minimum of 3-5 years experience, and are working in organizations that are well positioned for sustainable growth. The Fellows program is designed to equip world-changing innovators with the tools, insights, visibility and social network that can help them scale their impacts to new heights. Fellows then participate in and present briefly at the PopTech conference. Fellows receive prominent placement at the event, including arranged interviews and collaborative sessions with leading journalists and sessions with members of the PopTech network dedicated to helping them amplify their work and professional profile. On a year-round basis, Fellows join a dynamic alumni network and have ongoing access to faculty and peer-to-peer mentoring opportunities. These relationships have resulted in significant media coverage, grants, venture financing and organizational support for previous years’ Fellows.

In 2010 PopTech launched a companion program to the Social Innovation Fellows program, called the Science and Public Leadership Fellows program. PopTech selects a small number of high-potential, early- and mid-career scientists working in areas of critical importance to the nation and the planet, such as: energy, food, water, public health, climate change, conservation ecology, green chemistry, computing, education, oceans, and national security. Ideal candidates are scientists who have strong innate communications skills and an interest in public leadership but limited formal training. Fellows are given yearlong training and skills development led by a faculty of experts in communications, media training, public engagement and leadership. The training program first convened in August 2010, and these Fellows receive ongoing guidance and mentoring. Fellows are also provided with significant opportunities to raise their public profile and that of their work through a variety of media, and to participate in a peer-level alumni network. Fellows participate in the entire program for free, and receive a free ticket to the PopTech conference, along with prominent placement at the event, including interviews and collaborative sessions with leading journalists and members of the network dedicated to helping them raise their profile. The goal of the program is not to turn scientists ‘into’ evangelists, but to help them become better communicators and leaders while continuing their scientific careers.

The PopTech Accelerator

The PopTech Accelerator incubates high-impact, multidisciplinary collaborations that demonstrate new approaches to solving significant social and business challenges. The work cuts across silos and disciplines, bringing together scientists and technologists, designers, social sector and corporate leaders, academicians, community members, and a unique array of experts. This approach allows PopTech to move nimbly and to try ideas more traditional organizations might miss. The PopTech Accelerator has three core program areas: the Fellows program (see above), PopTech Labs and Accelerator Initiatives.

PopTech Labs bring a carefully curated network of leaders, creative thinkers and innovators together to collaborate on issues of vital importance to business, society and the planet. The goal is to map the drivers of change in a particular domain, to identify critical, early-stage opportunities for disruptive innovation, and to collaboratively design new incentives and unconventional actions to propel such innovation forward. In July 2010 at Harvard Medical School, the first meeting of the Ecomaterials Lab network brought together 40 of these thought leaders and stakeholders for a facilitated dialogue regarding the drivers, constraints, opportunities, and challenges surrounding next-generation sustainable materials (with a particular emphasis on textiles). The gathering unearthed new insights and areas of disagreement, and helped form a network around sustainable ecomaterials.

The first project sponsored by the Accelerator is Project Masiluleke, inspired by PopTech 2006 speaker and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 activist Zinhle Thabethe. Project Masiluleke is a path-breaking effort that harnesses the power of mobile technology to address one of the world’s gravest public health crises. This initiative leverages the ubiquity of mobile devices in South Africa to help fight the country’s crippling HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics. Meaning ‘hope’ and ‘warm counsel’ in Zulu, Project Masiluleke brings together a coalition of world-class partners – including iTeach, the Praekelt Foundation, frog design, MTN South Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks and the National Geographic Society – driving adoption of the program in South Africa and beyond.

A past project includes the PopTech Carbon Initiative. Developed in 2007 to provide conference participants with an easy way to buy carbon offsets, the program has been extended to any eBay user with an ID. Using an eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

 website, users calculate their carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...

 and then purchase carbon offsets from three different organizations: Solar Electric Light Fund
Solar Electric Light Fund
The Solar Electric Light Fund is an international development aid organization working to end global poverty by bringing solar power and Internet access to the world's poorest people in remote rural areas...

, Instituto Ecológica or Paso Pacífico. The eBay page was slated to close at the end of 2007 but remains open for anyone to use.

Past collaborations that grew directly out of the attendee community was the building of the Mother-Child Medical Center & Ipuli Medical Training Center in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, Africa—a country with one doctor for every 20,511 people. The project began when Cameron Sinclair
Cameron Sinclair
Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder and 'chief eternal optimist' for Architecture for Humanity, a charitable organization which seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings professional design services to communities in need.- Education and personal life :Educated at Kingswood...

 (social entrepreneur and PopTech speaker) met Neema Mgana (Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

 nominee and founder of the African Regional Youth Initiative) at the 2006 PopTech conference. Through the efforts of Sinclair, Mgana and others in the PopTech community, the people of Ipuli now have a local medical clinic that is provided with renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

at no charge. The kind of collaboration seen with the Ipuli project has been formally acknowledged and supported by the PopTech organization through the creation of the PopTech Accelerator.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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