‘Tis the season to celebrate the successes of NYC’s civic tech community in 2016 and to toast to the future that awaits in 2017. Get in the holiday spirit at these upcoming events in the city:
Now through December 14
To passers-by, The Glass Room looks like another slick, clean-lined store offering the latest shiny consumer products. Step inside, and you’ll discover something more unusual but nothing for sale. The Glass Room is a place to consider how you use technology and how those behind technology use you. We invite you to defamiliarize yourself with the overly-familiar.
December 1
The Reality in Virtual Reality: A Conversation with Practitioners
Virtual and augmented reality are together growing to be arguably the hottest topic in technology today. Justin Hendrix of the NYC Media Lab and Sophia Dominguez, former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Rothenberg Ventures, will take us on a brief tour of the VR/AR startup ecosystem here in New York City and around the world. Then, Professor Ken Perlin of NYU’s “Future Reality Lab” will guide us on an entertaining and enlightening journey around the hype.
December 2
The Mid-Hudson Valley Manufacturing Technology Conference
This event is open to Mid-Hudson Valley advanced technology manufacturers in the food and beverage industry, machining, equipment developers, software companies, health care companies, departments of health and departments of defense. The conference will spotlight challenges facing the region’s technology sector, with a keynote focus on medical technology.
December 3
Jersey City Hackathon for Sustainability
HackJC: Hack into Sustainability challenges teams to present a proposal to make Jersey City a more sustainable place to work, play and live using of data, technology, reports, articles and expert speakers. This event is open to anyone interested in community-minded work and collaborating for public good.
December 3-4
The NYC Administration for Children’s Services serves over 9,000 children and youth (from birth to age 21) in foster care. Help us develop technical solutions to make the lives of foster youth and those who support them, easier!
December 5
Ignition Future of Digital – Annual Conference 2016
At IGNITION you’ll get a new understanding of the transformations taking place in the digital world. Join 700 senior executives working in technology, media, entertainment, investment, and finance in staying on top of today’s most innovative ideas.
The industry’s first event exclusively dedicated to smart contracts. Learn from industry experts about the future of contracts.
*Hosted at the Microsoft Technology Center*
December 6
Hyperledger NYC Meetup: Blockchain for Finance, IoT
5:30 – Doors open. Networking.
6:15 – Welcome remarks by Keith Berry of Moody’s Analytics.
6:25 – Introduction Talk by Oleg Abdrashitov, Event Host
6:35 – Talk #1. Industry Use Cases for Blockchain: Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, IoT, by Bruce Weed of IBM
7:00 – Q&A break.
7:10 – Talk #2. Introduction to Iroha Project, Accepted Under Hyperledger Umbrella, by Makoto Tokemiya of Soramitsu
7:25 – Q&A break.
7:30 – Fireside Chat. Blockchain Use Cases, Adoption Strategy and Regulations, with Oleg Abdrashitov of Altoros, Susan Ramonat of SEI Investments, Fredrik Voss of Nasdaq, Fahad Chowdhury of Deutsche Bank, and Usha Krishnan of ChainGenie
8:15 – Q&A break and wrap-up.
Inclusion NYC is a tech event that brings together all races, ethnicities, ages and genders for an in-person Twitter chat facilitated in part by student entrepreneurs.
December 7
Hackers & Hefeweizens, a German Tech Showcase
On December 7th, VentureOut presents Hackers & Hefeweizens, a German pitch night in partnership with the German American Chamber of Commerce. We’ll feature some of the hottest tech startups from Germany trying to wow our panel of esteemed venture investors.
We have created a world where information technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. The combination of mobile, cloud computing, the Internet Things, persistent computing, and autonomy is resulting in something altogether different — a world-sized web. In this talk, Bruce Schneier will take a retrospective look back at what we have learned from past attempts to secure these systems.
Innovation, Automation, and the Future of Work
As artificial intelligence continues to improve, automation increases, and the nature of work evolves, how will our day-to-day lives be affected? Whether technological advances are leading to a bleak dystopia or an age of progress and prosperity, what are some realistic benefits and challenges that we ought to start thinking through today?
December 8
Join us at Byte Academy as we not only learn and discuss blockchain technology but how to hack it as well.
Digital Breakfast – Media-Tech Preview for 2017
Join us as a panel of media and tech experts look once again into their crystal balls and tell us what’s likely to occur over the next 12 months in media and technology. The good, the bad and even the ugly. A great way to cap the past year and ring in the next as we discuss the latest trends. As in years past, we predict a full house for this event, with complimentary registration courtesy of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
Tech in Motion NYC’s End of Year Celebration
This December, join Tech in Motion for an unforgettable celebration of the people and organizations driving innovation in NYC and beyond. Tech in Motion’s End of Year Celebration is a can’t-miss opportunity to network with 1,000+ tech professionals and enthusiasts across our 11 chapters.
December 10
The Hour of Code is a global campaign to introduce tens of millions of kids and adults in 180+ countries to one hour of programming during Computer Science Education Week.
Ages 4 to 104 are welcome to join us to try their first programming project at NYU:
— This is a free event, food, and drinks provided
— Attendees will need to provide their own laptop
— Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian at all times
December 11
Brunchwork with Techstars (IoT, FinTech) & FoundersGuild
Fill your weekend with inspiration and intention. Join us for an unforgettable farm-to-table brunch and mimosas with Techstars MD Jenny Fielding & FoundersGuild Founding Partner, Josef Feldman.
December 12
Join us on December 12th from 5-8pm for a cocktail hour and expert-led talks on how to prepare, plan and launch effective omni-channel user experiences. Drinks and hors d’oeuvre will be served.
December 13
NYC TechBreakfast: BetrSpot, DivvyCloud, Init.ai, Capalino+Company
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
December NYC Tech Monthly Meetup
Join fellow technologists for an evening of live demos from companies developing great technology in New York, followed by a networking afterparty.
December 15
Discover Urban Tech at Microsoft’s NYC Reactor at The Hub @ Grand Central Tech
Microsoft’s New York Technology & Civic Innovation team has invited our members, for the second year in a row, to one of their special NYC spaces – this time their New York City Reactor at the newly-opened Hub @ Grand Central Tech. We will hear about how they work collaboratively to improve city life and nurture vibrant businesses that fuel 21st century jobs, and address the most pressing city challenges through a variety of urban tech initiatives.
Speakers include:
- John Farmer, Director of Technology & Civic Innovation, Microsoft NY
- Robinson Hernandez, Executive Director, Urban Tech Hub @ Grand Central Tech
- Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President
- Katherine Oliver, Principal, Bloomberg Associates
- Jeanne Brooks, Ecosystem Architect
- David Belt, Cofounder, New Lab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard
- Judith Spitz, Verizon Executive in Residence at Cornell Tech, heads WiTNY initiative
- Bradley Michelson, Director of Business Development, Idealist
Playcrafting NYC: The ’16 Bit Awards
In partnership with Parsons, the New School of Design, this event will include the award ceremony, including musical performances, special guests, and surprises. Refreshments and drinks will be served before and after the event while a number of games will be playable onsite too. Attendees will also receive free download codes for participating nominated games.
December 20
Winter IoT Demo Fair & Networking Bash
Join us for a night of IoT demos and professional networking in which people will get to interact with IoT applications and network with Internet of Things Leaders & Professionals in the NYC Metro area.