PopTech (also known as Pop!Tech) 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.”[1]
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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 (co-inventor of Ethernet technology) and John Sculley (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.[2] PopTech is now overseen by its Curator and Executive Director, Andrew Zolli, who joined the organization in 2003.
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, Amos Lee, Jonathan Coulton, Victoria Hale, Cary Fowler, Reggie Watts, John Legend, Van Jones, Louann Brizendine, Malcolm Gladwell, Brian Eno and Kevin Kelly. Speakers and performers are not paid by PopTech.[3]
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 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,[4] inspired by PopTech 2006 speaker and AIDS 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.[5] 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 website, users calculate their carbon footprint and then purchase carbon offsets from three different organizations: Solar Electric Light Fund,[6] Instituto Ecológica[7] or Paso Pacífico.[8][9] 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, Africa—a country with one doctor for every 20,511 people. The project began when Cameron Sinclair (social entrepreneur and PopTech speaker) met Neema Mgana (Nobel Peace Prize 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 at no charge.[3] 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.