The Opportunity Project Demo Week 2020

Join us to kick off The Opportunity Project Demo Week! Day 1 will focus on showcasing innovative products to defend and restore the natural environment, lifting up voices from indigenous communities, and featuring perspectives from student innovators.

The Census Bureau is more than just data. In this welcome keynote, hear from Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham about the Census Bureau’s leading role in advancing the federal statistical community’s  collaboration efforts via The Opportunity Project, exploring industry engagement, and how other agencies can join us in collaborating to improve federal data quality, usability, and how we share it with the public.

As stewards of the Earth, we have an obligation to limit our negative impacts on the ecosystems we inhabit. Unfortunately, we are often unaware of how our decisions and actions affect the planet. In this session, hear from environmental advocates as they describe how public information tools can foster environmental stewardship, and from technologists as they share the digital products they've created to reduce ocean plastic pollution and help the public understand the effects of transportation emissions.  Featuring lightning talks by Esri, IBM, OpenAQ, Georgetown, Rutgers, and American University.

Co-hosted by NOAA

The systems that connect society and our natural environment pose challenges that technology may help us to solve.  Recycling is a billion dollar industry that provides millions of jobs to American workers, yet there is great untapped potential for connecting companies and manufacturers that need access to raw and recycled materials. Farmers and ranchers are part of a vital infrastructure that powers America, but are often at the mercy of environmental and economic conditions out of their control. Connecting people to data and information is key to solving both of these challenges.  Join this session to hear about new products built through TOP sprints by SAP, Eco Bloc, Mapbox, Newlight Technologies, and more companies and university teams.

On the Ground Community Reactions: Lightning Round Discussion

Following these demos, join our community experts from conservation and advocacy groups, city government, universities, policy centers and more to discuss how we can translate these incredible tools to reach those that need them the most. In this lightning round, co-creators of the products will reflect on how they can be deployed in their communities, the potential impact and benefit to targeted end users, and next steps ahead. Featuring speakers from The Ocean Conservancy, City of Phoenix, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Universities and more. 

On Day 2, we’ll recap highlights from day 1, showcase more than 20 new products focusing on the built environment and civics education, and open our playbook to share what we’ve learned from 5 years of TOP.   Don’t miss the opening keynote to hear about HUD’s vision for economic empowerment, partnership with the tech industry, and a vision for leadership and self-actualization in achieving our goals.

The American dream means we can all achieve economic success and growth for our families - but what is the role of technology in ensuring that dream is available to everyone?  This year, we took on two challenges with that question at their core: enabling families to lift themselves up and achieve economic self-sufficiency - building on the groundbreaking Envision Center model championed by HUD, and helping resettled refugees to thrive in the new communities they now call home. Hear from 6 teams who took on these challenges about the solutions they created to support families nationwide, and what they learned in the process by hearing from refugees and families themselves. Featuring speakers from Julius Education, OPS 1, Mapbox & Graphicacy, Georgetown University, SAS, USA Hello, and more. 

Co-hosted by Orange Sparkle Ball

The health of rural communities and access to services, infrastructure, and data is critical to implementing solutions that tackle economic, environmental and human health challenges. In this session, technologists and community leaders come together to showcase creative solutions that help the American public understand the challenges, gaps and opportunities to help facilitate sustainable rural economic development and track federal financial assistance to local communities  in response to emergencies and disasters.  Featuring speakers from the White House Office of Management and Budget, Center on Rural Innovation, Citi Ventures, Urban Footprint, Alteryx, Baruch College, Syracuse University, and Columbia University. 

Translating Tools to Change: Community Reactions and End User Discussions

After hearing about these new products, are you curious to know how these tools will ultimately get into the hands of end users?  Join a group of brilliant community and subject matter experts , each from distinct communities across the country, and hear their reactions to the tools presented and reflections on how they will translate to real change and impact. Featuring speakers from the National Indian Gaming Association, Pew Trusts, HUD, and Refugee Congress. 

This session is a must-attend for anyone who came into the government or tech space to promote democracy and civic participation.  Civics education is at a crossroads: In 2014, less than 25% of 8th graders scored proficient on the National Civics Exam, and in 2018, only 9 states required year-long US government courses. This fall, the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance (F) took on the challenge of reimagining civics education through a sprint to develop data-driven digital tools. Groundbreaking not only in the subject matter, but also as the pilot of TOP’s new open source toolkit - TOPx. Hear from Jim Richardson, Director of F on data transparency and usability, and from tech teams from Syracuse iConsult and Suffolk University about the products they developed. Then, join us for a fireside chat with the State team on their experience using TOPx, a newly launched toolkit that allows federal agencies to leverage the TOP model and resources to facilitate sprints on flexible timelines and topics. If you’re an edtech company, a teacher, student, education advocacy organization, or a federal agency looking for new innovation strategies - this session is for you!

In our closing keynote for Day 2, hear from Census Bureau Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Ron Jarmin about how the Bureau has led innovation through its history, the mission ahead for the data community, and how the unknown future of technology will shape the Censuses of 2030 and beyond.  

After 2 packed afternoons of keynotes, lightning talks, and live demos on everything from stewarding our planet to putting the civics back in civic tech, Day 3 will focus on enabling our community to learn and grow.  

Don’t miss the opening keynote by Aden Van Noppen, the Executive Director of Mobius, that will captivate and ground us.  With the significant influence that technology has over our lives, it is more important than ever to prioritize human wellbeing and examine technology’s role in fostering or impairing our own individual and collective  balance and health. Fueled by a deep passion to serve, Aden was a Senior Advisor to the US Chief Technology Officer at the White House, and was also the Co-Founder of The Opportunity Project. As Demo Week looks to the future on Day 3, how will we apply  what we’ve learned to serve more holistically with technology? Join us for an opportunity to learn about what work has been done to strengthen a spiritually healthy relationship with tech within organizations and imagine what is possible for the future. Featuring a live collective visualization.