Written By Joy Fairbanks

Columbia unites to propel early stage ventures addressing problems affecting people and the planet.

I am so excited about this upcoming event I have organized with my colleagues at Columbia! Columbia’s 17 schools have joined forces to crowdsource solutions for the common good.  Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center of Social Enterprise is hosting the event.

We are entering the last stretch before Columbia University’s inaugural cross-campus startup hackathon, Hacking for Humanity, taking place September 10-12th.  We have 294 people in the process of forming teams, including 83 founders.  We have three days of excellent programming ahead.  Ten speakers and workshop leaders, thirty-six expert mentors, and nineteen investor judges will provide guidance, perspective, and networking opportunities for our promising founders.

Participating ventures span across sectors including climate change/environmental sustainability, health and wellness, social/economic inclusivity, edtech/civtech, food and agriculture, smart cities, fintech, insurtech, journalism/new media, retailtech, real estate/urban planning, and sustainable tourism.

I cannot wait to see the collaboration this coming weekend!  Thank you to everyone coming together to make this event possible!  We are particularly grateful to the following contributors:

Speakers and Workshop Leaders

Chantal Line Carpentier, Brian McKernan, Carey Anne Nadeau, Edith Njage, and Devashish Paul.  Joy Fairbanks, Sree Sreenivasan, Sandeep Tyagi, Steve Weinstein, Harry West

Mentors 

Elham Ali, Josh Browne, Tim Colter, Julio Corredor, David del Ser, Joy Fairbanks, Benjamin Friedman, Jeffrey Golde, Mattan Griffel, Madison Hackinson, John Horcher, Pradeep Jotwani, Anne-Marie Kaluz, Keith Katz, Stefan Lehmann-Karp, Linda Lipsius, Brian McKernan, Sandra Navalli, Patricia Poon, Ben Powell, Jeet Raut, Neal Rickner, Luke Sandler, Arie Shen, Patrick Slattery, Nina Smidt, Jocelyn Songco, Dylan Steeg, Amanda Steinberg, Swayam Thacker, Julie Thiery, Sandeep Tyagi, Christine Valencia, David Wei, Sylvia Wong, Bunny Yan

Judges

Mike Brown, Rachel Butler, Trace Cohen, Santhosh Devati, Hannah Friedman, Keith Katz, Elizabeth Leahy, Stefan Lehmann-Karp, Ivan Leniski, Elizabeth Lewis, Patricia Poon, Vikas Raj, Neal Rickner, S. Mona Sinha, Danny Schultz, Ivy Schultz, Hardika Shah, Bruce Usher, Richard Witten

Sponsors

BNP Paribas, A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Silicon Valley Bank, Miro, and Notion.