Tech for Good: How Startups Are Rewriting the Rules of Global Development - Part Of Colorado Startup Week
Description
Join Google, CU, DU, School of Mines, and PIMCO panelists for the next big disruption and it is not in fintech or social media. It is in how the world tackles poverty, climate resilience and access to basic services.
From AI-powered crop forecasting to blockchain-based aid distribution, a new generation of founders and technologists is proving that scalable tech and social impact are not tradeoffs. They are the same opportunity.
Join us for a conversation on how emerging tools are reshaping international development, what gaps still need builders, and where founders can plug in - whether you are looking for your next venture, your next customer base, or your next reason to believe your work matters beyond the balance sheet.
What we will discuss
Where the real gaps are. Crop forecasting, aid logistics, health supply chains, land records, information integrity. Which are genuinely underbuilt, and which already have incumbents nobody outside the sector has heard of?
Beyond the demo. The pilot works. The deployment does not. Complex social problems break technology in ways a Denver whiteboard never predicts. What do founders, investors, researchers and governments each have to get right before a product survives contact with the field?
Follow the money. The development capital stack is being rewritten in real time. Corporate venture arms, foundation funds, blended finance and outcome-linked contracts are moving into the space traditional donor funding used to occupy. Where does a Colorado company plug in, and what does that capital want back?
Why Colorado, why now. Every hub claims a specialty. The Valley has software, Boston has biotech, Austin has hardware. Colorado has a combination nobody has deliberately assembled: geospatial and climate startups, federal labs, research universities and a real foreign-policy community. The talent and the capital are here. Intent is what has been missing.
Who should come
Founders - where the demand sits, and which buyers have budget rather than good intentions.
Investors - how corporate venture, foundation capital and development finance sit in one round.
Executives - what donating engineering capability buys that a check does not.
Engineers and technologists - how to work on this without quitting your job.
Bring a question. The last twenty minutes belong to the room.
Can't join the room in person? Join via Google Meet here; https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=NzNuYzZiNjM3bWNuOHBmbWZwYXFoZHZzMWsgcHJlc2lkZW50QHVuYWJvdWxkZXIub3Jn&tmsrc=president%40unaboulder.org
Lineup
Vivek Ramavajjala - Google DeepMind
Vivek Ramavajjala is a Senior Staff Research Engineer at Google DeepMind, working on enterprise applications of generative AI. Before DeepMind, he founded a startup that built AI weather models to help insurance companies reduce losses from severe weather events. His career has focused on deploying AI research on real-world problems, like smart replies in emails, improving Google search results, making efficient usage of compute resources, severe weather modeling, etc., and making those AI models practically useful.
Gavin Power - PIMCO
Mr. Power is an executive vice president and chief of sustainable development and international affairs. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2018, he was the deputy executive director of the United Nations Global Compact, advancing sustainability and responsible investment in more than 160 countries. There he advised U.N. secretaries-general and oversaw sustainability initiatives in both developed and emerging markets. Mr. Power co-led the U.N. Global Compact’s role in developing the Sustainable Development Goals. He also led government affairs for the U.N. Global Compact, interacting at ambassadorial and ministerial levels. He was a co-founder and board member of the Principles for Responsible Investment, and has held senior positions at Ketchum and Levi Strauss and worked as a financial journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He holds a degree in economics from the University of California, as well as U.N. accreditation in leadership and ethics, and human rights. He is a board member of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank, and a member of the U.N. Development Program's SDG Impact Committee. Mr. Power is also a board member of the U.S. Network of the UN Global Compact.
Juan Lucena - Professor of Engineering Studies and Director, Humanitarian Engineering, Colorado School of Mines.
Juan leads one of the country's established humanitarian engineering programs, where undergraduates are trained to design with and for communities rather than simply for clients.
Taylor Hanna - Director of Research Development, University of Denver’s Frederick S. Pardee Institute for International Futures
For the past 10 years, she has worked with organizations including the African Union, European Commission, UNDP, UNIDO, UN Women, and UNICEF to explore possible futures and strengthen capacity for long-term, systems-based thinking. Her work uses the International Futures forecasting platform to examine global development and the interconnected challenges shaping our future, including poverty, conflict, and climate change. Taylor will delve into answering the following; • Technology and time: How quickly does technological progress translate into gains in productivity and human development, and why do those timelines differ across systems and countries? • The enabling environment: What conditions—such as infrastructure, education, institutions, governance, and access—determine whether countries and communities can translate new technologies into meaningful development gains? • From innovation to impact: How do we move from promising technological innovations to broad-based, sustained development outcomes—and how can we ensure that the benefits of technological change are widely shared?
Dr. Susan Abbott (Chair) - Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Colorado Boulder; Founder, Cross-Pollinate Consulting.
Susan advises international organizations, foundations and governments on technology, media, democratic governance and social impact. Over 25 years she has worked with USAID, UNDP, BBC Media Action, Internews and Free Press Unlimited.
Julia Gilinets, AI GTM Leader, Healthcare & Life Science, Google
Julia partners with executives in regulated industries to drive industry leading, transformational results with AI. Before working with Pharma, healthcare tech, and BioTech companies in AI, Julia helped scale 6 startups into millions in revenue, billions in valuation, and into the hands of millions of users a day. Her GTM frameworks have assisted founders in top global accelerators and been guest published in chart topping books. She's passionate about startup innovation and helping companies learn from established patterns and systems so they can focus on burning most of their calories on their unique value to the world.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
