15 ways Digital Leaders Week is talking about Tech for Good
Those of you who have followed the build up to Digital Leaders Week will know that there are 15 events taking place under the Tech for Good theme this year. Equally, if you subscribe to the tech for good and social impact investing platform digitalagenda.io, you will have noticed the Digital Leaders Week logo appearing in many of their upcoming events.
I think both camps deserve an explanation.
As we approached Digital Leaders Week 2018, about this time last year, Digital Leaders were in talks with one of the most exciting platforms running in the Tech For Good space. DigitalAgenda was two years old, had created great content, and ran the engaging DigitalAgenda Impact Awards.
Both sides could see the mutual benefits of bringing the fast-growing, youthful platform to the attention of the much larger and more mature Digital Leaders community, and so, following the success of the 2018 Impact Awards, discussions had begun and the two sides agreed terms for a merger in late June.
The signatures were dry on the legal work shortly after the Digital Leaders Week ended, and Digitalagenda.io as it is now joined the Digital Leaders team here in London.
An exciting year later, the Tech for Good agenda has grown faster and wider than ever expected. Opportunities to leverage technology for economic and social benefit have been highlighted in environment and business across the UK sector. This has been championed in particular by DCMS Secretary of State, Jeremy Wright MP, and in March this year, DCMS were the government partner for the Impact Awards.
The DigitalAgenda programme has not only focused on the positive potential of technology, and in October 2018, we held the first Power and Responsibility Summit.
The summit looked at the downsides of the digital changes taking place across society and the economy. It covered critical themes including trust, privacy, regulation, mental health and developer ethics. We are running the Summit again this October, when we will look at the challenges that these issues present, and look at the policy and technology solutions now emerging – including the recent ‘Online Harms White Paper’. Early bird tickets for the summit are now on sale, and I recommend that you book your place before they sell out.
One of the reasons that Digital Leaders got involved with DigitalAgenda was due to a rise in interest in Tech for Good and responsible tech. It is exciting that the Digital Leaders community can now take advantage of this blossoming partnership as they dip their collective toes into Tech for Good in Digital Leaders Week 2019.
I do hope to bump into you at one of these events.
