The Innovation Agenda: How City Governments and Industry Collide in Civic Tech

Join the McGannon Center staff for lunch and a discussion by Jessica Baldwin-Philippi on “The Innovation Agenda: How City Governments and Industry Collide in Civic Tech” on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. We’ll be in room 3-08 at Fordham’s Law School, located at 150 West 62nd St., New York, NY 10023. Lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. with discussion to follow.

Synopsis: From collaborating on events to city-supported incubation efforts, municipal innovation efforts across the country have had deep connections to the for-profit tech industry. Jesse Baldwin-Philippi’s research digs into the history and range of these partnerships, investigating why and when civic tech focuses on for-profit entities, the types of projects are taken on when industry is foregrounded, and the implications of the sometimes divergent goals of these two parties.

Jessica Baldwin-Philippi teaches about and researches civic media and political communication, and is interested in how citizens’ engagement with new technologies can restructure forms of political participation and ideas about citizenship. She has approached this area of study from a variety of political contexts, from political campaigns’ use of social media, to games designed to increase participation, to the innovation efforts of municipal governments.