City Tech Launches Connect Chicago Innovation Program
Today, City Techis pleased to announce the launch of the Connect Chicago Innovation Programalong with funders Microsoft, Comcast, Sprint, the Lenovo Foundation, Gogo, Clarity Partners, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Connect Chicago Innovation Program will support collaborative, new ideas to increase tech access, skills, and engagement across Chicago. Applications are open today!
At City Tech we form cross-sector coalitions that aim to solve complex urban changes that no one institution can address alone. Through our piloting work, we do this across public health, mobility, waste management, and other essential city categories. Technology inequity is a likewise complex challenge, stemming from gaps in Internet access and infrastructure, digital skills, relevancy, and hardware access.
Fortunately, Chicago has a robust ecosystem of digital inclusion players, from churchesto adult literacy organizationsto our library system. City Tech’s Connect Connect Chicago Innovation Program aims to catalyze new partnerships between these diverse institutions and support new digital inclusion solutions and models that Chicago and other cities can scale.
About the Connect Chicago Innovation Program
Applications for the Connect Chicago Innovation Program open on April 24th and close on May 16th at 11:59pm. Each applicationshould come from teams comprised of two or more partnered organizations.
In 2018, one of the applicant teams will be awarded:
- Up to $50,000 to support a pilot to test their collaborative idea
- Professional development support from City Tech to refine, workshop, and develop their proposed solution
- Connections to in-kind expertise and resources to assist with building organizational capacity and skills
- The option to apply for additional travel funding after the pilot is complete to evangelize results and lessons learned across the U.S.
For more information about the Connect Chicago Innovation Program, see this presentation, also embedded below:
How do I learn more and apply?
Organizations can apply for the Connect Chicago Innovation Program by filling out this online form at bit.ly/ccapp2018by 11:59pm on May 16th.
To learn more about the application process, what we're looking for in applications, what support winning proposals will receive, and the deliverables winning projects will be expected to complete, see this website or this presentation. You can:
- Read our FAQson the Connect Chicago Innovation Program & Application
- Attend City Tech’s upcoming Connect Chicago Meetup at UI Labs on Monday, May 7th from 10am to 12noon. RSVP here on Eventbrite.All are welcome!
If you have any questions about City Tech’s Connect Chicago Innovation Program, please email me at denise.riedl(at)uilabs(dot)org.
About the Author: Denise Linn Riedl is the Ecosystem Development Manager for City Tech and is also a Fellow with the Benton Foundation . You can follow her on Twitter @DKLinn .
About City Tech: City Tech transforms cities into testbeds for new ideas. With partners and people, we remake essential services and infrastructure, from skills to skyscrapers. We then prepare these solutions for other cities, thus increasing the world’s odds of solving big, urban problems. We are currently easing subway congestion during large events; creating a digital map of Chicago’s underground; and launching a digital directory of public health services in Chicago. To learn more, follow City Tech on Twitter or join our LinkedIN group .
