Hosted by: Sloan School of Management

Instructor: David Verrill, Executive Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy

• Enrollment: Limited to 50 participants. Advance sign-up required. Sign-up by January 11.
• Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) explores how people and businesses will work, interact, and prosper in an era of profound digital transformation. Major innovations we’ve already glimpsed in the digital age include self-driving cars, additive manufacturing, platform technologies, cryptocurrencies, “fake news,” and beyond.

But in the future, what are the unforeseen, unintended consequences — positive and negative — of these new aspects of the digital age?

Students and other members of the MIT community are invited to develop plausible scenarios and narratives of the future in 2030 that expand the thinking of decision-makers and stakeholders to positively impact productivity, employment and equality.

IDE will provide suggested pre-reading articles and host guest lectures from leading futurists, but student teams will be largely self-guided.

Details

• Tuesday, January 9
• Thursday, January 11
• Tuesday, January 16
• Thursday, January 18
• Tuesday, January 23
• Thursday, January 25: Final output due (format is flexible, but could take the form of a story board, creative narrative, or presentation)
• Tuesday, January 30
• Thursday, February 1: Five-minute presentation by teams, winners announced (cash prizes for the top teams: $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250).

All sessions take place from 3 to 6 pm in Room 56-154. Food will be provided.

Students kick off this four-week-long hackathon with an overview lecture and choose a topic area around which they will develop multiple scenario storylines.

Contact: Dalton Perras, E94-1518

For additional program information and to sign up, visit the event page.