Cecilia Saixue Watt

People’s Liberty is a philanthropic lab funded by the Haile and Johnson Foundations. Each year, individuals in the Cincinnati area receive grants to work on projects related to civic improvement. Operations Director Jake Hodesh spoke to Techonomy about the nonprofit and its mission.

Engineer Cristal Glangchai had trouble convincing female college students to take her entrepreneurship classes. They seemed intimidated and unconfident, both about STEM fields and as potential business leaders. She decided to tackle this problem with early education, founding VentureLab in 2013 to teach K-12 students, particularly girls, about technology and innovation. It's now operating in San Antonio and Austin. VentureLab started as girls-only summer camps in San Antonio. After requests from parents and school administrators, VentureLab now holds co-ed camps in addition to girls-only programs—though the majority of students are still girls—and it designs entrepreneurship curricula for teachers during the school year. It now operates in Austin as well as San Antonio.

In 2009 Julian Thomas co-founded Joule, a New Orleans-based solar energy company that helps home and business owners install solar panels and LED lighting. He spoke to Techonomy about startups in New Orleans, the future of solar energy, and the importance of public policy for its future. His company is hosting a Venture for America fellow.

Azoti helps buyers connect to local food sources. Based in Columbus, the startup works with small farms to supply discounted fresh produce to employees of schools, civic organizations, and major employers like OhioHealth. Dave Ranallo started the company in 2012. He's an Ohio native who grew up eating fresh fruits and vegetables from his grandparents’ garden.

In northern Syria, along the Turkish border, has emerged a de facto autonomous region known as Rojava. The enclave is engaged in a brave and for the time being successful fight for self-governance and independence against considerable odds. Many of its best soldiers fight in all-female battalions. Meanwhile, supporters of the region’s socialist-feminist ideology are working to help them with a new Indiegogo campaign. Rojava's population is roughly the same as San Francisco, and comprised of a Kurdish majority along with Arabs, Chechens, Armenians, and other ethnic groups. After declaring autonomy from Syria in November 2013, Rojava established a political system built on principles of direct democracy and gender equality, and has drawn comparisons to revolutionary Catalonia in the Spanish Civil War.

During a dinner hosted by Techonomy last month in New York, we asked a few of our guests to talk about the challenges of innovation at large companies. Even the big company people there recognize that smallness has its advantages. Startups are often able to move at a quicker pace, unburdened by the operational complexity that large companies often experience. They are able to “fail fast and be much more agile,” said Jud Linville, who runs Citi's credit card business.

The American labor movement is finally starting to go online. It was born from the shifting economic environment created by the Industrial Revolution—and we are, once again, at a technological turning point: this time, change is driven across transistors rather than by steam engines. Labor issues are as much in flux as any part of the economy, with Uber and other "on-demand economy" companies creating both new opportunities and new perils for workers. Workers’ rights are struggling to keep pace with technological progress.

Sponsorships play a distinct role in professional sports, where the sale of jersey advertising space or stadium naming rights can help fund an elite training and coaching staff and hundred-million dollar businesses. But what about the nonprofessionals? Rising costs for community youth sports, often pose a significant challenge for young athletes. Many families struggle to afford league participation fees, equipment, tournament travel, and other expenses necessary for their children to play on a team. LeagueSide is a Philadelphia startup that hopes to combat the financial costs of youth sports by bringing together community leagues with potential sponsors.

As technology forges ahead, more of our world is becoming automated, increasingly resembling the futuristic settings that were once only the domain of science fiction. This means a significant change in the way tomorrow’s innovators will design new products: it won’t just be a matter of human users interacting with objects, but also of objects interacting with their users. Moreover, many people have anxieties about robots and other “smart” objects—usually that they’ll gain sentience, turn evil, and try to exterminate the human race.