Emerging Technology Luncheon 070504

These notes were taken at an informal Emerging Technologies discussion held at CompuMentor on July 5, 2005.  The aim of the discussion was to examine ways in which new technologies impact (positively or negatively) nonprofit organizations. The notes are also attached.

 What is Emerging Tech?

• Is it emerging in the NPO tech arena, or emerging to everyone?
• What do NPOs need and what is emerging in these areas?
• Emerging applications of tech, not just technologies themselves (this may be old)
• Perhaps use a better name than emerging tech that captures more of these nuances

 Open Source

• Separate the method from the software.  Open Source is a method for executing software projects, not a product itself

CM Role

• We should speak on this subject – a top list of emerging tech, how to evaluate, what our take is.
• International expansion – need a consciousness of our audience, develop archetypes rather than focused on geographical boundaries
• How to separate the “sizzle from the steak” when talking about ET
• We should look at department of commerce technology opportunities program(TOP) grant $250k for emerging tech – we have a shot at this. Go for big govt grants.  Top grants not offered this year?
• Someone should develop a sustainable business model for NPO developers to develop open source projects.  Crossover with Aspiration here.
•  Participating in Open Source projects, emerging tech development
• open source ghost?  Refurbishers cannot yet pull it together to develop this solution and avoid $10 per seat costs with the proprietary project
• No time, no commitment?
• Nonprofits should look out for themselves, not be invested in these collaborative projects unless this is part of their mission

 List of Key Emerging Tech

• Open Source operating systems
• Wireless
• Open source methodology
• Hosted desktop
• VPN/ASP solutions

Funding Discussion

• Focus is less on the tech itself, more on community engaging technology, what can they do to help, what can we build to engage them.
• Need to have stability in tech (healthy and secure computing) and an environmental scan before going into emerging tech projects
• Silicon valley foundation did a needs assessment in Santa Clara county.

NPO Awards for innovative applications of technology

• Maybe awards based on budget of NPO to appeal to all
• Maybe based on technology type
• What standards do we use to evaluate these
• How have NGOs taken a “step beyond” the typical installation
• What is our purpose in this, will help to define what the award is
• Work within TS audience, this depends on if the award is for them or for funders

Nonprofit Needs

• Need a solution, not a bit of code.  Need knowledge the product exists, support, upgrades, training, etc.
• Needs a way to evaluate risk in adopting new solutions. 
• Needs awareness of how much to concentrate on emerging tech, when to, when not to.
• Need to see what is possible, not just abstract notions of technology or to move them immediately to planning

When to NPOs think about this?

• Nonprofits don’t have time to think strategically
• Nonprofits might need more space to think about emerging technology within

Learnings

• That there is a difference between emerging tech and emerging applications of technology
• Many definitions to emerging tech
• Effective use of technology is a characteristic of effective organizations.
• The need for Ghost to be free, but no structure around building this
• CMs view of emerging technology is constrained by what we know (hardware, biotech, standards, languages, irrigation systems – we did not touch on these)