Ideathon

Ideathon is a Tech & Public Policy program sponsored incubator for novel approaches to policymaking, rooted in the theory that tech policy must fundamentally shift to a more agile model, reflective of digital product design, in order to be responsive to modern technology. The project adopts design principles from digital products in the start-up world, such as being focused on the user, working in quick “sprints,” brainstorming, storyboarding and iteration, to create an environment that allows for tech policy learning and innovative solution development. Graduate students from law and policy, computer and data science, marketing and design and other disciplines are paired with experienced policy practitioners, academic mentors and students at other international universities from diverse backgrounds and experiences to collaborate on a tech policy challenge. 

Ideathon 2024:  In 2024, Ideathon was convened in Singapore in partnership with Nanyang University and the government of Singapore.

Problem:  The aging population in Singapore is disproportionately victim to financial fraud on Facebook. Students used a scenario in which there is a rogue generative AI that is scooping up user data to create and spread  personalized, targeted financial scam content.

Ideathon 2023: In 2023, Ideathon was convened in Paris in partnership with SciencesPo.
Problem: emojis, often used for hate speech, to traffic drugs and people, evade content moderation systems.

Solution: The Ideathon team created Project Emoji, which created the idea of a shared emoji dictionary, a plugin to allow for shared context and education via collaboration with Unicode and Emojipedia, and cross-platform cooperation to build standards.