January 2013 - yCITIES

30Jan 2013 by Mark K No Comments

Yes, Knowledge is Power…but, which school did you attend?

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Earlier this week, I read a blog on the Huffington Post that got me thinking about knowledge, access to knowledge, and education in the 21st century. (Actually, I think about these things often, but allow me this introduction;-) The blog post written by Don Tapscott was a response to discussions being held at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. For the past few years, conversations among many in education circles have centered on concerns that many, if not most, of our colleges and universities will not survive competition from the Internet. There is a great debate going on about the value of a traditional college education in today’s tech-driven environment, and we should open that discussion in the Youth CITIES community. However, with this post, I would like…

19Jan 2013 by Mark K No Comments

TUGG Event On January 31st

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Last September, Youth CITIES participated in an open-source philanthropy event sponsored by TUGG (Technology Underwriting the Greater Good). For the event, our Founder, Vicky, spent the evening networking with hundreds of Greater Boston's entrepreneurs and technology professionals to tell them the story of Youth CITIES. Then, at the end of the night, attendees had to choose from among a handful of worthy social-enterprise ventures (like Youth CITIES) and vote for which organization would receive some grant funding. Youth CITIES is a great program, obviously, and Vicky did a terrific job of sharing her vision with everyone she met that night, including me. From that event, Youth CITIES won a small but valuable grant from TUGG, and the funds are committed to this year's March-to-May Bootcamp. Coming up, on January 31st,…

10Jan 2013 by Mark K No Comments

January Mini-Hack –Live Blog–

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4:50 - Samantha Glassner is presenting the introductory PowerPoint for B.E.S.T. (Bicycle Energy Storage Technology)! 5:00 - And the discussion begins...in order to secure funding, what is our target problem? How do we sell this to funders? 5:05 - BEST was envisioned for areas (like India) where bicycle use is very heavy for transportation, industry, etc. This could be an accessory instead of a completely new bike! 5:08 - Kathy Huber is lending an experienced business voice, giving the BEST team tips for research to help flesh out a future business plan. 5:12 - After a comment about using renewable resources for manufacturing, we learned that the first lightbulb filament was made with bamboo. Thanks, Time Rowe (Founder of CIC)!! 5:18 - Steve Kurec asks if wind energy could be…

09Jan 2013 by Mark K No Comments

December Mini-Hack Recap

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The December Mini-Hack (held 12/13/2012) featured a venture idea centered in the international travel industry. Our presenter's idea is to feed on travelers' love of language and offer a unique lodging/accommodation experience. Think hostel-cum-language-school. The Mini-Hack set out to discuss how such a business could be structured - who is the target market?, what is the revenue model?, where in Boston?, etc. We vetted a number of ideas, discussed risks, and came up with a number of great ideas to help the venture progress. The team assembled generated a list of operational steps to guide our presenter in navigating legal issues (like zoning and commercial real estate options) and building interest among the target market of international undergraduate students.