General Archives - Page 2 of 5

24Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

Unintended Consequences of Innovation – by Vicky Wu Davis

General

In Class 3, we talked about how technological innovation cannot be a suitable, long-term, workable solution, if the only thing we make sure of is that a narrow piece of technology is working. In class, exoskeletons really fascinated a particular student (ok, many people, including me); however we all soon realized that even if the exoskeleton itself worked, there were other technological hurdles to overcome…and that’s just the technological piece of the conversation. This is where the invention piece is just one piece of the puzzle. If the Tesla only innovated on the car itself, but not on the infrastructure of charging stations…or if the PS4 came out but no games were created for it, or if you have an amazing e-commerce site, but there’s no wi-fi around at all…well,…

23Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

Reflections of Class 3 – L3 Innovation Challenge – by Andrew Holmes

General

A few weeks ago I sat down with Youth CITIES founder Vicky Wu Davis, had coffee, and agreed not only to mentoring this year’s L3 Challenge, but also to the momentous task of writing a blog following the events of the challenge. Vicky had asked me to do so, given my unique lens of having been a Youth CITIES student, and now a mentor as a working professional. And after kicking it off with my first (ever) blog post, I proceeded to get sick and miss the second week of class and all the rich details shared about Vicky’s daughter, her vision condition, and the kinds of daily activities she enjoys that students will help to improve upon with the use of Bose tech. It also means I missed the…

17Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

Class 2 of L3 Innovation Challenge – by Kyle Langley

General

The L3 Innovation Challenge entered its second leg this Wednesday as we continued to promote entrepreneurial problem-solving and thinking in a technology-centric world. We were once again hosted by Lab Central, a biotech lab facility and coworking space near Kendall Square and the high tech atmosphere was contagious as the various students gathered together for part 2 of our 7 week hackathon. As a recent resident in cambridge from my native South Africa it was truly amazing to get a chance to be a part of such an exciting and dynamic program. As an entrepreneur myself, the quality of mentorship and open style 'learn by doing' style was very true to the lessons you learn in thereal world. After initial introductions we took the time to get to know the mentors assisting…

13Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

Class 2 – The Biggest Challenge of the Challenge – Vicky Wu Davis

General

One of the many things going through my mind during a night of insomnia, are the reflections of Class 2 for this year’s L3 Innovation Challenge. What an exciting night last night! Class 2 included a deeper dive on the Challenge we issued, developing empathy, realizing the power of observation, and doing a crash course on vision science. While science and engineering are often lumped together as STEM, traditionally scientists and engineers didn’t work together. However, convergence has these two disciplines often needing to work together to solve some complex problems, and I wanted both types of students to understand/respect the value of each other in partnership. Last week, a CITIES Scholar – turned student mentor – turned mentor/guest instructor wrote in his blog writeup “Technology exists in a context defined…

08Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

L3 Innovation Challenge – Week 1 – by Andrew Holmes

General

This past Wednesday kicked off the beginning of the L3 Innovation Challenge, a weekly program by Youth CITIES designed to promote entrepreneurial problem-solving and thinking in a technology-centric world. Not far from Kendall Square, one of the most high-density technology centers in the world, I entered Lab Central, a biotech lab facility and coworking space. Lost at first, surrounded by pristine-white laboratories with fancy equipment, I headed down an equally pristine corridor until I found the meeting room our program had taken over with thirty five middle and high school students and a buffet of pizza, fries, and chicken fingers. L3 promotes a kind of thinking and approach to engineering that I really appreciate, and although I’ve been involved with Youth CITIES for over six years, I’ve never been able…

03Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

Figuring Out the Right Type of Prototype – by Andrew Holmes

General

We will begin posting tidbits and insights from our Skunkworks prototyping lab. Often times budding entrepreneurs think they can jump from idea to business launch. The truth is the entrepreneurial process is exactly that - a process. Everyone's journey is different because of the pain point and who they are serving. Vicky's Note: "I think one of the most challenging aspects that I’ve observed with students (and many adults too), is trying to figure out what is the right prototype to build. Understanding the purpose of the intended prototype is key. This then leads to the decisions around what medium to use for the prototype, and what that prototype might look like. I think the reason it’s so hard to grasp is because many people want to create something as close…

03Oct 2019 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

The human side of STEM … this journey gets personal – by Vicky Wu Davis

General

As a veteran of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, both as a tech entrepreneur and angel investor, it is my passion to discover innovative ways to apply technology and design in order to address pain points. For the past decade, I've channeled my experiences into an outlet for cultivating young minds to become entrepreneurial problem-solvers in hopes of making a\better world so that these young critical thinkers can go on to become\leaders in their fields and address some of the world's most complex problems. Becoming a mom almost 12 years ago was the impetus for wanting to change how we teach kids how to think. I believed that there were core values and fundamental problem-solving skills I wanted my kids to have...and if I was going to create it for my own…

14Sep 2016 by Vivian Ma No Comments

Multigenerational Group Tackles Challenges in Boston’s School System

General, Mini-Hack

The issue of equity is not low-hanging fruit... This month's mini-hack brought together community members of diverse backgrounds with a stake in the same mission— the betterment of the Boston public school system. It is no secret that with such expansive regional jurisdiction, issues of student allocation, school quality, and coordination of the two arise. The waitlisting system— albeit stressful— has gotten the job done for most Boston residents in the past, but for the few students who fall through the cracks every year, it has become imperative for school administrators to seek out a solution. Educators, BPS students, parents, and community members engaged in unrelenting dialogue, considering every step of the student and parents' journey and all possible bottlenecks from transportation to institutional transparency to perceptions of…

19Mar 2016 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

A week in the life of … a student entrepreneur

General

Jennifer Kim Last Saturday was my birthday and the first thing that I had to do was wake up, get ready, and go to Bootcamp and mentor. Now, if I was going to spend my special day at ‘work', I wasn't going to just show up -- ergo me showing up in a Stitch onesie! After another heated session of Bootcamp, my techie friends and I went to Boston to celebrate. We saw a movie called Zootopia, and the main character really resembled my own background; being a techie girl among a bunch of smart guys vs. a little bunny from a little town struggling to become a cop in Zootopia (where "everyone gets along and anyone could be anything") among other bigger and stronger animals. The best part about…

08Dec 2015 by Vicky Wu Davis No Comments

The Story Continues by Ethan Wong

General

Our main goal has been accomplished, we filed for a provisional patent. Great! But what now? That’s the main question that Jennifer and I were faced with when discussing our idea further. We didn’t really know the hardware that went into our idea, and we truly didn’t know who we needed to approach in order to get the answers that we needed. That’s when we decided to present at a Monthly Minihack. These “hacks” also run by Youth CITIES, allow entrepreneurs of any age and at any stage of their business to present their problem to an audience of business professions, other serial entrepreneurs and students. Then we brainstorm about the potential solutions that could potentially solve these problems. We entered the minihack with a couple of key points that…