The ALI Social Impact Hackathon brings together partner organizations from across the social impact sector to share a problem of practice for which they are seeking immediate solutions. Small teams of ALI Fellows and other socially-impact-minded students work together to develop recommendations for these problems for partner organizations to use immediately.
Over one-and-a-half days, partner organizations will present their problems of practice to event participants, answer questions and provide feedback as teams develop solutions, and offer closing thoughts on the teams’ proposed recommendations.
The event will culminate in a final presentation to a panel of Harvard faculty who will select a winning team and award prizes. To register by April 23rd, please click the link below.
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, May 6
Aldrich Hall 211 (Harvard Business School)
4:00 p.m. Welcome: Organizations will introduce themselves briefly (2-3 min) before breaking into groups.
Aldrich Second Floor Alcoves
4:35 p.m. Transition to team breakouts
Aldrich Hall 211
5:35 p.m. All teams will return to the main classroom to debrief
Thursday, May 7
Chao 120 (Harvard Business School)
9:00 a.m. Problem Strategy Mapping Team Breakouts: all participants will continue to work on solutions.
12:00 p.m. Lunch: members of the partner organizations will step away to allow participants to work on solutions independently.
2:30 p.m. Groups transition from Chao 120 to Aldrich 211.
Aldrich Hall 211
3:00 p.m. Teams will present their recommendations and you will be asked to comment on it; faculty panelists will offer feedback and select a winning team and award prizes.
5:00 p.m. Close of event
AI HELP DESK
During the Hackathon, our AI Fellows Kedaar (kedaarsridhar@gse.harvard.edu) and Abdi (aguleed@gse.harvard.edu) will be available to help teams think through problem framing, solution ideation, AI strategy, prototyping, innovation, workflow design, and how AI tools can be used effectively in building recommendations, presentations, and practical next steps. They also bring extensive experience supporting hackathons, senior leaders, student builders, and early-stage ventures, and are happy to serve as a resource throughout the event. They will be present for the Thursday sessions and virtually via Whatsapp for the duration of the event.
COMMUNICATION
Please join the Whatsapp group linked below to receive day-of communications from the staff and to communicate with your group members before the event: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Lky3tPEctZLGAd7C6oXUuz
Also note that your group assignments may change on the day of the event, but we will work to ensure that you are placed with your first or second choice organization. Looking forward to seeing you all in person, and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.