During my travels around the world I noticed a surprising lack of organised opportunities to meet other ICT4D or ‘tech for social good’ practitioners and researchers.
I thought it might help others if I collate those groups that I am aware of in one place, and hopefully this can evolve to become a more definitive list.
ICT4D Meets, Meetups and Networking Opportunities
United Kingdom
- London ICT4D Meetup
Vibrant and well-attended monthly meetup – alternates between facilitated sessions with speakers, and general networking in a central London bar.
- Brighton Technology for Social Change Meetup
Broader than just ICT4D, focusing on domestic and international tech.
- BOND NGOs group on Technology for Development
Bond is the UK’s network for NGOs – this group meets quarterly and brings together NGO staff with an interested in technology.
- Citizen Beta (London)
Monthly civic tech get together in East London.
- Digital Charities
Group of people working in UK charities with digital technologies – not just International Development charities but lots of overlap. Monthly meets.
- Tech for Good meetup
Bringing together both domestic and international ‘social tech’ types regularly in London
Republic of Ireland
- TechForGood Dublin
New digital tech for good group in Dublin, looks interesting!
- Nairobi ICT4D Group
Relatively new group seeking to bring together the vibrant tech and NGO communities in Nairobi.
Zambia
- Zambia ICT4D Meetup
Facebook group – need to join to find out more.
United States of America
- Washington ICT4D Learning Network
Seems to have stopped (last meet 2014), but maybe someone could revive it, or there is a new alternative somwhere?
- ICT4D Boston
Also has an email discussion list at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ict4d-boston
Global Meets
- ICT4Drinks
Informal meetup for ICT4D professionals, with regular drinks meets in Washington DC, and occasional meets in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Manila and London.
- Technology Salon
Invite-only events with extremely interesting small groups of attendees – take place regularly in Accra, Amman, Bangkok, Brooklyn, Denver, Helsinki, London, Lusaka, Nairobi, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC.
- Communication 4 Development Network
Regular meets of the C4D network, seems to move around Europe each time but (I think) with options for remote attendance!
Conferences relevant to ICT4D
- ICTD Conference
Primarily academic ICTD conference (some practitioners) held every 18 months or so. The 2017 conference will be in Pakistan in November.
- ICT4D Conference
The other big annual conference for the sector – typically more practitioner, NGO and private-sector focused (with some academia). In 2017 it will be held in India in May.
- IDIA Conference (International Development Informatics Association)
October 2017 in Romania…
- International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries
More formally academic annual conference, for 2017 the venue is in Indonesia in May
- Participatory Design Conference
Broader than just development but of significant interest to anyone developing technology for or with local communities. Bi-annual, next is 2018 in Belgium.
- TICTeC
Annual conference from mySociety exploring the impacts of civic technology – 2017 sees it in Italy in April.
- WSIS Forum
World Summit on the Information Society forum organised by the major multi-lateral donors. In 2017 it will focus on the SDGs, in Switzerland in June.
(fuller conference list at http://www.ict4dc.org/blog/tony-roberts/ict4d-conferences-2017)
Please contact me using the form below if there are other ICT4D groups, meets or networking opportunities you are aware of, and I will include them in this list:
Matt Haikin 