Keynote + Giveaways

KEYNOTE TITLE: Strengthening communities through strengthened technology

KEYNOTE DESCRIPTION: People and organizations operating in the public interest are on a mission to improve the way the world works -- ensuring access to services for more people, building tools and systems and resources for communities, and creating more pathways for justice. How can we shift from a world of systemic exclusion to one of systemic inclusion? How might we rethink and reposition technology in such a way that it can help us build a more equitable world?

Afua Bruce

Author, The Tech That Comes Next | tech + strategy + government + NGOs | STEM education and inclusion | Keynote Speaker | AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador

Washington, District of Columbia, United States

AFUA BRUCE is a leading public interest technologist who has spent her career working at the intersection Afua Bruce Key Note Speaker CALIcon Conference of technology, policy, and society. Her work has spanned the government, non-profit, private, and academic sectors, as she has held senior science and technology positions at DataKind, New America, the White House, the FBI, and IBM. Afua is currently a strategy consultant and advisor to organizations developing and expanding responsible innovation projects in the corporate, government, and nonprofit spaces. She is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a Technology and Public Purpose Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. As an If/Then Ambassador, Afua engages in efforts to excite girls to consider STEM careers; she has partnered with GoldieBlox, appeared on CBS's Mission Unstoppable TV show, and is featured in a number of museums around the country. Afua has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Her newest book, The Tech That Comes Next: How Changemakers, Technologists, and Philanthropists can Build an Equitable World, describes how technology can advance equity.