Peace News Network
Can technology help build peace? Experts gathered in Washington DC earlier this year for a summit by PeaceTech Lab to investigate how tech is being used, and can be developed, to advance peace.
Read MoreC5 Accelerate
In a metallic gold tent in the atrium of the United States Institute of Peace, my colleague and I sang “Happy Birthday” to an eighty-year-old woman living in Mexico City. Rendered life-size on screen, she sat in a tent that looked just the same as the one we sat in, but with our faces looking back at hers, 2,409 miles away.
Read MorePeaceTech Lab and Shared Studios
Study after study reinforces the idea that peace is created through deliberate dialogue between diverse groups. The Shared_Studios Portal seeks to empower individuals and communities through technology to advance their unique goals, not as consumers but as citizens. Portals create space for dialogue and are a demonstration of how technology, if constructed well, can thrive as a vehicle for peace. We envision a world where Portals regularly deliver the benefits of globalization to communities that are often left out and believe that peace will take root when diverse groups speak face-to-face. For many, the Portal is where this begins.
Read MoreUSIP
As technological innovation develops at a blistering pace, it has fundamentally altered how conflicts develop and play out, and how peacebuilders prevent and mitigate violence. Throughout history, technology has driven warfare and international security. To take one example, the development of nuclear weapons led to the doctrine of mutually assured destruction as the prevailing norm of the Cold War era. For centuries, however, most of this technology was only available to states. Today, individuals are empowered by technology to have a voice in international affairs and instantly connect with people on issues of convergence, according to USIP and technology experts speaking at PeaceTech Lab’s annual summit on May 8.
Read MoreDigi.City
With its headquarters located within direct line of sight of the Lincoln Memorial and across the street from the Department of State, The United States Institute for Peace (USIP) is an independent institution devoted to the nonviolent prevention and mitigation of deadly conflicts abroad. Nestled within this organization is a small but mighty team of future-facing individuals which comprise the PeaceTech Lab. Led by Sheldon Himelfarb, the Lab "works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data to accelerate and scale peace building efforts." On May 8 and 9th, this team convened technologists, creatives, celebrities, and industry leaders at the PeaceTech Summit 2018 to discuss how technology can be leveraged for the planet's greater good.
Read MoreDevex
As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg works to convince 2 billion users — and United States lawmakers — that the company can address issues related to privacy, disinformation, and hate speech, they also acknowledge they have struggled to understand how people in “high-risk areas” might use the far-reaching online platform “to create real risks of harm and violence,” said Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for U.S. public policy, at the PeaceTech Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Read MoreWorth Magazine
When the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as ISIS, rolled into Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June 2014, the Iraqi soldiers garrisoned there dropped their guns, discarded their uniforms and fled. ISIS warriors seized abandoned weapons, including reportedly six American-supplied Black Hawk Helicopters, and piles of cash stored in banks.
Read MoreTechRepublic
As I learned at a conference on scaling peace technology at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC last month, the romantic notion that we can build a better world through data isn't over, after all.
Read MoreFedScoop
At Thursday's PeaceTech Summit in Washington, D.C., Ann Mei Chang, the executive director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Global Development Lab, and Jason Mathey, the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, said federal challenges and prize competitions often unlock innovations that are rare in traditional federal contracting - and cheaper.
Read MoreForbes
Using the power of technology, media and data analysis to prevent tensions and conflicts in some of the world’s most violent areas from escalating: That’s the mission of PeaceTech Lab.
Read MorePE Magazine
Engineering is often thought of in terms of inanimate objects, like bridges, iPhones, and space shuttles. But the field actually has a very human side, offering solutions to human problems. So explained C.D. (Dan) Mote, president of the National Academy of Engineering, at the PeaceTech Summit in September.
Read MoreDemocracy Works
I had the opportunity to attended the United States Institute of Peace’s Engineering Durable Peace Summit last week (#peacetech), an event hosted at USIP as part of their launch of the new PeaceTech Lab. Attended by individuals ranging from mechanical and software engineers to young entrepreneurs, journalists, and tech4dem folk like us, the summit hosted several dynamic panel discussions and a morning filled with quick-hitting “lightning” presentations on some of the most exciting innovations in the PeaceTech space.
Read MoreU.S. Department of Defense
The Defense Department is using its resources and stated defense strategy to examine methods of employing technology to prevent the root causes of future armed conflict, a senior DoD official said here today. Alan Shaffer, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, discussed the department’s efforts during the PeaceTech Summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
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