Thrilled About How Far Philly Tech Has Come? Celebrate at the PHL Innovation Picnic
The Navy Yard | Photo: PIDC
Ten Philadelphia tech organizations are collaborating to host the first-ever PHL Innovation Picnic later this month. In fact, it’s happening next Thursday, June 29th.
The event is a chance to celebrate Philadelphia’s expanding tech community, although people across all industries are welcome to grab a ticket online and head to the Navy Yard for three hours of food, drinks, music, and games.
The Innovation Picnic also doubles as a fundraiser. Proceeds from the event will be donated to three local nonprofits – iPraxis, Spark, and TechGirlz – all of which are dedicated to educating Philadelphia schoolchildren and providing them with resources to succeed. iPraxis and TechGirlz, in particular, focus on science and tech education. Hundreds of attendees are expected to show up in support of these nonprofits and Philly tech.
If you need some more inspiration to buy a ticket that will support tech education in Philly, check out serial tech CEO and entrepreneur Bob Moul’s recent Inquirer op-ed about the importance of making tech part of the core curriculum across Pennsylvania.
He wrote: “There are already schools (i.e. String Theory or Freire School) or programs (i.e. Coded by Kids and TechGirlz) teaching tech and I applaud those efforts. But this needs to happen on a much broader scale — in all of our public schools. Many hurdles would need to be overcome and this is likely a decade-long journey, but one thing is clear to me: If we deny our kids this education, we are systematically denying them a chance at a better and brighter future.” While your ticket to the Innovation Picnic won’t automatically lead to tech classes in every public school, it’ll support the programs already doing the necessary work to establish a foundation.
The picnic is hosted by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Life Sciences PA, PACT, Philly New Tech Meetup, PSL, University City Science Center, Safeguard Scientifics, Broadpath, Janney Montgomery Scott, and MVM Associates.
The festivities are scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 29th, with tickets at $20 per person. To learn more about the event, click here.
Additional reporting by Fabiola Cineas.
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