Pilot Pitchfest

You're invited to the Pilot Pitchfest, where city agency staff will give low-stake, two-minutes “pitches” on short-term, high-impact projects for which they're seeking external collaborators. During and after the event, we'll work to “match” agencies with academic researchers and skilled volunteers—and we have funding available to support projects.

Who's the Pitchfest for?

In short: New York City agency staff, academic researchers, and skilled volunteers. These are the groups we're trying to “match” to work together on projects through the Pitchfest.

Anyone—from any New York City government agency—is invited to give a low-stake, two-minute pitch on a project by submiting a slide to YnJhbmRvbiB8IHBpbG90cGl0Y2hmZXN0ICEgb3Jn by May 9th, following the attached template. Then you pitch your project idea live on May 22nd!

Academic researchers and skilled volunteers interested in working with agencies are also encouraged to attend the Pitchfest on May 22nd to meet agency staff and hear about their projects. After the event, you'll be asked to submit an interest form to indicate the agency projects with which you're interested in being matched. Projects are expected to start in the Fall.

What are the projects?

There are two different project “tracks”—the research track, and the technical assistance track. It's okay if you don't know in which track you fit.

Research Track: The research track is intended to provide up to $80k in funding for six-month research projects between agencies and academic researchers. This track is for agency staff who have, or would like to run, an experiment, randomized controlled trial, or program or policy evaluation, which would benefit from collaboration with or assessment by academic researchers. Researchers may come from any discipline, ranging from psychology, to economics, to computer science. Projects are intended to produce evidence to aid agency decision making—and also potentially yield results that may be worthy of publishing in an academic journal. Researchers will retain the rights to publish the results of their analysis. Ultimately, the team is looking for projects that:

• Address a research need for a New York City government agency, with clearly defined outcomes
• Are likely to influence a specific agency's policies, procedures, or operations in the near term
• Include a sound research methodology that is likely to lead to credible research findings
• Are likely to produce novel findings of interest to cities and researchers beyond New York

Technical Assistance Track: The technical assistance track is intended to create pairings between agencies and skilled volunteers with a broad range of technical and business expertise. This track is for staff who could use technical assistance from between 1-4 volunteers dedicated at up to 20% capacity, on a tactical project of no more than three months. Projects that might be a fit could include user research studies, basic tech prototypes, analysis of open data sets, or business planning exercises. All skilled volunteers interested in working with city agencies will apply to and be vetted by the Pilot Pitchfest team. Skilled volunteers are not permitted to interface with confidential City or resident data. Those who are successfully matched with an agency will be asked to sign an NDA.

More information about the two projects tracks can be found on our website.

How do I participate?

First, reserve a spot here as soon as possible! This is our second Pitchfest, and we sold out last time.

If you're an agency staff who wants to pitch, please also submit a slide to YnJhbmRvbiB8IHBpbG90cGl0Y2hmZXN0ICEgb3Jn by 11:59pm on May 9th, following the attached template. We'll confirm your spot on the pitching roster by May 16th. It’s okay if your project is just in the idea phase—the point is to encourage staff to get their ideas out there in a low-stake, low-risk environment.

For everyone else, after RSVPing here, you just have to show up on May 22nd to meet agency staff and hear about their projects.

Then what happens next?

After the Pitchfest, researchers and skilled volunteers will be asked to submit an interest form by May 31st, indicating their desire to be “matched” with a specific agency or project. Agencies will review submissions, and we'll facilitate introductions in cases of mutual interest. Then, projects split based on tracks:

Research Track: Principal investigators of research track projects will be asked to submit a short funding application of no more than $80k to the Pitchfest team by July 31st. Finalists will be invited to interview in early September.

Technical Assistance Track: Throughout the summer, the Pilot Pitchfest team will work with agencies to refine technical assistance projects, culminating in an MOU defining the project scope. All skilled volunteers will be asked to sign an NDA before starting work.

We expect both research and technical assistance track projects to launch in the Fall.

In our first year, we ran a trial of the Pilot Pitchfest focused on matching the city’s built environment agencies with STEM researchers. Now, we are accelerating our impact by broadening the scope of the program to include all city agencies and academic disciplines, and both research and technical assistance project tracks.

• 260 Attendees
• 30 Pitches
• $80k in Prize Funds

Check out last year's results!

Info: Hear about the purpose of the Pilot Pitchfest and its role in matching New York City government agencies to local researchers and skilled volunteers.

Info: Introduce your agency and deliver a two-minute pitch about your project idea to improve New York City. (Anyone from any New York City government agency is invited to pitch.)

Info: Learn about the process to indicate interest in specific projects and the timeline for being matched with agencies.

Info: Hang around after the event to meet the agency staff, academic researchers, and skilled volunteers with whom you could work on projects!

Also check out other Meetups in New York.