Lara Thompson(opens new window), Software Engineer at Multiverse, shares insights and learnings from the recent Multiverse Tech For Good meetup. This event, hosted at Multiverse’s central London office, provided an opportunity for like-minded individuals to share their experiences of developing technology that has had a positive impact on our surrounding world.
Introducing the panel
The panel was moderated by Rachel Ilan Simpson(opens new window), Head of Design at Multiverse (previously Design Lead and Manager at Google) who was joined by Sachin Goyal(opens new window) (VP of Engineering at Multiverse), Flora MacLeod(opens new window) (Design Director at IBM) and Germán Bencci(opens new window) (Founder and CEO at CodeYourFuture). Each panellist has varied and unique experiences of using technology to make a positive social impact.
Sachin shared some of his experiences at Multiverse;
“In my role, I’m able to use technology to help less fortunate people gain a greater chance of success in pursuing their dreams through apprenticeships, creating a more diverse group of future leaders.”
Flora shared her experience of working on projects at IBM which used genomics to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of NHS patients. Whilst Germán explained how role models and soft-skills training have been integral to the success of CodeYourFuture - a non-profit organisation which teaches some of the most deprived members of society to learn web development skills and supports them with finding work.
What does Tech For Good mean to you?
The event kicked off by defining what Tech For Good meant to each of the panellists. Working in a range of industries, from healthcare to education, gave each speaker a unique insight into how they defined Tech For Good. However, they were all unified in recognising that this involved designing and creating technology in an ethical way, which can be used to help solve social, environmental and economic challenges.
Later, our panellists discussed the impact that technologies they helped to develop have had on society. These experiences initiated panellists to discuss the reasons which have led to technology being so powerful. Technology can predict and execute behaviours with degrees of accuracy that cannot be achieved by humans. Further, technology is far-ranging - it can reach large numbers of people and pockets of the population that cannot be easily reached by humans. Technology can push the boundaries beyond what people can achieve.
“We want to grow from supporting a few thousand, to hundreds of thousands of apprentices, which is impossible to achieve without automation and scalability.” - Sachin Goyal, VP of Engineering at Multiverse
The impact of technology
However, it was also important to consider the detrimental impact that technology can have when used in a negative way. Given the ever-changing landscape of technology in the world around us, we spoke about how best to regulate the development and control of technology in order to safeguard the wellbeing and safety of those that use, and are impacted, by it.
Towards the end of the panel, there was an opportunity for the event attendees to ask questions which had arisen from the evening’s conversation. Attendees were curious to hear the speaker's thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of decentralising social media platforms, whilst also wanting to understand how best to support disadvantaged individuals in performing their best at work.
Multiverse’s meetup provided a great opportunity to hear first-hand insights into how the panellists had navigated the successes and challenges they faced whilst designing, developing and delivering large scale Tech For Good initiatives. Further, it provided a space for like-minded individuals to socialise, learn more about each other's interests and be inspired to help build solutions to complex social, environmental and economic challenges.
Tech For Good at Multiverse
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