Collaboratory Offers Opportunity for Jewish Innovators

Today is the deadline to apply for a place at The Collaboratory, an annual gathering of Jewish innovators that is being held in Buckhead this year from March 21 to 23.

“Innovators and entrepreneurs are effecting grassroots change in communities around the world. Imagine how much more we could accomplish if we discovered new ways to work better together,” the event’s website reads.
Bikkurim, Joshua Venture Group, PresenTense, ROI Community and UpStart launched The Collaboratory as a way to provide continuing support to the alumni of their programs for Jewish innovators and social entrepreneurs and to form networks to help spread best practices and projects.

The fifth annual Collaboratory’s Main Event, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, features expert keynote speakers and workshops to help develop skills and networks. Not coincidentally, it takes place at the Grand Hyatt, the same location as the annual conference of the Jewish Funders Network from March 19 to 21.

The Main Event is followed by Activate, an optional day of intensive networking with a deeper dive into a specific interest or issue, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23.

The heavily subsidized $150 fee for the full conference includes dinner Tuesday and breakfast and lunch Wednesday and Thursday, all certified as kosher by the Atlanta Kosher Commission. The fee for just the Main Event is $100.

Thanks to a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, fee waivers are available for a limited number of participants from the Atlanta area.

Atlanta-area innovators who have attended The Collaboratory in the past include Russell Gottschalk of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, Noah Pawliger of Camp Living Wonders, Ana Robbins of Jewish Kids Groups, and Jennie Rivlin Roberts, who founded ModernTribe and led Federation’s ProtéJ program for Jewish innovators.

In addition to The Collaboratory, Amplifier and Slingshot are sponsoring a local event the night of March 22 between the Main Event and Activate.

You can apply by clicking here, and you’ll hear whether you’re accepted by Wednesday, Feb. 1.

For more information, contact Alexis Jaffe.