SingularityU Chapter Amsterdam in cooperation with Epicenter Amsterdam invites you to the inspiring lunch-talk “Social Enterprises as a Tool for Activism" by Melanie Rieback on Wednesday October 9.

We have entered the era of President Trump. Activists, NGOs, and charities thus need to reexamine the stability of (and motives behind) their funding sources. Surprisingly, business is an excellent tool that one can leverage to change the system. While business is not perceived as sexy by most activist-types, this talk will explain why social enterprises are tactical, lightweight, independent, effective, and why they are now more important than ever.

Dr. Melanie Rieback is the CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security, the world’s first non-profit computer security consultancy company. It’s a collective of hackers who aim to disrupt the computer security market with their ideals — give 90% of profits to charity (the NLnet Foundation), release all their tools into the open-source, invite customers to actively participate, and generally optimize for openness, transparency, and community service. Melanie is also a former Assistant Professor of Computer Science at VU and was named 2010 ICT Professional of the Year (Finalist) by WomeninIT, one of the fifty most inspiring women in tech (Inspiring Fifty Netherlands) in 2016 and 2017, and the Most Innovative IT Leader by CIO Magazine NL (TIM Award) in 2017.

After the talk there will be an short Q&A with Melanie and of course time for meeting the other SingularityU Amsterdam and Epicenter community members over some available lunch bites.

This event is hosted by Epicenter Amsterdam (Fred. Roeskestraat 115) and will be held at their Cuddle Puddle on the ground floor. You are welcome at 11:45 am and the talk starts at 12:00 pm sharp. So make sure you have secured your seat by then.

Hope to see you there!

Peter Maarten, Alix, Maayke, Jordy.

SingularityU Chapter Amsterdam