Benetech Labs is where the Benetech team and our social impact partners incubate new software-for-good applications. Within the arena of startup incubators, however, Benetech’s social enterprise business model and Benetech Labs’ approach are unique.
How can we use technology to help social entrepreneurs collect and use their data more effectively and securely? We are exploring this in Benetech Labs. The solution we have been exploring is a semi-customized, open source, secure, data collection and analysis application that makes it easier for social sector users to safely gather and use information more efficiently.
The Benetech team has just bid goodbye to VP of Engineering Gerardo Capiel, who is moving on to his next adventure. A passionate technology-for-good advocate, Gerardo has made major contributions to Benetech’s social mission since he joined us over four years ago. As we are getting ready to welcome a new VP of Engineering, I’d like to acknowledge and thank Gerardo for his many contributions and their lasting impact on the lives of the people we serve.
Adopting an open source philosophy has proven to be quite effective when furthering technology-for-good, notes online magazine Opensource.com in an interview with Benetech CEO Jim Fruchterman. Fruchterman goes on to describe the open source tools Benetech builds; clarifies why it is important that cybersecurity tools in particular are open; explains how Benetech’s culture of “open” shapes its product development as well as broadly serves its social mission; and reflects on the reasons why the open source ethos is well suited for creating social impact.
Three short years ago, the idea for SocialCoding4Good began forming at OSCON, O’Reilly’s annual open source conference. When we presented SocialCoding4Good at last year’s OSCON, we were struck by the number of people who shared their own experiences contributing to global Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects. It’s time for us to take the next step, and support this growing contributor community. To that end, we’re thrilled to officially introduce our new Developer Community Manager, Emma Irwin. In Portland? Meet Emma Irwin in person at OSCON this week.
