Innovating an innovation

It started out as a single week of celebrating Boston as a major national innovation center, with its world-class universities and hospitals, tech and biotech startups and giants.

Over the past five years Harvard University, The Boston Globe, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have evolved HubWeek into a yearlong event. And all of it culminates in an annual festival, taking place this year Tuesday through Thursday in Boston’s Seaport District.

“Since the seeds of HubWeek were planted, Harvard has been delighted to collaborate with MGH across Greater Boston on advancing the discussion of the important issues facing our region and our world,” said Harvard Deputy Provost Peggy Newell. “The fall festival lineup and the conversations that are planned highlight the work of many of our colleagues from across the University and showcase why Boston is on the forefront of so many innovative breakthroughs.”

Throughout 2019, HubWeek embarked on a showcase of the work going on in various neighborhoods around Greater Boston: from Union Square in Somerville, where an old lot became a small-businesses incubator, to East Boston, where community leaders are nurturing one of the city’s most vibrant art communities.

Next week thousands of participants and visitors from throughout the U.S. and the world will descend on the city to hear from more than 50 speakers, all innovative leaders in thescience, medical, technological, and arts ecosystems.

Events will get underway on Tuesday at noon when HubWeek co-founder and Boston Globe Media Partners Managing Director Linda Henry is joined by Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Year Up founder and CEO Gerald Chertavian on the festival’s main stage to introduce the year’s theme: the pursuit.

Kicking off the day on Wednesday, Bozoma St. John, chief marketing officer for global talent and media company Endeavor, will join Harvard Business Review’s Amy Bernstein to discuss business, opportunity, and what she has learned working for some of the most recognizable brands in the world.

Later that day, the Business Review’s editor-in-chief, Adi Ignatius, will moderate a panel focused on the intersection of ethics and technology. Joining the panel will be computer scientist and entrepreneur Rana el Kaliouby and Harvard’s James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics Danielle Allen.

Also Wednesday, Harvard Medical School Associate Dean for Executive Education Stan Shaw engages doctors and researchers on the impact of rare diseases on patients and how treatments are progressing.

For more information, or to register to attend the festival, visit HubWeek.org.