2025 Tech Together: Unlocking Improbably Good Futures

​On behalf of Siegel Family Endowment, Heising-Simons Foundation, GitLab Foundation, Omidyar Network, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and partners, we're pleased to invite you to Tech Together 2025—a two-day gathering at Cornell Tech for philanthropists, impact investors, and mission-aligned leaders shaping the future of public interest technology (PIT).

​Join us in New York City, September 22–23, 2025, alongside the UN General Assembly, for a dynamic series of workshops, provocations, and strategic convenings designed to catalyze bold, actionable visions for the future of technology—and the futures we want it to enable.

​From foresight sessions and thematic working groups to artist talks and interactive activations, Tech Together 2025 will explore how we can align capital, strategy, and imagination toward shared outcomes rooted in the public interest. In a time when AI and emerging technologies are reshaping every sector, this is a rare opportunity to move beyond critique and toward coordinated action.

​Event Date & Time:

• ​Monday, September 22 – 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, followed by an evening reception

• ​Tuesday, September 23 – 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

​Event Location: Verizon Executive Education Center at Cornell Tech, New York City

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​Program Preview

​Note: this event is intended for funders and mission aligned investors.

​Day 1: Disrupting the Horizon
Monday, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM, followed by a reception

• ​Explore strategic foresight and futures thinking

• ​Participate in hands-on forecasting workshops

• ​Join thematic working groups on economic prosperity, climate, education, and more

• ​Conclude with visionary reflections and informal connection

​Day 2: Building Narrative Infrastructure
Tuesday, 8:30 AM–12:30 PM

• ​Examine how narrative shapes public imagination, legitimacy, and funding priorities

• ​Surface language gaps and misalignments across the field

• ​Co-develop story-driven infrastructure to support long-term, values-aligned tech futures

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​More on Thematic Working Groups

​On the afternoon of Day 1, attendees will join thematic working sessions to explore key sectors shaping the public interest tech movement. These interactive discussions will focus on futures-oriented strategy and collaborative ecosystem building. Below is the list of sessions.

• ​Climate Justice + Public Interest Tech with Mozilla Foundation - Technology is entirely intertwined with the climate crisis both as a driving factor, with its energy demands and raw material requirements, as well as a proposed solution, with its contribution to measurement, mitigation, and adaptation. In this roundtable discussion we will share philanthropic strategies and specific examples of what's working, where there are still gaps, and how we can collectively work to address the climate crisis using a climate justice lens.

• ​Economic Prosperity + AI with GitLab Foundation - As artificial intelligence transforms industries and reshapes the nature of work, philanthropic leaders and mission-driven funders have a critical opportunity to ensure it becomes a force for economic mobility rather than deepened inequality. This interactive roundtable will showcase proven solutions and explore how funders can accelerate and scale AI-driven innovations that boost income and promote economic prosperity.

• ​K-12 Education + Public Interest Tech with Siegel Family Endowment and Kapor Foundation - K-12 computing education intersects with public interest technology as both a critical domain for equitable tech implementation and a foundational space for building the next generation's relationship with technology. In this roundtable discussion, we will establish shared definitions of how K-12 fits within the PIT landscape and develop collaborative strategies for ecosystem building that creates pathways from K-16 for more inclusive tech futures, exploring how funders can collectively advance interdisciplinary computing numeracy and literacy, which includes responsible artificial intelligence.

• ​Human Connection + AI with Omidyar Network - This session will explore the potential impact of AI on human connection, including an overview of emerging threats and philanthropic strategies for enhancing guardrails and mitigating harm. The conversation will focus on AI companions – the chatbots designed to serve as your friend or romantic partner – and explore the various positions people hold ranging from a belief that AI companions might address the loneliness epidemic, to questioning whether humanity can survive a tipping point where we engage with machines more than each other.

• ​Democracy + AI with The David and Lucile Packard Foundation - From election deepfakes to AI-written legislation, enhanced public benefits delivery and supercharged military capabilities, our democracy is already being reshaped by AI. This session will discuss and preview emerging research about what democracy issues AI funders and experts are most concerned about, and explore how tech funders can help support a future where emerging technologies strengthen, rather than undermine, democracy. 

​Organizer Note: We recognize that Rosh Hashanah begins on September 22nd, which may prevent some from participating. However, since this event coincides with the UN General Assembly and Climate Week—whose dates remain fixed—we've decided to proceed as scheduled. While we understand not everyone can attend, we see this as the first of many events, providing future opportunities for broader participation.