One week until Beyond Innovation comes to Dodger Stadium
November 8, 2019
One week from today, executives from across the sports, tech, business, government and education landscape will come together at Beyond Innovation to advance the conversation on sport's role in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
Hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation at the iconic Dodger Stadium, our third installment will work towards cross-sector partnerships and innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social issues in support of the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
The interactive and immersive program features issue and best practice experts, talks, Q&A’s and group discussions on STEM and sport’s combined roles on targeted SDGs and larger societal goals, roundtable workshops led by the Sport & STEM Alliance and live programming on Dodger field showcasing the Science of Baseball program.
In honor of today’s National STEM/STEAM Day in the US, read on to learn more about next Friday’s program and speakers:
Emceed by Co-Founder of Next Gen HQ Dylan Gambardella, Beyond Innovation participants will be welcomed to Dodger Stadium by Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation CEO, Nichol Whiteman, who will speak on Bigger than Baseball: Equity, Access and Impact Through Sport and STEM. Then Beyond Sport Founder and President, Nick Keller, will set the context for the discussions to follow, showing how STEM and innovation firmly sit within the SDGs and are integral to reaching them by 2030.
This was previously echoed by Shamika Sirimanne, Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics UN Commission on Science & Technology for Development, who said, “we now see innovation as a process of transformative change, anchored in the SDG agenda.”
Then, to address the gender biases that undermine society worldwide as well as disparities in STEM fields, Jen Regan, Chief Sustainability Officer of We Bring It On, will moderate a panel and Q&A on STEM’s role in addressing Goal 5 - Gender Equality – and how sport can support that role. According to UNESCO, schools which are supportive of girls in STEM have been shown to reduce the gender gap in STEM by 25% or more and with a sustainable impact.
The panel features: Leticia Andueza, Associate Executive Director of New Economics for Women; Dr. Katherine Bihr, Vice President of Programs and Education for TGR Foundation, a Tiger Woods Charity; Sophia Garcia, Executive Director of Community Affairs & Government Relations for Verizon; and Dr. Liz Hicks, Founder and Principal of the Los Angeles Unified Schools District – Girls Academic Leadership Academy.
Next will be talks on Climate Action (Goal 13), Quality Education (Goal 4) and Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11), each followed by group conversations on sport’s role. Topics and speakers include:
Emily Church, Executive Director of Prize Operations, Global Learning at XPRIZE who will address using tech to address the climate crisis. For example, PWC reports that artificial Intelligence alone has the potential to slash greenhouse gas emissions by four percent by 2030—equivalent to the emissions of Australia, Canada and Japan combined.
Chris Rougier, STEM Curriculum Developer at Loyola Marymount University who will address developing innovative school STEM curriculum for quality education. According to a 2018 Whitehouse report, modern STEM education imparts not only skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, higher order thinking, design and inference, but also behavioral competencies such as perseverance, adaptability, cooperation, organization and responsibility.
Pete Fitzboydon, Chairperson of the OpenActive Board and former CEO of London Sport who will address improving STEM to help generate sustainable cities and communities. UN Environment noted that climate action, such as doubling bus network coverage and frequency in cities, could prevent the premature deaths of over one million people per year from air pollution and traffic accidents.
To round out the morning, Jesse Lovejoy, Director of 49ers EDU and 49ers Museum and Managing Partner of EDU Academy, will moderate a discussion on "Sport’s Response" that will explore sport’s role in the link between STEM and the global agenda, incorporating feedback from the earlier group discussions. The 49ers Foundation, alongside Beyond Sport and Chevron, founded the Sport & STEM Alliance in 2017 coming out of the first Beyond Innovation to help inspire student passion in STEM education.
The panel features: Dr. Kimberly Clay, Founder and CEO of Play Like a Girl; Mike Lahoud, professional soccer player and supporter of education in his native Sierra Leone through Schools for Salone; and Melanie LeGrande, Vice President of Social Responsibility for the MLB.
The afternoon’s roundtable sessions will be led by members of the Sport & STEM Alliance who will convene the day before at the TGR Learning Lab of the TGR Foundation to explore the key areas of focus that have the greatest potential for collective impact. They will bring the discussion to Beyond Innovation with the goal of shaping a collective focus and deciding on the top three areas that will form the Alliance’s work and vision in 2020.
Combining sport’s influence, appeal and platform with STEM’s foundation in innovation and solution creation has been a proven game-changer in addressing global challenges. Closing out the 2019 event, will be a commitment to action and a plan for the way forward. A representative from each of the roundtable sessions will make their pitch for what the Sport & STEM Alliance should focus on in 2020.
Beyond Innovation is by invitation only, but you can register your interest to attend here.
If you are interested in joining the Sport & STEM Alliance, please email [email protected] to learn more about the programs, plans and benefits of membership and how you can be a part of the 2020 journey!