Here's what we've found for the best startup and tech networking events in the D.C. area to check out this week.
Tuesday
Event: 36|86 Southern Series — Launch Tennessee
Location: Disruption Corporation 2231 Crystal Dr. Suite 1000 Arlington, VA 22202 Date/Time: Tues. April 7th from 2:00PM to 7:00PM Price: Free
On Tuesday, Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN), in conjunction with local partners, will conduct a 36|86 mini-series in some of the leading entrepreneurial hubs in the southeast. The half day event will bring together top regional startups, investors and supporters.
Ten companies were selected to present tomorrow and then up to four winners — from each region — will attend 36|86 in June. LaunchTN is a public-private partnership dedicated to supporting high-growth entrepreneurs with the goal of making Tennessee a great place for entrepreneurs to start and grow a company. The Southern Series aims to find some of the most promising early stage companies throughout the region.
Event: Virtual Reality Social — VR Social
Location: Grand Trunk 641 Indiana Ave NW Washington, DC Date/Time: Tues. April 7th at 7:00PM Price: Free
This is a social event for local residents to talk about VR and other emerging technologies. This specific meetup will be more relaxed and informal than either the breakout sessions or the larger meetup groups. Grand Trunk is a new South-Asian fusion restaurant with a particular affinity for technology, obvious in the light-show and flatscreen bonanza that is their storefront (*Note*: it does not serve alcohol).
Wednesday
Event: Civic Hacknight — Code for DC
Location: Impact Hub DC 419 7th St NW, Second Floor Washington, DC Date/Time: Wed. April 8th from 6:30PM to 9:30PM Price: Pay what you can, food is delivered
Bring a laptop and be ready to socialize. Founded in 2012, Code for DC is a non-partisan, non-political group of volunteer civic hackers working together to solve local issues and help people engage with the city. The group hosts twice-monthly hacknights and other events to gather, work on projects and discuss code. There will be group introductions and announcements from participants and organizers to begin the night. Project teams break out to work afterwards, at this point new participants can join teams, circulate, or seek out the Co-Captains for orientation.
Friday
Event: Protecting Data Confidentiality in an Era with No Privacy
Location: Natcher Conference Center (Building 45) Balcony B Bethesda, MD 20892 Date/Time: Fri. April 10th from 2:00PM to 3:00PM Price: Free
Lead speaker Jerome Reiter, Ph.D., Duke University, will discuss some of the difficult challenges of large-scale data sharing in the health and social sciences sectors. As the complexity and quality of such data has increased, so too have the threats to confidentiality and the scope of security. The talk will also regard a system that Reiter believes will be the future vision of an integrated system for disseminating confidential data. Reiter’s methodological research at Duke focuses mainly on statistical methods for protecting data confidentiality, for handling missing data, and for modeling complex data.
Event: Will The Sharing of Threat Information Secure The Homeland or Erode Privacy?
Location: Rayburn House Office Bldg, Room 2226 Washington, DC 20515 Date/Time: Fri. April 10th from 12:00PM to 1:00PM Price: Free
A core group of speakers, including Cyber Security Reporter from The Hill, Cory Bennett(Moderator), Robyn Green of the Open Technology Institute at New America and VP of Global Government Affairs & Cybersecurity Policy, Cheri McGuire, will lead a discussion regarding the public-private sharing of threat information. The President and Congress are back with new legislation to protect cyber systems via information sharing, with bills likely to see Congress for vote, shortly. The panel will discuss issues concerning whether Congress’s approach will secure the homeland and if the legislation puts civil liberties/privacy at risk.
