Organizers of a new startup support program, CityStart Boston, have announced a month-long effort to extend Boston’s innovation economy across the entire city, beyond the city’s Innovation District and the other areas where startups and entrepreneurs cluster.
Running from May 30 to June 20, CityStart Boston is a combination of a weekend think tank/hackathon, followed by a four-week mini-accelerator designed to create actual startups solving civic problems.
CityStart Boston is an extension of ThinkTank Boston, an annual student-only, one-day event started in 2012. The coalition steering this year’s event includes representatives from The Capital Network, The City of Boston, Constant Contact Inc., District Hall, Innovation Nights, MassChallenge, Microsoft, Startup Institute and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
“Innovation cannot be constrained to just a few neighborhoods in Boston,” said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. “My administration has already taken action to ensure that innovation begins to spread into every neighborhood with the upcoming opening of the Roxbury Innovation Center and the formation of the Neighborhood Innovation District Committee. I’m excited that CityStart will continue the conversation about how every neighborhood in Boston has the potential to become an innovative neighborhood.”
Hackathon
CityStart Boston begins May 30, with a one day “Hackathon” at MassChallenge, which will bring students and startups together to work on solutions. Findings from the mayor’s Neighborhood Innovation Steering Committee will guide the participants’ thinking. Participants will form teams, and then work on designing prototype solutions and business concepts that they will pitch to a team of judges for feedback and ranking.
Teams who choose to continue will proceed to the “Boot Camp” phase of the program, which begins May 31 and lasts for three weeks. Teams will further develop their ideas through a series of educational workshops, high-quality mentoring, and introductions facilitated by participants throughout the Boston startup ecosystem, all focused on refining their ideas for actual execution.
CityStart Boston ends on June 20 at the Fairmount Innovation Lab with teams making their final pitches to an audience of potential investors, partners and supporters. Top performers will receive financial and business development support.
