Allie Bashuk, Mark DiNatale

What becomes possible when research is allowed to experiment in cultural spaces?

We’re interested in cultural spaces not just as places to present work, but as environments where ideas can be tested, challenged, and developed through experimentation. What becomes possible when research is allowed to experiment in cultural spaces?

This conversation is an open invitation to Georgia Tech researchers, faculty, students, and staff who are curious about new contexts for research and collaboration. We’re interested in learning where existing research practices feel constrained, what kinds of experimentation do not fit easily within labs or classrooms, and how cultural spaces like Goat Farm and LOOP might support early-stage testing, interdisciplinary exchange, and public-facing inquiry. Our goal is to listen, exchange ideas, and begin identifying shared interests and potential pathways for future collaboration.

Powered by Goat Farm, LOOP is a contemporary arts initiative serving as a place to test new ideas and foster experimentation. Anchored by a performance venue and artist studios, it will operate as a dynamic hub for contemporary art, performance, music, and design, fostering work that pushes boundaries and invites cross-disciplinary collaboration. Details for this event ->

Beyond Pilots: Innovations, Institutions, and Impact in a Post-Aid World

As global aid budgets contract and traditional financing vehicles falter, the question is no longer whether social innovation must scale—but how.   Join us in this forward-looking timely conversation on what it truly takes to move beyond pilots and into lasting, system-level impact.

Drawing on experience across international NGOs, government partnerships, UN agencies, philanthropy, and technology-enabled innovation, this session will explore why so many promising ideas struggle to survive once donor funding ends. Rather than focusing on tools alone, we’ll examine the institutional, governance, and market conditions that determine whether innovation endures—or quietly disappears.

The discussion will tackle big questions: What does “scaling” really mean in a post-aid world? What market forces and financing mechanisms are critical for innovations to scale? How should AI and digital tools in public systems be governed? what roles should universities, companies, governments, and social sector actors play next?

Designed as an interactive exchange, this session is for students, researchers, practitioners, innovators, and private-sector partners shaping the future of social impact, we will unpack what’s broken in current models, why promising solutions stall, and how new approaches—blended finance, market-shaping partnerships, institutional reform, and locally led innovation—can unlock scale with integrity.

Expect sharp insights, real-world examples, and honest debate from experts working at the intersection of innovation, institutions, and impact. If you care about building solutions that last—and matter—this conversation is for you.

This Conversation event is co-sponsored by the Georgia Tech Global Development Program which includes the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, School of Economics, and School of City and Regional Planning.
Details for this event ->

Tim Lieuwen