Media · Ethical Tech Summit
The Ethical Tech Summit is the public-facing capstone of the graduate course Harnessing Emerging Technology in Ethical Sourcing at the NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs. Each semester the Ethical Tech CoLab convenes students, technologists, and policy practitioners for a Summit and Hackathon on the live boundary between emerging technology and global affairs.
Recurring threads: agentic systems and the future of work; verifiable supply chains under UFLPA / NDAA; online grooming and platform safety; forced labor and human trafficking; and micropayment rails for vulnerable populations and creator economies.
Spring 2026 · NYC
Student-led applied work on x402, agent-to-agent micropayments, and downstream effects on vulnerable populations and creator economies. Industry roundtable on responsible deployment.
Fall 2025 · NYC
UFLPA / NDAA practitioner panel; demos of attestation patterns over the Supplychain Graph; student briefs on traceability gaps in critical-mineral pathways.
Spring 2025 · NYC
Joint session with multilateral and civil-society partners; student demos on detection patterns and trauma-informed design; closing panel on platform accountability.
Fall 2024 · NYC
Launch of student-led applied-research projects on forced-labor structural risk; introduction of the Forced Labor Structural Risk Index methodology.
Spring 2024 · NYC
First convening of the Ethical Tech CoLab; framing session on how engineering practice can inform sourcing policy, and how policy can inform engineering boundaries.
A visual sampler from past Summits and Hackathons — panels, student demos, partner roundtables, and the convening floor. Click any image for the full-size version.
Speaker · Amanda Lindsey
Speaker · Deborah Berebichez
Speaker · Ruchira Gupta
AI Researcher track
Summit floor
Working session
Panel discussion
Student demo
Hackathon
Convening
Summit moment
Summit momentA next step is a Belfer-co-hosted edition scoped around one of three themes — critical supply chains, agentic governance, or AI-mediated diplomacy — producing a structured recommendations memo and a published convening summary.