The City of Portland, CivicApps and Portland Ten to Host Lunch 2.0 October 20

So, this is kind of a big deal.

I’m extremely pleased to announce that the City of Portland, specifically CivicApps (@civicapps), and Portland Ten (@portlandten) will be our hosts for Lunch 2.0 on October 20, 2010 at City Hall.

You may recall from Rick’s coverage that CivicApps is “a contest sponsored by the City of Portland designed to help stimulate and motivate the development community to mix and match all the awesome datasets—more than 100 different types—available from the City.”

Of course, you’re also likely familiar with Portland Ten, a past Lunch 2.0 host, whose mission is to grow ten Portland startups to $1 million in revenue within 18 months.

I’m humbled that the City sees value in what started out as a geeky get-together over lunch. Hosting a Lunch 2.0 further underlines the City’s commitment to reaching out to the Portland technical community.Of course, this commitment forms the basis for CivicApps.

Not familiar with CivicApps? Here’s how Skip Newberry (@skipnewberry), Economic Development Policy Advisor to Mayor Sam Adams (@mayorsamadams) describes the contest:

CivicApps is both an open data initiative–in which the City and other public sector partners release public datasets in standard formats to the general public–and an idea and software application design contest. Any Portlander may submit an idea for a new app or new public dataset and win a cash prize. Similarly, any local developer may design an app using public data and win a cash prize. Our goal with CivicApps is to get the public more involved in thinking about ways to improve government as well as in creating solutions to civic challenges.

Interesting stuff indeed. Here’s a glimpse at the agenda for the lunch.

Mark Greinke (@markgreinke), City of Portland CTO, Rick Nixon, Project Manager for Civic Apps, and Skip will all be on hand representing the City and CivicApps.

Mark will talk generally about the Bureau of Technology Service (BTS), its role at the City and the assistance that BTS has received from the community on key projects during the past year.

Naturally, there will be a lot of talk about CivicApps from Mark and Rick–what’s been accomplished so far, where the contest is going, the community’s involvement. Also, expect highlights from a couple of other BTS projects.

Skip will provide some context from the Mayor’s perspective around open source policy, collaboration with the Portland Development Commission (@pdxdevelopment) around support for the Software Cluster, and projects like CivicApps.

He’ll also discuss the Portland Plan, which forms the basic strategic framework for these initiatives and lays out a roadmap and vision for Portland in the next 25 years. Skip goes on give more details:

The Transportation, Technology and Access component of the Portland Plan and these recent initiatives are driven by the goal of improving access to services, opportunities, and to one another. Implicit in this goal are two related themes: better communincation and increased collaboration. In order to improve City government, we need the help of the community, broadly defined. In order to facilitate participation by the community in this revisioning process, we are working to develop platforms that engage the public and allow them to help shape policy and outcomes. CivicApps is one such example. Working to craft a broadband and technology infrastructure strategy for the City–in addition to pursuing opportunities like Google Fiber (@pdxfiber)–is another.

Portland Ten founder and director, Carolynn Duncan (@hundreddollar), will be on hand to talk about the end of their ten by 10/2010 goal, i.e. incubate ten Portland startups to $1 million in revenue by the end of October 2010, and highlight what has happened during that time, the City’s support for the project, and Portland Ten’s perspective on the startup community.

She’ll also be eager to chat about Portland Ten’s fall programs, which run September 27 through December 17. Portland Ten is partnering with CivicApps this Fall to provide support and services for mobile application developers, open source developers and entrepreneurs.

But wait, there’s more.

Portland Ten and CivicApps are currently running a survey, to determine business development and support needs for entrepreneurs and small business owners in Portland’s mobile applications and services space.

The survey will be open to the public through mid October, coincidentally timed with this Lunch 2.0.

Back to the lunch, head over to Upcoming and RSVP now because the ground floor atrium of City Hall can only comfortably hold a limited number of people, only about 150 or so. If the list blows up, we’ll have to close it.

That means space is limited and so is time. So, do it now. Be sure to include any pluses you might decide to bring along, and drop a comment if you’re vegan/vegetarian.

Here’s the skinny:

Hosts: City of Portland CivicApps and Portland Ten

Where: 1221 SW 4th Avenue, Portland OR 97204

When: October 20, 2010 from 12:00 to 2:00 PM

RSVP on Upcoming

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

• October 20 hosted by City of Portland CivicApps and Portland Ten

I’m always looking for hosts, so if you’re interested or know someone who might be interested in hosting a Lunch 2.0, drop a comment, hit me up on Twitter (@jkuramot), or find me at a Lunch 2.0, if you want to chat IRL.

Want to know what’s involved? Check out the how-to primer.

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. As with the majority of the tech events in Portland, sponsors make them happen. So, we humbly thank you.