Pop!Tech 2009: America Reimagined

Pop!Tech is an annual conference that draws approximately 600 attendees and is held at the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine. The purpose of the conference is to bring together technology, innovation and people to tackle global problems such as climate change, poverty and disease. Conference themes change from year to year.

Conference presenters describe Pop!Tech 2009 as follows: "We’ll look at cutting-edge ideas in education, energy, entrepreneurship, and the many other social systems on which America’s future wealth depends, and we’ll ask what it means to be a superpower in the age of the Second Superpower -- the Internet."

Musical performances, short films and demonstrations are interspersed with brief lectures from social activists and experts in emerging technology. Past speakers and performers include Paul Simon, Jonathan Coulton, Victoria Hale, Cary Fowler, John Legend, Van Jones, Malcolm Gladwell, Brian Eno and Kevin Kelly (editor). 

Each year, Pop!Tech sponsors a select group of leaders from around the world to attend the conference under the Fellows Program. In 2005, the fellows were African civic and technology leaders, and in 2008, 20 fellows from different social innovation fields were sponsored.