Sep 8

Sep 8 iGEM 2021 Jamboree Meetups: New Venues for Celebration

Design-Build-Test-Learn. That’s what we do as engineers. And we learn from one another – what works, what doesn’t, what might work better.

In 2007, the Brown iGEM team organized an East Coast Meetup, where teams from MIT, McGill, Cold Spring Harbor, and Boston University gathered to share ideas and learn from one another.

In 2008, an iGEM-UK Shindig was held, where teams from Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Imperial and Newcastle joined together to celebrate their iGEM experience.

Over the next ten years, iGEM Meetups began to take off, growing from 5 regional meetups in 2009 to over 40 meetups in 2019. When the pandemic hit last year, teams discovered new ways to stay connected. The iGEM 2020 teams organized more than 45 (mostly virtual) meetups, and our entire iGEM community joined together to celebrate at our first iGEM 2020 Global Meetup. Now in 2021, with more than a decade’s worth of experience in team meetups and the learnings from last year, we’re taking iGEM Meetups to the next level.

When the pandemic hit last year, teams discovered new ways to stay connected. The iGEM 2020 teams organized more than 45 (mostly virtual) meetups, and our entire iGEM community joined together to celebrate at our first iGEM 2020 Global Meetup.

We are pleased to announce the iGEM 2021 Jamboree Meetups, to be held November 12-14 at many locations around the world and open to all iGEM 2021 teams, iGEM Alumni, and people from the local communities - anyone interested in iGEM and synthetic biology. The Jamboree Meetups will be satellite events of the Giant Jamboree that aim to provide a similar celebration experience to a physical Jamboree. It’s all about connecting the iGEM community on a local level and, in parallel, connecting all iGEMers globally. Through these in-person events we hope to present the potential of Synthetic Biology in solving local problems to local people while highlighting the efforts of our community.

The Jamboree Meetups will be led by the iGEM community and coordinated by your iGEM Ambassadors. Earlier this year, the iGEM Ambassadors heard from teams that you wanted some in-person interactions, even if held on a smaller scale within your local regions. Given the complexity and changing status of travel feasibilities, the Ambassadors took on the extremely tricky challenge of helping teams organize events – from tracking COVID policies (which can change from day-to-day), to spearheading permissions for use of campus and other venues, to coordinating with hosts and mobilizing the entire community, including not only teams, but also alumni, academic institutions, and biotech companies.

Participation at the Jamboree Meetups will be free to all, and will include a multitude of activities, including poster sessions, job fairs, University fairs, games, hackathons, activities led by local synbio associations, workshops and seminars for Career development, Academia and Industry, and much more. Live streaming will enable cross-talk among the meetups and allow people from all over the world to support the iGEM 2021 teams.

The Jamboree Meetups are a new opportunity for teams to come together and connect with local communities and stakeholders. We encourage you to invite your family and friends to learn more about your projects. You could introduce your proposed solution to a local problem to your local communities in front of your poster. You could team up with other iGEMers to tackle a hackathon challenge. You could engage with local stakeholders who are interested in working with you to implement your project idea in the real world.

While nothing can be guaranteed amidst the ever changing landscape of COVID restrictions, we're hopeful that the iGEM 2021 Jamboree Meetups will provide new venues for our community and local stakeholders to celebrate together. Signups for the Jamboree Meetups will be available soon. In the meantime, contact your iGEM Ambassadors if you would like to host a Jamboree Meetup and send any questions or suggestions about organizing a Jamboree Meetup to jamboreemeetup [AT] igem [DOT] org.