PRI Innovation Forum: Empowering Hyperlocal Response

The NYC Preparedness & Recovery Institute (PRI), in partnership with Columbia Engineering, invites you to attend the 2026 PRI Innovation Forum: Empowering Hyperlocal Response. Building on the momentum of the 2024 Innovation Forum and the 2025 Innovation Showcase, the 2026 Innovation Forum advances PRI’s commitment to generating, refining, and scaling practical innovations in public health preparedness and response.

This one-day conference will bring together researchers, government officials, industry leaders, community-based organizations, technologists, funders, and social entrepreneurs to move from exploration to execution. The focus for 2026 is clear: strengthening sustainable partnerships and advancing solutions that can scale to support New York City’s long-term public health resilience.

This year’s theme, Empowering Hyperlocal Response, addresses a central challenge in public health preparedness: emergencies are felt first at the neighborhood level, yet resources and decision-making are often centralized. This theme is informed by PRI’s COVID-19 Review. A draft of the Review will be available for public comment during the Forum.

What to Expect

Keynote & Panels – Hear from experts who are advancing promising innovations in hyperlocal preparedness and response. Discussions will explore emerging challenges, pathways to scale, sustainable partnership models, and real-world implementation strategies. Panels will also highlight progress, lessons learned, and next steps from the 2024 Innovations Grant awardees and other emerging projects.

Demo Expo – Engage with new tools, technologies, ideas, and research throughout the event space. Meet solution providers, try out prototypes designed to support hyperlocal preparedness and response. Featured exhibits will showcase tools, partnerships, and models that deliver timely data, resources, and decision-making support tailored to local community needs. Interested in exhibiting your work? Learn more and apply below.

Real-World Workshops – Help design upcoming AI, data and tech-driven prototypes that will bring innovation into the world of preparedness. Join researchers and entrepreneurs as they present real-world concepts to be refined in conversations with community, government and private sector partners. 

Networking Opportunities – Connect with community members, researchers, policymakers, investors, funders, and technology innovators throughout the day. Dedicated networking breaks, the Demo Expo, and a closing reception will provide space for collaboration, partnership building, and future funding pathways.

Innovation Champions

The PRI Innovation Forum is supported by Champions who help elevate the event and the work of innovators and partners. We’re grateful for their support in expanding the event’s reach across New York City and beyond, strengthening connections across public health leaders, community organizations, and innovators, and bringing more people into the conversation around practical solutions for local preparedness and response. Interested in becoming a Champion? Contact Tara Abularrage for more information.

Featured Speakers & Moderators

Note: This year’s fireside chat will feature Andrea Silverman and Brett Branco from FloodNet. FloodNet builds and deploys real-time flood monitoring tools in New York City, making accessible data available to residents, community groups, agencies, and researchers.

Panelists

Demo Expo

Starting at lunch and running through the afternoon, the PRI Innovation Forum will feature a Demo Expo where attendees can engage with new tools, technologies, and ideas designed to empower hyperlocal public health preparedness and response. The Expo spotlights innovations that help communities, organizations, and responders act quickly and effectively when systems are constrained. 

We invite organizations, startups, innovators, and researchers to showcase their work, demonstrate real-world applications, and gather feedback from public health leaders, community members, and other stakeholders. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions, and contribute insights on how these solutions and lessons learned could be adapted and implemented in New York City and beyond.

Interested in showcasing your work? Exhibitors can participate through a staffed demonstration table or poster presentation, or a poster display that can be viewed by attendees without the exhibitor present. Applications to be an exhibitor are due by April 12th.

Cash prizes of $1,000 each will be awarded for Most Engaging, Most Innovative, and Most Community-Minded exhibits! 

8:30AM	Registration & Breakfast (Provided)
9:00AM	Welcome & Overview of Day
9:30AM	Fireside Chat & Project Panels
11:00AM	Morning Workshops
12:30PM	Lunch (Provided) – Demo Expo Opens
1:30PM	Afternoon Workshops
4:30PM	Closing Session
5:00PM	Networking Reception
6:30PM	Event Ends