This past weekend I joined over 1,000 college students from 80 countries, and over 75 youth organizations, at the 5th annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) held this year at George Washington University. For many, the highlight might have been Usher summing up his sentiment about why his foundation focuses on youth empowerment by singing [...]
Tag archives for Innovation
We must do better than cash
Cash can stifle economic development. That might seem counterintuitive. Aid is critical to ameliorating the plight of poor people living on far less a day than we spend on a latte. But physical cash can undercut many development objectives the U.S. government works to achieve. From improving aid effectiveness to shining a light on corruption [...]
Game Changing Innovations through New Relationships with Universities
Applications Now Open in Unprecedented Opportunity to Collaborate and Push the Innovation Bar We are proud to announce the Higher Education Solutions Network Request for Applications (RFA), which invites higher education institutions to compete to join USAID as new strategic, long-term partners to have a greater impact on development through creative partnerships. From USAID’s start [...]
Harnessing Science, Technology, and Innovation To Promote Global Development
Originally posted on the White House blog Today at the White House, senior Administration officials announced a series of new initiatives to promote game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges. Answering President Obama’s call to harness science technology, and innovation to spark global development, the Administration announced initiatives from across the government to generate new development solutions. [...]
Open for Questions: Innovation for Global Development
Originally posted on the White House blog On Wednesday, February 8 at 9am, the White House will host an event to highlight how the government and the private sector are harnessing science, technology, and innovation to promote global development. Speakers from the White House, U.S. Agency for International Development, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department [...]
Meet the Innovator: Jorge Odon
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” –Albert Einstein It all started with friendly bet amongst friends – who could get a cork out of an empty wine bottle with only a plastic bag? The friends had seen the trick on YouTube earlier and wanted to re-enact it. Somehow, Saving Lives at Birth finalist Jorge Odon, [...]
Crowd Sourcing Development Innovation in India
India has become synonymous with innovation. Inexpensive mHealth applications. The Tata Nano. Low cost eye surgery. These are just a handful of the frugal innovations that India has developed and is now exporting. With a booming social enterprise sector, a number of the world’s leading academics, Nobel Prize winners and thinkers, a vibrant private sector, [...]
USAID and Partners Kick Off LAUNCH: Energy
There is something incredibly powerful about working alongside innovators and entrepreneurs who are on the brink of deploying products and technologies with the potential to solve longstanding development problems. As USAID and our partners prepare to kick off the LAUNCH: Energy Forum this Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, we are eagerly awaiting [...]
Investing in High-impact, Low-cost Innovations that Save Lives
Dr. Christopher J. Elias is president and CEO of PATH, an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. A new mother experiencing excessive bleeding after childbirth can die within minutes if the bleeding isn’t stopped. For women in developing countries, time too often [...]
Turning Impossible Challenges into Solvable Problems
Recently, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah delivered an address at the TED annual conference where he noted that “… scientific and technological breakthroughs do more than address specific technical challenges; they inspire collective action by turning impossible challenges into solvable problems”. In my remarks on “Turning Impossible Challenges into Solvable Problems” at the University of [...]
