This collection of policy briefs was commissioned for the ninth annual Brookings Blum Roundtable on Global Poverty, held in Aspen, Colorado on August 1–3, 2012. Continue Reading ›
The Innovation Revolution and its Implications for Development
New Frontiers: Launching Digital Financial Services in Rural Areas
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Cameron Peake
Harnessing Connection Technologies for Development
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Anne-Marie Slaughter
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Eleanor Meegoda
Innovation and Technology for Green Growth
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Allison Shapiro
The Importance of Business Models
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Mike Kubzansky
It’s What You Make, Not How You Make It—Why Africa Needs a Strategy for Structural Change
Delivering U.S. Leadership: Roles for the Public Sector
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Molly Kinder
There is growing excitement among governments, international organizations, the private sector, philanthropic organizations and civil society about the potential of technology and innovation to dramatically improve the lives of poor people around the world.
Mobile technology is giving poor people the capacity to transact, borrow and save through their cell phones. Connection technologies such as open source software are allowing people in Haiti and Pakistan to collect and analyze information about, and then respond to, violence, corruption and natural disasters. Myriad ‘green growth’ technological innovations across the globe are expanding access to electricity, increasing agricultural yields while also reducing harmful emissions.
But innovation in the service of development goals is not just about achieving technological breakthroughs. Recent research shows that new business models often matter far more than the technology of a given product when serving poor communities. Moreover, promising technologies do not bring about improvements in the lives of the world’s poorest people unless they are adequately invested in, rigorously evaluated, and then brought to scale, which typically requires the collaboration of many actors, including the private and philanthropic sectors and government.
The following policy briefs explore these issues in detail, lay out the challenges, and offer a range of specific recommendations on what needs to happen and why.