In mid April, FSI convened a special conference on Technology,
Governance, and Global Development, to
examine how technical innovation solves, or fails to solve, the problems of
chronic global underdevelopment.
Experts from business, medicine, philanthropy, academia, government and
non-governmental organizations, along with young Stanford alumni, addressed
technology's ability to help secure gains in health, economic development,
agricultural innovation, food security, and human development.
With a wealth of expertise and on-the-ground experience,
panelists tackled central issues and engaged in spirited debate, animated by
moderator Philip Taubman. "The
Promise of Information and Communications Technology" examined whether technology can transform lives of individuals, even in poorly
governed countries, finding encouraging evidence in technology-based medical
and health services and novel approaches to economic development, including
sharing vital information and banking via mobile phones.
A panel of young Stanford alumni discussed their
entrepreneurial efforts that led to the development of a low-cost, lifesaving
incubator for low birth weight babies, the FACE AIDS program begun at Stanford
that now has 20 chapters and has contributed some $2 million for treatment of
people with AIDS in Africa, a new Global Health Corps to train health care
workers, and other innovations to save lives in underserved areas.
Condoleezza Rice,
former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, gave the lunchtime
keynote with a focus on why democracies are more effective and ultimately more
efficient in delivering economic development. Democracies are better at
protection of rule of law and property rights, she noted. Democracies are less
corrupt, more in touch with their people, more stable, and better able to
deliver the benefits of human capital development, health, and education to
their population as a whole.
A third panel on "Governance, Innovation, and Service Delivery" addressed how
innovative institutions and technologies could overcome poor governance and
deliver needed services in underdeveloped regions. "Despite extraordinary
growth in our technical capacity to prevent and treat child illness and death, we
are seeing stagnation or a rise in mortality rates of children under five in
some areas," said pediatrician Paul Wise. "This reflects gross failures in
delivering highly efficacious health interventions." Some 9 million children
still die each year, and 65 percent of child deaths in unstable areas are
preventable, he noted. Wise has launched a new program to improve child health
in areas of unstable governance through new integrated technical and political
strategies.
A fourth session on "Creative Markets for Technical
Innovation" honed in on the institutions, innovations, and incentives needed to
stimulate development of products and services that address the needs of the
poor. Panelists focused on pharmaceuticals, agricultural innovation, use of
mobile technologies to share information on best practices, improved food security
through innovative technology - such as solar-powered irrigation to expand
growing seasons, crops, and incomes, and the development of human capital in
China through rigorous evaluation, field trials, and nutritional intervention.
Among the experts addressing these vital issues were
Google.org's Megan Smith, BP Solar's Reyad Fezzani, Center for Global
Development President Nancy Birdsall, Gates Foundation Director of Agricultural
Development Sam Dryden, Gilead Science's Clifford Samuel, dynamic Stanford
alumni Nava Ashraf ‘97, Jared Cohen ‘04, Jane Chen ‘08, and Jonny Dorsey ‘07,
and FSI's Coit D. Blacker, Joshua Cohen, Stephen D. Krasner, Paul H. Wise, Rosamond L. Naylor,
and Scott Rozelle.
FSI Payne Lecturer Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chairman,
Microsoft, gave an address on "Giving Back: Finding the Best Way to Make a
Difference." He urged students to
become involved in the central issues of global health—including the need to
reduce child mortality through more vaccines and better delivery systems—and
education, saying we need to find out "what works" and use the Internet to
share lessons learned globally.
"We need to shift talent toward bigger needs," Gates said,
urging students to provide the passion and ideas to drive us forward in health,
education, and energy. To make a
difference, Gates advised, "Get your hands dirty, do the hard work in the
actual environment, early in your career." Telling students that he is looking for "great ideas," he
challenged them to post answers on the Gates Foundation Facebook wall to three
questions: What problems are you working on? What draws you in? How will you
draw other people in to work on solutions to the world's great challenges.
