By Libby MacFarlane
From November 8th-10th, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, innovators, field practitioners, and private sector professionals convened at the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) coference, TechCon 2014 in Berkeley, California. TechCon showcased innovations emerging from the eight HESN Development Labs and the broader development and higher education communities focused on innovation for social good. These various stakeholders met to energize science and technology solutions for development. We will be featuring blog posts from Duke students reflecting on their weekend at TechCon.
TechCon 2014: Connecting to accelerate development. Visual notes of sessions by Abby VanMuijen.
TechCon 2014 brought together the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) – a partnership between the U.S. Global Development Lab and seven universities to create a rich network of HESN Development labs. Over 400 attendees - ranging from young innovators, academics, investors, and government leaders – came together to discuss, ideate and share creative and best practices for international development.
Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator shares that, “This network represents something new and especially exciting in development – something more than a simple collection of universities. It represents a groundbreaking partnership…united by a single purpose: to mobilize the energy and ingenuity of a new generation…[to] harness the power of science, technology, and innovation to deliver transformational results in development.”
I have taken a few photographs to highlight the inspiring presentations, conversations, and panels I had the honor of attending.
Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator shares that, “This network represents something new and especially exciting in development – something more than a simple collection of universities. It represents a groundbreaking partnership…united by a single purpose: to mobilize the energy and ingenuity of a new generation…[to] harness the power of science, technology, and innovation to deliver transformational results in development.”
I have taken a few photographs to highlight the inspiring presentations, conversations, and panels I had the honor of attending.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Presentation by Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods.
Chuck Slaughter shares that a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) shows Living Goods is reducing under 5 mortality by 25% for just $2 per person.
“Say. Think. Feel.” Shauna Carey of IDEO.org gives a presentation on the power of design thinking to tackle global development challenges.
“It’s not good enough to have an idea. It needs to reach people.” Climate Change and Development panel.
How do we best scale innovations in global health? Young innovators begin to address the question through creative solutions such as developing all-in-one, low-cost incubator for use in hospitals and infant transportation systems or engineering an electronic digital device that computes and grades the stages of asthma etiology and severity.
Libby is interested in the intersection of global health and social entrepreneurship and is the first student at Duke to pursue the Master of Science in Global Health and Master of Business Administration (MBA) as a dual-degree. Libby has a background in global change management consulting and was a Global Health Trustees Fellow with International Honors Program comparing health systems in India, Argentina and South Africa. This past summer she was in Nepal to collect data for her thesis, which explores the psychosocial and mental health impacts of climate change a changing environment on rural farmers. She is the Vice President and Founding Board Member of HeartMind International, a 501(c)3 dedicated to providing culturally-appropriate and sustainable mental health care to the most vulnerable populations in Nepal and around the world.
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