Global Solutions Summit 2018
From the Lab to the Last Mile:
Technology Deployment Business Models
for the SDGs
June 4, 2018
United Nations Headquarters
New York City
From the Lab to the Last Mile:
Technology Deployment Business Models
for the SDGs
June 4, 2018
United Nations Headquarters
New York City
The Global Solutions Summit (GSS) convened at the United Nations in New York City on June 4, 2018. It preceded and complemented the Third Annual UN STI Forum supported by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development which convened at the UN on June 5-6, 2018. The theme of GSS 2018 was “From Lab to the Last Mile: Technology Deployment Business Models for the SDGs.”
GSS 2018 was based on the premise that scientific research to find new or improved development solutions is a first small step in the very long journey from the lab to the last mile. The remaining steps entail the less-glamorous and more mundane issues of scaling up the deployment of these solutions so that they reach tens, if not hundreds of millions of people in developing countries. GSS 2018, therefore, focused on the organizational, entrepreneurial, financial, sociological and managerial dimensions of scaling technology deployment. It showcased the specific business models and financial mechanisms that NGOs, social enterprises, foundations and others have been using to successfully deploy proven, cost-effective development solutions at scale. Speakers were thoughtful doers -- i.e., women and men who are actively working in the field to overcome these deployment challenges – who explained what they have done, how they did it, what went right and what went wrong, where gaps or broken circuits exist in the deployment ecosystem, and what needs to be done to create a more effective and efficient ecosystem that can support the deployment of these innovations on the scale required to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Continue Reading.
Click here to read the Background Discussion Paper
Click here to see the Agenda
Click here to see the speaker presentations
Click here to see the speaker bios
GSS 2018 was based on the premise that scientific research to find new or improved development solutions is a first small step in the very long journey from the lab to the last mile. The remaining steps entail the less-glamorous and more mundane issues of scaling up the deployment of these solutions so that they reach tens, if not hundreds of millions of people in developing countries. GSS 2018, therefore, focused on the organizational, entrepreneurial, financial, sociological and managerial dimensions of scaling technology deployment. It showcased the specific business models and financial mechanisms that NGOs, social enterprises, foundations and others have been using to successfully deploy proven, cost-effective development solutions at scale. Speakers were thoughtful doers -- i.e., women and men who are actively working in the field to overcome these deployment challenges – who explained what they have done, how they did it, what went right and what went wrong, where gaps or broken circuits exist in the deployment ecosystem, and what needs to be done to create a more effective and efficient ecosystem that can support the deployment of these innovations on the scale required to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Continue Reading.
Click here to read the Background Discussion Paper
Click here to see the Agenda
Click here to see the speaker presentations
Click here to see the speaker bios
