Highlights from the Business, Engineering and Sustainability Workshop

This past weekend, about 60 talented individuals from business schools, engineering departments, non-profits and the private sector met for what was essentially a two day brainstorming session. The goal: Discovering ways to transform (or work within?) the dominant academic culture to mainstream inter-disciplinary sustainability studies.

I could say plenty about the discussions, but I think the best description comes from one of the professors who spoke of a "U-curve theory" representing the trial and error phase sustainability education would endure before gaining mainstream acceptance.

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By Nathan Kommers
Nate Kommers is a Press Officer with the World Resources Institute.

Yesterday, the Aspen Institute held a book event in here DC with Nick Sullivan, author of You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy, and Iqbal Quadir, the man behind the GrameenPhone phenomenon in Bangladesh.

Bill Kramer and I attended to see what topics carried the day.

Sullivan pointed out that the GrameenPhone case seems to have achieved the trifecta of economic benefits, a bridged digital divide, and an instance where the private sector has played a significant and positive role in development.

It is this last point that was of keen interest to Quadir, who on a couple occasions discussed the difference between foreign aid and private sector development. Foreign aid usually goes to governments, with the unfortunate effect of making those governments less beholden to the interests of their citizens. Private sector development, on the other hand, has usually put money directly into the hands of the public. In developing countries, Quadir argues, this is where wealth needs to be built.

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