Meet the WISIONS Team at the 2016 International Tech4Dev Conference

The WISIONS team will participate in this year’s “UNESCO Chair Conference on Technologies for Development: From Innovation to Social Impact”, which will take place from 2nd to 4th May 2016 at the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Technological innovation is vital for addressing global challenges such as climate change, pollution, disease, rising inequalities and chronic poverty. We need renewable energy sources, efficient transport networks, effective public health systems, well-designed infrastructure, improved agricultural systems and access to quality education for everyone.

The guiding question of this UNESCO Conference is how we bridge the gap between innovation and social impact. Rising global challenges require technological innovations, but the ultimate aim is positive impact in the real world. It is important to focus on technical excellence, but even more so to build successful business models for large-scale deployment and long-term financial sustainability. The Tech4Dev Conference provides a critical platform for knowledge exchange, enabling researchers to present their findings and for practitioners to outline their needs and insights, as well as relating their experiences from the field.

The WISIONS team will participate in the session Paths Towards Impact: How to Evaluate Technology for Development Interventions on Monday, 2nd of May, presenting a study entitled “What Impacts Do Small-Scale Energy Projects in Developing Countries Really Have? Findings from a Repeated Post-Evaluation“.

Furthermore, the coordinator of the Wind Empowerment network will present a study entitled “A Review of the Behavioural Change Challenges Facing a Proposed Solar and Battery Electric Cooking Concept” as part of the session From Developing to Scaling Up Innovative Social Businesses at the Base of the Pyramid on Wednesday, 4th of May.

Further general information is available at the Tech4Dev homepage and the detailed conference programme is available here (pdf).

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