September 24, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
During a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative on how to speed up the development of new ways to fix social inequities and other global problems, former vice president Al Gore and four other people were asked what innovations they hoped would develop in the year ahead.
Here are the responses:
- Mr. Gore called for a “sustainable capitalism” that would value environmental and social factors as much as profit.
- Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank, predicted that there would be breakthroughs in how mobile phones can be used to help improve the health of impoverished people.
- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the managing director of the World Bank, hoped that developing countries in Africa and elsewhere could develop better ways to handle natural disasters and political emergencies.
- Jack Ma, the chief executive of the Alibaba Group, the Chinese equivalent of eBay, said that small and medium-sized businesses will be the major source of innovation and that they need to be supported.
- Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, said the world needs to find new ways to grow and deliver food in poor nations.
What do you think of these five ideas? What innovations do you think are needed or could happen in the next 12 months?
