GSS 2016
GSS 2016 showcased innovative pilot projects, business models and financing mechanisms for transferring clean energy, clean drinking water, food processing, low cost high quality health care technology, and other exponential innovations to emerging markets on mutually agreed terms and conditions. GSS 2016 also showcased innovative financial instruments and co-investment mechanisms that could enable pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and, via crowdfunding platforms, smaller investors from the Diaspora and local stakeholders to finance commercially viable energy, water, health, and food processing projects in emerging markets.
The theme of GSS 2016 was Technology Deployment for Emerging Markets? Specifically:
The broad, underlying conclusions of GSS 2016 can be summarized as follows:
The theme of GSS 2016 was Technology Deployment for Emerging Markets? Specifically:
- How can we help emerging markets meet their social and economic development objectives by scaling up the deployment of new technologies as well as existing technologies that are already in widespread use elsewhere?
- How can we scale up the deployment of small-scale distributed solutions?
The broad, underlying conclusions of GSS 2016 can be summarized as follows:
- Innovation without large-scale commercial deployment will not lead to progress in achieving the SDGs or inclusive development. More specifically, if emerging markets are to achieve the SDGs and build inclusive, peaceful societies, they must develop the capacity to scale-up the deployment of both new technological solutions generated by innovators around the world as well as existing technological solutions that are already in widespread use elsewhere.
- Generally speaking, there is no shortage of existing technological solutions for such objectives as off-grid electricity, energy conservation, sanitation, and potable water, industrial productivity, climate change resilience etc. Moreover, new technological solutions are emerging at an exponential pace. The critical bottleneck lies in the realm of scaling up the deployment of these innovations so that they can improve the lives of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people.
- Successful deployment: of these new and existing technologies rests on strengthening four pillars (i) financial conduits to move money from the crowd, the Diaspora and local and foreign institutional investors to large numbers of local investment projects ; (ii) business models including coops and franchising, among others to make technology deployment financially sustainable; (iii) entrepreneurs to organize the deployment process,tailor the innovations to local tastes and customs, and surmount regulatory hurdles and other deployment obstacles; and (iv) the human dimension of technology deployment -- i.e., matchmaking mechanisms above and beyond data bases to connect knowledgeable sellers of technology with knowledgeable buyers of technology.
- Strengthening each of these pillars so that they form a coherent, effective and efficient deployment ecosystem is one of the key challenges that countries will have to overcome if they hope to make progress in achieving the SDGs.