Innovation & International Development, with Adarsh Desai

On this episode of the podcast, we look at innovation and international development with the head of the World Bank Group’s Innovation Labs, Adarsh Desai. Among the topics we discuss are how the Innovation Labs are working to help accomplish the World Bank’s goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, how big data and open data are helping to fuel that mission, and why innovation and social entrepreneurship at the local level are more critical now than ever before.

As the head of the World Bank Group’s Innovation Labs, Adarsh Desai oversees a variety of programs ranging from innovations in Big Data Analytics and Social Enterprise to the Open Aid Partnership and Human Centered Design. He is passionate about leveraging technology and data-driven innovations for internal development and has managed programs on big data analytics, ICT-enabled citizen engagement, Open Innovations, Geospatial data, eLearning, and other technology-enabled platforms.

In his prior work at the World Bank, Adarsh worked on the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) and ICT for Education Programs in Africa. He coordinated the Global Survey on Education Readiness, in collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Listen to the Episode

Interested in hearing more? Please tune in to the full episode via the SoundCloud embed below.

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Show Notes:

• Follow Adarsh on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/adarshdesai
• Read Adarsh’s blog posts on the World Bank Blogs site: http://blogs.worldbank.org/team/adarsh-desai