Maclay: Higher Education Will Spur Innovation

Recently, Berkman Fellow Colin Maclay spoke on a panel that examined venture capital, entrepreneurship and technology in emerging markets at Harvard’s annual Social Enterprise Conference. The participants' diverse institutional approaches included companies focused on technology VC, mission-driven triple bottom line investments, and country-competitiveness, as well as broader interests near and dear to the Berkman Center. While the participants had a heavily business orientation, the most salient points of the discussion covered the need for cultural convergence between US investors and their developing world counterparts in order to build more effective relationships. Maclay's challenge to the panel and crowd to catalyze the higher education system in the developing world in order to spur innovation and entrpreneurship was met with aplomb from all corners, as a concrete way to address some aspects of the cultural gap.

The event was co-hosted by students at the Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government. The panel also included Kevin Johnson of Liberty-Global Partners, Cole Van Nice of Darby Technology Ventures, Douglas Arent of E+Co, and Marcela Escobari of OnTheFrontier.