2nd and 3rd photo ©Johanna Liukkonen
Around the turn of the millennium it had become strikingly evident that development aid, charity or ‘global business-as-usual’ would not deliver solutions to poverty as had been expected. Today, there is little dispute that poverty is the most pressing global problem calling for innovative solutions. One of the recent strategies is the so-called Base-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) approach, which relies on entrepreneurial activity to alleviate poverty.
The Base-of-the-Pyramid opportunity and strategy has unleashed an extensive and generally enthusiastic response from academics, businesses, NGOs and governments, but the knowledge domain around this concept is still in the early stages of development. Innovations, in several disciplines: technological-, social-, and business-, are needed to facilitate this process. The conference will address these (often interrelated) innovations in the context of social and ecological sustainability.
The conference coincides with the launching of the book: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base-of-the-Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor edited by Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme, published by Greenleaf. Like the book, the conference will include insights from academics and practitioners from developed and developing countries.