Speakers of the conference are by invitation only. There will not be a paper submission process. Below is a brief introduction of the speakers. The topics of their presentations are available under the link "Program".
Prabhu Kandachar, professor at Technical University of Delft, is extensively involved in user-centric design of products and services for the emerging markets, in diverse sectors such as water and healthcare, in countries like India, China and Ghana. More.
Rama Bijaburkar, the author of "We are like that only - Understanding the Logic of Consumer India", (The Indian edition, Penguin) / "Winning in the Indian Market - Understanding the Transformation of Consumer India", (The international edition, John Wiley & Sons). More.
Torben Vestergaard-Fransen, Director of development, Vestergaard-Frandsen, the award-winning innovator firm of LifeStraw. More.
Mika Skarp, Head of Village Connection Product Management, Nokia Siemens Networks. Village Connection is a new network solution, which both in terms of technology and business model is expected to make mobile connectivity available for the next billion users (mainly in rural villages), who do not yet have access to telephony and internet. More.
Dr. Sirpa Tenhunen, anthropologist, senior researcher in the Academy of Finland, University of Helsinki. More.
Liisa Välikangas, Professor of innovation management, Helsinki School of Economics, and co-founder of the non-profit Innovation Democracy.
Sultanur Reza, Head of Community Information Centre Innovations, GrameenPhone. More.
Dr. Simona Rocchi, Director of Sustainable Design, Philips Design. Simona Rocchi was in charge of the user-centric co-design process for the low-smoke biomass stove Chulha, which just received the IDEA2008 award from IDSA. More.
Georgina Koomson, entrepreneur & Managing Director of Ideal Providence Farms (IPF), a company which markets organic products of small-scale women farmers to international markets. IPF has been granted the Spirit of Organic Award in 2006 and was a nominee for the Equator Prize, an award of United Nations Development Programme the same year.
Tim Vang, co-founder and development director of MyC4, a microfinance enterprise that connects people and capital online to facilitate investments in African businesses. More about MyC4 and the African loan market.
Dr. Kent Wilska, Commercial Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland
Dr. Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen, Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Insurers’ Association, Uganda
Dr. Frank Wijen, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, will speak about ecological sustainability challenges in the context BOP business.
Myrtille Danse, Division Head Markets and Networks, Agricultural Economics Research Institute, Wageningen University
Burcu Tuncer, project manager, UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), will speak about Human Development through the Market -approach of United Nations Environmental Programme to poverty and environmental sustainability. More.
Nokia Corp. representative (tbd) will be speaking of the Village Phone innovations and understanding of the local needs of the low-income consumers at the BoP. More at NYT.