Jacques and his team have identified many companies and organizations that contribute to innovation-based inclusive growth, calling them “inclusive innovators.” The Forum puts a special focus on expanding the network of these inclusive innovators to help them mobilize forces, develop information, and tools so that they can further impact inclusive growth.
Right now, the Forum is developing advisory panels in the following areas: innovation, digital health, sustainable development, education, and digital transformation. They are starting work on plans for a summit in 2018 that will pull together stakeholders for networking and collaboration. Jacques says the plan for their web site is to include weekly global coverage on the topics that matter to inclusive growth, and they are on the lookout, now, for research and articles to add to a knowledge base.
We all realize that technology is a good thing, but, development is stunningly fast, and repercussions to society can be painful, if not managed well. It’s the human in human resources that needs attention, and Jacques is working with corporations who care to give them the spotlight.
JACQUES PUTZEYS’S NETWORKING INTERESTS:
-Government and think-tank policy makers
-CEOs of companies that are inclusive innovators
-Stakeholders in inclusive growth
NOLA PATERNI
(United States)
Development Officer, IntraHealth
International Producer, SwitchPoint Conference
Winnerut
Nola is a producer for what is fast becoming one of the most important conferences for global humanitarian leaders being held today. SwitchPoint is a two-day annual event that convenes thought leaders, frontline practitioners, global health advocates, and tech enthusiasts to talk about the trends in humanitarian innovation, technology, and global health. SwitchPoint began in 2012 by IntraHealth International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with developing countries to improve their public health capabilities. IntraHealth’s goal in starting the conference was to bring ideas and conversations to a more actionable state. Nola and colleague, Heather LaGarde, work to “shake up” the old conference format, allowing for new, and unexpected collaborations, and the first deviation from old format is to get away from meeting in a metropolitan city. SwitchPoint is held in Saxapahaw, NC; a small, but proud, river town that Nola says reflects the ideals of collaboration.
Saxapahaw is about a half hour away from IntraHealth headquarters, which is settled near the tech hub of Research Triangle Park in the university town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. By the way, the U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) School of Government, Public Affairs curriculum, among the best in the nation. For IntraHealth, the University is its “birthplace.”