Event Details

Join distinguished speaker, Professor Solomon Darwin, as he explains how his Smart Village Team piloted a transformational project which empowered rural communities in India to gain access to global markets, using digital technologies and open innovation platforms.

5 billion people on the planet lack reliable access to a trained doctor or quality diagnostics. Over the last two years, UC Berkeley’s Smart Village Team led by Professor Solomon Darwin, have been working with the Indian Government to provide communities with access to an ecosystem of support, including health services. Through the implementation of digital technologies and open innovation platforms, this pilot project has seen the empowerment of rural communities in India to access global markets. In addition, ‘reverse innovations’ from Smart Villages have been identified, where products and services are repackaged as innovative low-cost goods for Western markets.

Professor Solomon Darwin is Executive Director at UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business, Garwood Centre for Corporate Innovation, University of California.

As an expert in Open Innovation and Open Business Models, he is an adviser to senior executives of multinational and government leaders in the emerging world including: Google, Genentech, Hewlett Packard, Health Net, J&J, Toyota, Autodesk, Nestle and government entities in Mexico, China, Russia, India, Columbia and Europe. He also directs and moderates International Innovation Conferences, Forums, and chairs quarterly Chief Innovation Officer Round Tables in the Silicon Valley.

This event is delivered by Lancaster University Management School in collaboration with the Health Innovation Campus Digital Health Operational Steering Group.