Real World Solutions to Combat Poverty
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: We seek to strengthen an innovative multidisciplinary and multi-campus research and education center focused on alleviating global poverty, the Blum Center for Developing Economies. Spanning UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Francisco and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Center embodies the University's fundamental missions of teaching, research, and public service, and has already made considerable strides in linking cutting-edge research and education with the most pressing problems of society. The Center provides seed funds for developing the best new technologies and services for scalable and sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty. This includes: developing an innovation pipeline that translates the best new technologies into scalable and sustainable delivery services with the attendant organizational, social, legal and financial models necessary for implementation; providing poverty alleviation solutions customized to fit specific regional problems and prioritizing with the highest impact toward eliminating disparities; and training the next generation of leaders to scale and sustain the innovations needed to respond to evolving problems of poverty alleviation. Specifically, teams design and field test practical devices for safe water and sanitation, adapt wireless technology to serve the rural poor, introduce novel agricultural technologies to increase income and improve nutrition, and create low-cost energy solutions that emphasize efficiency while reducing negative environmental and health impacts. After incubating these projects and successful piloting, we connect researchers to for-profit and not-for-project partners to provide extramural support and adopt the solutions for scaling. In that way, our innovations will have a real and lasting impact on urgent global problems. Our faculty has an impressive track record already in this arena. In addition, not only are we are committed to conducting world-class research, but the Center is translating this knowledge into teaching and curriculum that can serve both undergraduate and graduate students. We have already launched the fastest growing minor on the Berkeley campus. We know of many of examples of students that come to UC Berkeley because of this minor and the opportunity that its global practice experiences provide. MRPI support will also enable us to expand this truly unique aspect of our work -- the interface between use-inspired basic research and teaching, continuing to link each with the most pressing problems facing California and the world. Our peer institutions are already expressing considerable interest in the minor and its success, and are replicating our approach to linking research and education. Some have even begun to replicate the minor itself. With the combined expertise of UCB, UCSF, UC Davis and LBNL, and in due time expanding to other UC campuses, the Center presents the University of California with the unprecedented opportunity to position itself as the pre-eminent North American university in this field. Its consolidation allows UC to be an academic leader and to demonstrate that a great research university can also be a great undergraduate university with a dramatic impact on the world.