Symposium to Feature Innovative Ideas on Inclusive Growth

Cambridge, Massachusetts – Harvard's Center for International Development (CID), the MasterCard Center on Inclusive Growth, and the World Economic Forum's Meta-Council on Inclusive Growth are hosting the 1st  Symposium on Inclusive Growth and Development on October 1-2, 2015 at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). The Symposium is part of a collaboration to find sustainable and scalable solutions to foster inclusive growth.

Eleven proposals - spanning education, entrepreneurship, finance, government, IT, and labor markets - were selected through a competitive worldwide call and vetted by a jury of leading economists, business leaders and development professionals. The “inventors” have been paired with experts in the respective fields to help refine their concepts and provided access to top thinkers and potential funders to help launch their initiatives.  The ideas will be presented by their authors and discussed by experts during the Symposium.

“Any strategy for inclusive growth must empower people by including them in the essential physical and social networks that drive productivity,” said Ricardo Hausmann, Director of CID and Symposium Co-Chair. “The world needs innovative ideas on how to make this happen and we are excited to drive this conversation at the Symposium.”

Symposium Co-chairs include Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Chief Economist, MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth; and Richard Samans, Member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum.

Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University, will deliver the Keynote - The Challenge of Inclusion.

Other key participants include John Authers, Senior Investment Columnist, Financial Times; Jennifer Blanke, Chief Economist, World Economic Forum; Mark Chase, Lecturer, Tufts University; David Coats, Director, WorkMatters Consulting; Shawn A. Cole, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School (HBS); Henry Curr, U.S.  Economics Correspondent, The Economist; Marcela Escobari, Executive Director, CID; Josh Lerner, Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, HBS; Kyle Meade, Director of Innovation, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab; Alex Pentland, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT; Lant Pritchett, Professor of the Practice of International Development, HKS; Carmen Reinhart, Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System, HKS; Alvaro Rodriguez, Managing Partner, Ignia;  and Shamina Singh, Executive Director, MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The Symposium is an invitation-only event, but a live web stream is available for the public. To learn more about the proposals and agenda, visit growthsymposium.org.

About the Center for International Development
The Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University is a university-wide center that works to advance the understanding of development challenges and offer viable solutions to problems of global poverty. CID is Harvard’s leading research hub focusing on resolving the dilemmas of public policy associated with generating stable, shared, and sustainable prosperity in developing countries. Our ongoing mission is to apply knowledge to and revolutionize the world of development practice.

Contact: Chuck McKenney
Email: Chuck_McKenney@hks.harvard.edu
Phone: (617) 495-8496

About the Master Card Center for Inclusive Growth
The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth, a non-profit organization was created to foster collaborative relationships between academia, governments, nonprofits, the social design community, and the private sector. Through the advancement of research and strategic philanthropic investments, we support and enable those historically excluded from financial services and serve as a catalyst for change.  Follow us on Twitter @CNTR4growth.

Contact: Ryan Erenhouse
Email: Ryan_Erenhouse@mastercard.com
Phone: (914) 249-3176

About the World Economic Forum's Meta-Council on Inclusive Growth
The Meta Council on Inclusive Growth seeks to advance understanding of the practical opportunities available to countries to advance a more socially inclusive form of economic growth, including by helping to guide the Forum’s cross-cutting work on inclusive growth and the future of capitalism. In cooperation with other international organizations, the Forum is exploring the development of an analytical framework that would enable governments to benchmark the extent to which their policies and enabling institutions – in a wide range of relevant policy domains – are conducive to strong, broad-based progress in living standards relative to peer experience.

Contact: Oliver Cann
Email: Oliver.Cann@weforum.org