I was invited to a panel discussion titled “Exploring the Current Role and Potential of ICTs for Development” at the USAID Higher Education Solutions Network’s TechCon 2014. The event was co-hosted with the Development Impact Lab (DIL) at the University of California, Berkeley, and that explains my connection. Fellow panelists were Ann Mei Chang and Bryan Hurren, and the moderator was Samir Doshi.
There’s no video of the panel, but there is an amazing ‘live sketch’ of the discussion.
Samir shared this note afterwards:
It turns out that we had the most attended and talked about panel at this or any TechCon, ever! At the high point, the staff counted over 120 people in the packed room. The organizers actually asked me what we did because it was so better attended than other sessions and no one essentially left the room after we closed the panel (also running well over time due to the great discussion).
Some feedback that I got afterwards from attendees: loved the diversity of the panel and bringing in different viewpoints on this far reaching field; great discussion with an engaged and well-informed audience; definitely a hot and approachable topic around ICTs; lots of interest from USAID Missions on trying to be more “innovative;” great inclusion of a student on the panel that is treated as a normal and expert panelist, just as the others — Asim, you definitely did a great job and had brought a unique and highly valued insight to the discussion.
Photo credits: Sarah Hughes