Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development

Excerpt from report:
“The Rockefeller Foundation believes that in order to understand the many ways in which technology will impact interational development in the future, we must first broaden and deepen our individual and colelctive understanding of the range of possibilities. This report, and the project upon which it is based, is one attempt to do that. In it, we share the outputs and insights from a year-long project, undertaken by the Rockefeller Foundation and Global Business Network (GBN), designed to explore the role of technology in international development through scenario planning, a methodology in which GBN is a long-time leader.

The focal question was: How might technology affect barriers to building resiliance and equitable growth in developing the world over the next 15 to 20 years?”

2×2

• Qualitative methods used
• Scenarios are developed
• Other
• Futures Workshops

Drivers mentioned include:

• globalized growth
• Elimate change / Environmental consequences of unrestriced growth
• innovation
• Resource Insecuritites
• technology
• technology and governance relationship
• multi-polar global system is emerging
• population growth continues
• Energy needs driving renewable resources
• Global political and economic alignment
• adaptive capacity
• global pandemic
• top-down authority
• varying levels of intervention required for development work
• technologies with the most impact on development
• Restoring ecological health
• origin of technology innovations critical to development
• social and cultural norms
• New innovations that substantially reduce child and infant mortality (vaccines, treatments, cures)
• community identity in the developing world
• Educational and employment
• Occurrence of “shocks” like disease, famine, and natural disasters
• Quality of the local environment in the developing world (air, water, sanitation, built environment, etc.)
• global climate change awareness and action
• global economic performance, 2010-2015
• Rules and norms around entreprenurial activity
• Education and training opportunities in the developing world
• conflict in the developing world
• international economic and strategic relationships
• Food security in the developing world

Categories: 2010 publication year | English publication language | adaptive capacity | economic alignment | global geographic scope | government | innovation | philanthropy | political alignment | scenarios | technology | work