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The development community is in love with the idea of innovation as a way to accelerate positive change. But are innovation and disruption always positive? What are the unintended consequences from our drive to innovate?
In this episode, I sit down with Sonal Shah, economist, entrepreneur and Founding Executive Director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. We discuss the ways in which innovation differs from invention, explore some of the unanticipated effects that occur as a result of change and talk about why government has a role to play when it comes to innovation for the benefit of human development. Sonal’s examples, from Uber and ride share to social media and data collection, bring to life the promises and threats of new technologies shaping our lives and our approaches to development.
This conversation is part of this year’s theme for A Deeper Look podcast, in which we explore the darker side of development — the paradoxes and unintended consequences that surround international development efforts. You can listen to the episode on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. I invite you to subscribe and join the conversation by leaving a comment, submitting a rating or sharing this episode on social media.
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