NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

FORT COLLINS, CO (KUNC) – During the month of July, Colorado State University in Fort Collins is hosting 48 budding entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors from 17 countries. Their mission is to work on product inventions like cheap solar water heaters that are targeted to people living in the developing world.

A Business Approach to Philanthropy
Being an inventor takes a lot of hard work, intelligence and a little bit of elbow grease.

Designer Nathan Cooke knows this well. He’s standing in front of a small cramped classroom in CSU’s College of Business.

Everyone in this classroom is part of the fourth annual International Development Design Summit. The idea is for people of different backgrounds and nationalities to translate new inventions into something that can improve life in the developing world. You might say it’s a business approach to philanthropy. According to the DC-based World Resources Institute, it’s a $5 trillion dollar market that’s largely untapped.

Stephen Gerrard is on one of nine teams, each representing a different invention. He’s getting his PhD in chemical engineering at Cambridge University in England, and honing an invention called JustMilk along with three other teammates. The product is a nipple shield nursing moms with HIV can use to prevent the virus’s spread to their children.