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

Driving the rapid replacement of cybersecure IEC 61850 systems within the substation,
inter-substations, to the control room, and across DER infrastructure

5-Day Hybrid Conference, Exhibition & Networking Forum
18-22 October 2021 | Sweden + Swapcard

The 8th annual IEC 61850 Week 2021 draws together IEC 61850 implementation leaders for
a week-long review of the latest standardisation developments, pilot project results, large-
scale implementation experiences, and future application explorations.
The focus of this year’s programme is on driving the deployment of next generation IEC
61850 architectures through more efficient specification, engineering, testing, operation,
and maintenance, as well as innovations in cybersecurity in the context of a more rapid
replacement strategy.
Day one kicks off with a hands-on System Specification workshop. Days two to four
showcase implementation experiences from leading utilities across Europe, Americas, Asia,
Middle East and Africa. The week wraps up with a deep diving seminar into the
cybersecurity issues currently impeding the full deployment of IEC 61850, to help utilities
tighten up their system security today, and leverage the cybersecurity innovations of
tomorrow.

To find out how you can participate as a delegate, sponsor or exhibitor:
Call: +44 (0)20 8057 1700
Email: registration@smartgrid-forums.com
Visit: https://www.smartgrid-forums.com/iec-61850-week-2021-home

With a growing number of Fintech platforms and increased digitalization infiltrating the microfinance industry, the pressure to adapt and implement these technologies in order to stay competitive and innovative puts MFIs to the test. While some microfinance industries excel at digitalization, others struggle to keep up. Part of the challenge of technological transformation is the widespread skepticism of leaving behind traditional operations to adopt more digital ways of working. How well the industry has adapted to these changes and challenges varies from region to region and opens a multitude of possibilities to learn and start shifting from the basics to more complex areas of digitalization.

Changing social expectations, like increased gender equality, and unprecedented external factors, like the outbreak of COVID-19, have major influences on the operational success of MFIs around the APAC region and have become common points of concern. This conference will be a platform for experts and industry professionals operating within microfinance to convene, network, and share knowledge and experiences. The common themes and topics of discussion will include the difficulties of digitalization and key trends for microfinance industry-players, challenging traditional working systems and innovating, and becoming more agile to changing external factors.

Day 1:

• Addressing One of the Great Pitfalls of Microfinance: Over-Indebtedness
• Building Resilience to the Influences of Changing External Factors
• PANEL DISCUSSION: COVID-19 and Microfinance – Impacts and Adjustments in the Asia-Pacific Region
• Addressing the Gender Financing Gap
• Tablet Banking: Looking Beyond the Basics
• WORKSHOP: Finetuning Digitalization – Tools for Creating an Integrated Strategy for MFIs
• Digital Competition: Surviving and Innovating
• Digital Lending: Adapting to a New Lending Model

Day 2:

• DFS Innovations Extending Financial Inclusion
• Mobile Wallets
• PANEL DISCUSSION: Similar Economies, Varied Levels of Financial Inclusion
• Leaving Behind Traditional Risk Assessment Models
• Catering to Customers Unprepared for Technological Transformation
• Exploring Alternative Sources of Capital
• A Detour: P2P Lending
• Resources Per Developmental Stage
• Looking Beyond Capital Funding

They’re excited to announce Financial Inclusion Week will take place on November 1 – 4, 2021. The theme this year is Driving Prosperity in an Era of Uncertainty.

They are currently accepting session proposals for this year’s event!

Missed last year’s events? You can still enjoy all the great content — including recordings of webinars — by accessing the event portal or viewing highlights and recordings on CFI’s website.

Read more about CFI’s new strategy and stay tuned for more information about Financial Inclusion Week 2021.

Questions? Send us an email at center@accion.org…and don’t forget to sign up for email updates!

The extent of economic inequality is very high in the world as the world’s richest 1% own more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people own and it is rising drastically. The greed-based profit-maximizing motive of the current economic system is contributing significantly to this rising inequality. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened this inequality scenario. Millions of people have lost their jobs and thus, they have lost their livelihood. Consequently, millions of families from all over the world have become poor. Thousands of children have dropped out of school. The extent of child labor and child marriage has gone up. The economically marginalized people, especially those who are from minority groups, have been dying disproportionately due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When millions of people are becoming unemployed and poor, the world’s 500 richest people have added approximately $1.8 trillion to their combined wealth in 2020, bringing them to a total net worth of $7.6 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Under such circumstances, the concept of social business promoted by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus could be HERE.

General Subjects for Conference Papers:

The 10th Social Business Academia Conference (SBAC 2021), an interdisciplinary conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya on November 5-6, 2021. We invite academic papers, practitioner cases, and concept notes on innovative ideas on any issues related to social business. We especially invite submissions on social business issues in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The regular and online presentations are going to be allowed.

The suggested themes for papers include:

• The importance of social business in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Poverty and wealth concentration.
• Promoting sustainable development including climate change, health improvement, plastic pollution control, and environmental sustainability.
• Achieving UN SDGs through the application of the social business methodology.
• Affordable healthcare for the bottom-most people.
• Application of technologies in achieving qualitative changes in the lives of the unreachable people.
• Identifies the differences and similarities among the concepts of social business, social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, social economy, social impact investment, corporate social responsibility, etc.
• Issues related to the financing of social businesses including innovative financing techniques (potentials and limitations of various financing options, like bonds, venture capital, crowdfunding, philanthropic capital, etc.).
• Various examples of the application of the social business concept.
• Research and teaching methodologies of social business.
• Measurement of social impacts of social businesses.
• Emerging management methodologies for managing social businesses.
• Social businesses in developed countries.
• Theoretical basis and practical experiences of establishing and operating social business funds.
• From unemployment to entrepreneurship through social business funds.
• Development of an ecosystem for the steady growth of the social business.
• Social Business, marketing, and social marketing.
• Social business and strategic alliances.
• Social business, empathy, and active compassion.
• Social business and education.
• Social business and customer service relationship.
• Application of Artificial intelligence and robotics in social business
• Social business and sports.

Important Dates

Submission Details:

There will be a peer-review process to select papers for the presentation at the conference. Once papers have been selected authors will be notified about the specific sessions in the conference where it will be presented. At least one of the authors would have to register and be present at the conference for the presentation of the paper. If no author is available to present the paper, the paper will be withdrawn from the presentation list.

Authors are requested to submit their papers (in PDF only) through the submission page of the Social Business Academia Conference 2021 (http://socialbusinesspedia.com/sbac/2021). Authors are requested also to see the instructions for authors before submitting the paper. Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at:

–    Professor M. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (mjac@du.ac.bd);
–    Ms. Nazneen Sultana (nazneen@grameen.org);
–    Dr. Ashir Ahmed (ashir@ait.kyushu-u.ac.jp);
–    Ms. Lamiya Morshed  (lamiya@grameen.org).