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

Addressing “Inclusive Partnerships for Sustainable Market Innovations”, the oikos UNDP Young Scholars Academy moves its location this year to Costa Rica, from 29 August to 3 September. Organised by the oikos Foundation and UNDP with CATIE and the INCAE business school as local hosts, the Academy will offer participants not only strong academic coaching and discussions, but also an immersion in an exciting country in the heart of Latin America.

The Academy in 2010

The oikos UNDP Academy seeks to help young academics to bring the realities at the BoP into mainstream academic discussions, and to build a network among promising young academics. The participants will receive feedback by three faculty members that combine passion and academic excellence in inclusive market research.

We are very happy that Geoffrey M. Kistruck, from the Ohio State University, who has published an insightful academic paper on the “entrepreneurship process” in BoP markets will take part in the Academy. Patricia Marquez, who has recently left the IESA business school in Venezuela to join the business school at the San Diego University, will bring her experience in academic publishing on BoP issues and from her work with the Social Entreprise Knowledge Network, that has pushed the inclusive business agenda across Latin America. From the Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil, we will be joined by Cláudio Boechat, a professor with strong experiences in executive teaching and case writing, including assignments for UNDP’s Growing Inclusive Market initiative.

This year, oikos and UNDP organise the Academy together with CATIE and the INCAE business school in Costa Rica – to increase the number of participants from the Latin America countries, and bring the event closer to real-world challenges and solutions in developing countries.

Past experience

The oikos UNDP Academy takes place for the second time now. The first Academy has provided “a very valuable platform filling the need for more rigor in the BoP field”, as 2009 participant Saurabh Lall states it. In December 2009 in snowy Switzerland, it gathered 15 participants from a range of top-level universities, with broad academic and working experiences. As 2009 participant Francois Perrot summarises: “An amazing Academy combining academic rigor with a most relevant topic. I learnt a lot and was glad to meet with so many talented fellow graduate students!”

Who can apply?

The Academy is open for all PhD students and young scholars (PhD granted within the last years) who work on poverty and development from a management or economics perspective. Interested candidates need to submit an abstract by 15 May 2010, as described in the full Call for Papers available here.