Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series: Spring 2022About the speakerOxentia developed out of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer office. Over the last 18 years we have taken experience and expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship and supported others across the emerging economies. We have learnt many things about the challenges in supporting innovation ecosystem development. There appears to be no quick fixes or models to follow, and we have been exploring strategies to ‘jump start’ ecosystems and work beyond the in-country bureaucracies and generation-scale timeframes. From our experiences in operating in more than 70 countries we have gathered some unique insights, and realised some home truths from the more advanced economies. What has become overwhelmingly apparent are the inequities innovators and entrepreneurs face across the development spectrum. From local to global scales, the rich get richer and developing world innovators, who are often at the coal-face tackling and experiencing some of our planets greatest challenges; simply get stuck. Often this is from a lack of available capital, but also other resources which are in short supply in their own ecosystems. Oxentia’s future focus is in working with partners around the world to help redress the imbalance between innovators and the resources they need, and to support the growing trend all over the world to innovate for people ahead of profit. I look forward to sharing and discussing some of our observations and lessons from our innovation support work around the world. About the seminar seriesThe Perspectives in Global Development seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:25 – 1:15 p.m. eastern time during the semester. The series will be presented in a hybrid format with some speakers on campus and others appearing via Zoom. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend. The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natu
