Director of the Center for Development Innovation to speak at MIT Tata Center on Nov. 16, 2015.

Where: E51-325 (Tang Center)
When: 5:30 – 7:00 PM, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015

David Ferguson, director of the Center for Development Innovation at USAID’s Global Development Lab, will speak at the MIT Tata Center on Nov. 16th, and members of the MIT community interested in international development are invited to attend. Ferguson will provide a broad overview of the Lab with an emphasis on topics of interest to MIT researchers, including the intersection of research and global development, grand challenges, and ways to get involved.

About the Speaker

David Ferguson is Director of the Center for Development Innovation in the U.S. Global Development Lab. The Center is responsible both directed and open innovation approaches to sourcing and accelerating solutions that have the potential to be transformative in bettering the lives of millions of people. Before joining USAID, he worked on international development at the nexus of development, technology, and the private sector. His first career was 27 years at AT&T where he created and ran AT&T’s Professional Services Division, developing it into a US$200M profitable entity. He was based in Hong Kong for seven years and focused on the developing markets of China, India, and Indonesia, for telecommunications investment opportunities. He built seven joint ventures during this period. He began his career with AT&T at Bell Labs.

His technical expertise includes open and directed innovation methodology, ICT for development, economic growth through private sector engagement, and government technology and telecommunications policy and regulation.

Mr. Ferguson holds a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.