The New Policy Institute is pleased to host a special lunchtime forum on Wednesday, October 8 with Tom Kalil, author of a compelling new NDN paper, Harnessing the Mobile Revolution. Tom will be joined by NDN President Simon Rosenberg for a discussion on the power of mobile technologies to address some of our most pressing global challenges, such as promoting vibrant democracies, fostering inclusive economic growth, and reducing the huge inequities in life expectancy between rich and poor countries. Lunch will be provided.
It took the industry 20 years to sell the first billion phones. The second billion sold in four years and the third billion sold in two years. There are now more mobile subscribers in developing countries than in developed countries. While there is no doubt that cell phones have changed the way those in developed countries live and work, mobile devices are having life-transforming effects in developing countries where a mother in a remote village can phone ahead to find out whether a doctor three hours away is in the office before leaving home.
NDN has been increasingly active in advocating for a more robust U.S. agenda to address global poverty. Last spring, for example, we endorsed the Global Poverty Act, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has introduced a companion bill in the U.S. Senate. Click here to read the letter NDN wrote to Smith and Obama in support of their legislation.
Bio:
Tom Kalil serves as Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology at UC Berkeley. He develops major new multi-disciplinary research and education initiatives at the intersection of information technology, nanotechnology, microsystems, and biology. Tom also serves as the Chair of the Global Health Working Group of the Clinton Global Initiative. Tom is also a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Nanomix. Previously, he served as the Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Technology and Economic Policy, and the Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council. He was the NEC's "point person" on a wide range of science, technology and innovation policy issues, such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Prior to joining the White House, Tom was a trade specialist at the Washington offices of Dewey Ballantine, where he represented the Semiconductor Industry Association.
