One could almost call this the Leapfrogging Conference. Bridging the Divide 2005: Technology, Innovation and Learning in Developing Economies looks at the ways in which new technologies, science and education can accelerate development. A joint project of UC Berkeley and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Bridging the Divide 2005 runs April 21-23 on the campus of UC Berkeley.
The workshops are all held on Friday, April 22, and run parallel tracks on healthcare, education, energy & resources, and information/communication technologies. I certainly hope that the conference puts up links to presentations and materials afterwards -- parallel tracks make for efficient use of time, but are frustrating to people who have broad interests. I'm a little disappointed by the speaker selection; most are from big companies and global NGOs (reflecting the conference's sponsorship), and in general the list is far less global than I would have expected, with only a handful from outside the US. The conference is the extension of grad student research in the application of technology to development, however, and many of those projects look very interesting.
Will any WorldChanging readers be attending?