CEE Student Presents at Emerging Markets Symposium
Liz Cherchia, a junior in the CEE Department, presented at Northeastern University’s 4th Annual Emerging Markets Symposium on July 19, 2012. Following speeches by Governor Deval Patrick and several leaders from industry, Ms. Cherchia discussed the work that she and other Northeastern students are doing to develop water supplies in Uganda through the student group Engineers Without Borders. Her presentation and participation in a panel discussion, providing insights about the need to focus beyond technical solutions to understand cultural context, helped international business and industry leaders better understand how to serve populations in emerging markets.
Source: News @ Northeastern
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said on Thursday morning at Northeastern University that education, innovation and infrastructure drive the development of growing economies. Massachusetts, he added, has these traits in surplus, making the state an ideal business partner.
“There’s a great opportunity, it seems to me, in this globalized economy for Massachusetts in particular,” Patrick told business and academic leaders at the start of Northeastern’s fourth annual Emerging Markets Symposium, which was sponsored by the university’s Center for Emerging Markets. “This globalized economy is all about an explosion of knowledge, and we have that in spades.”
World-class research universities like Northeastern, Patrick said, not only drive the state’s economies but also make it an ideal business partner for emerging markets in the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
He noted that an investment in education and innovation represents a long-term commitment to economic growth in Massachusetts, in the United States and in emerging markets worldwide.
“All of these things create jobs, but they also create a platform for future growth,” Patrick said in his remarks, which were followed by an open and engaging question-and-answer session with symposium attendees.
Patrick’s talk of economic development and job creation was not just rhetoric: He and his administration are supporting a component of pending economic development legislation, also known as the Speaker’s Jobs bill. About half of that $50 million proposal will be eligible for private research entities like Northeastern, which focuses on economic development at levels across the university, from the Center for Research Innovation to the student-run venture accelerator, IDEA.
Ravi Ramamurti, a Distinguished Professor of International Business and Strategy in the College of Business Administration and director of the Center for Emerging Markets, described the annual symposium as an outreach event for the greater Boston area’s business sector. The symposium, he said, was designed to share some of the field’s top academic research with on-the-ground business professionals.