Institute Aims to Attack World Poverty through Innovation
Geoffrey Orsak, dean of Southern Methodist University’s Lyle School of Engineering, is launching an institute to improve the lives of some of the 2.7 billion people who survive on $2 a day or less. The Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity will develop low-cost innovations, act as a think tank, and sponsor global competitions to find solutions to change the lives of the truly impoverished. Its top priorities: safe and durable housing; clean water and sanitation; roads and transportation systems; and reliable, green energy — all at a price that the poorest of the poor can afford. And the innovations must ultimately make money for the manufacturers. [DallasNews.com, 9 Dec 2009]