The Citizen Cyberscience Lectures - 1) Mobile phones and Africa: a success story 2) Citizen Problem Solving

<!--HTML-->Mobile phones and Africa: a success story Dr. Mo Ibrahim, Mo Ibrahim Foundation Citizen Problem Solving Dr. Alpheus Bingham, InnoCentive The Citizen Cyberscience Lectures are hosted by the partners of the Citizen Cyberscience Centre, CERN, The UN Institute of Training and Research and the University of Geneva. The goal of the Lectures is to provide an inspirational forum for participants from the various international organizations and academic institutions in Geneva to explore how information technology is enabling greater citizen participation in tackling global development challenges as well as global scientific research. The first Citizen Cyberscience Lectures will welcome two speakers who have both made major innovative contributions in this area. Dr. Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel International, one of Africa’s most successful mobile network operators, will talk about “Mobile phones and Africa: a success story”. Dr. Alpheus Bingham, founder of InnoCentive, a Web-based community that solves industrial R&D challenges, will discuss “Citizen Problem Solving”. The Citizen Cyberscience Lectures are open and free of charge. Participants from outside CERN must register by sending an email to Yasemin.Hauser@cern.ch BEFORE the 23rd october to be able to access CERN. THE LECTURES Mobile phones and Africa: a success story Dr. Mo Ibrahim, Mo Ibrahim Foundation Abstract The introduction of mobile phones into Africa changed the continent, enabling business and the commercial sector, creating directly and indirectly, millions of jobs. It enriched the social lives of many people. Surprisingly, it supported the emerging civil society and advanced the course of democracy Bio Dr Mo Ibrahim is a global expert in mobile communications with a distinguished academic and business career. In 1998, Dr Ibrahim founded Celtel International to build and operate mobile networks in Africa. Celtel became one of Africa’s most successful companies with operations in 15 countries, covering more than a third of the continent’s population and investing more than US$750 million in Africa. The company was sold to MTC Kuwait in 2005 for $3.4billion. In 2006 Dr Ibrahim established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to support great African leadership. The Foundation focuses on two major initiatives to stimulate debate around, and improve the quality of, governance in Africa. The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership recognises and celebrates excellence; and the Ibrahim Index of African Governance provides civil society with a comprehensive and quantifiable tool to promote government accountability. Dr Ibrahim is also Founding Chairman of Satya Capital Ltd, an investment company focused on opportunities in Africa. Dr Ibrahim has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of Birmingham and De Montfort University, Leicester as well as an Honorary Fellowship Award from the London Business School. He has also received the Chairman’s Award for Lifetime Achievement from the GSM Association in 2007 and the Economists Innovation Award 2007 for Social & Economic Innovation. In 2008 Dr Ibrahim was presented with the BNP Paribas Prize for Philanthropy, and also listed by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Citizen Problem Solving Dr. Alpheus Bingham, InnoCentive Abstract American playwright Damien Runyon (Guys and Dolls) once remarked, "the race is not always to the swift, nor the victory to the strong -- but that IS how you bet." Not only does a system of race handicapping follow from this logic, but the whole notion of expertise and technical qualifications. Such 'credentials' allow one to 'bet' on who might most likely solve a difficult challenge, whether as consultant, contractor or employee. Of course, the approach would differ if one were allowed to bet AFTER the race. When such systems came into broad use, i.e., chat rooms, usenets, innocentive, etc., and were subsequently studied, it was often found that the greatest probability of solution lies in the "long tail" of the function rather than in the head representing formally vetted 'experts.' Insight into a problem is often the intersection of training, experience, metaphor and provocation (think Archimedes). Examples of "citizens" outside a targeted field of expertise providing uniques solutions will illustrate the principles involved. Bio Dr. Alph Bingham is a pioneer in the field of open innovation and an advocate of collaborative approaches to research and development. He is co-founder, and former president and chief executive officer of InnoCentive Inc., a Web-based community that matches companies facing R&D challenges with scientists who propose solutions. Through InnoCentive, a platform that leverages the ability to connect to a whole planet of people through the Internet, organizations can access individuals – problem solvers – who might never have been found. Alph spent more than 25 years with Eli Lilly and Company, and offers deep experience in pharmaceutical research and development, research acquisitions and collaborations, and R&D strategic planning. During his career he was instrumental in creating and developing Eli Lilly's portfolio management process as well as establishing the divisions of Research Acquisitions, the Office of Alliance Management and e.Lilly, a business innovation unit, from which various other ventures were spun out that create the advantages of open and networked organizational structures, including: InnoCentive, YourEncore, Inc., Coalesix, Inc., Maaguzi, Inc., Indigo Biosystems, Seriosity, Chorus and Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of InnoCentive, Inc., and Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc.; the advisory boards of the Center for Collective Intelligence (MIT), and the Business Innovation Factory, as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Bankinter Foundation for Innovation in Madrid. He has lectured extensively at both national and international events and serves as a Visiting Scholar at the National Center for Supercomputing Application at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He is also the former chairman of the Board of Editors of the Research Technology Management Journal. Dr. Bingham was the recipient of the Economist's Fourth Annual Innovation Summit "Business Process Award" for InnoCentive. He was also named as one of Project Management Institute's "Power 50" leaders in October 2005. Dr. Bingham received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford University.