An innovation management professor and venture investor with links to Massachusetts and Belgium, Jean-Jacques Degroof has a strong interest in initiatives such as the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC), which announced the awarding of prizes totaling $1.6 million to startups committed to broadening global opportunities.
One of the winners of the $250,000 grand prize was the mobile platform JobGet, which is designed to match employers with qualified low-income job seekers. Another winner, Reaktor Education, provides education on artificial intelligence through online coursework. Agros combines precision agriculture and remote sensing in providing small Latin American farmers with strategic assistance, while the online lender TiendaPago is designed to provide short term loans to “mom-and-pop” retailers. An MIT Sloan School of Management principal research scientist described the importance of the award in encouraging positive dialogue about technologies among those who have become overly pessimistic as to the potential of automation to take away jobs. The award represents an opportunity to fund worthy projects while shifting the conversation toward the economic choices and advancements that technology also brings.
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