Developing countries

MIT Scaling Development Ventures keynote speaker Hannes van Rensburg (left), founder of Fundamo; and special guest speaker Ann Mei Chang, chief innovation officer and the executive director of the U.S. Global Development Lab.

MIT Scaling Development Ventures conference set for April 1

More than 40 speakers from MIT and around the world will be featured in plenary and breakout sessions in this fourth-annual conference on innovation in poverty alleviation.

March 28, 2016

Janos Pasztor, senior advisor to the U.N. secretary-general on climate change, at one of five daily talks on international climate change negotiations that he presented at MIT.

Getting the world to turn down the heat

Top U.N. climate advisor highlights successes in Paris, challenges ahead.

March 11, 2016

Professor of mechanical engineering Amos Winter (left) and graduate students Natasha Wright (on ladder) and Georgia Van de Zande assemble their desalination system a day before the USAID Desal Prize competition, which they won.

Cleaning water without the grid

MIT researchers have developed a solar-powered desalination system that could significantly increase the groundwater available for drinking in Indian villages.

February 16, 2016

This GridForm model of a village in Bihar, India, shows the optimal layout of hardware for the load profiles of the community. Each building, color-coded by the cost (in Indian rupees) of supplying electricity to that structure, is wired to a central generation/storage node (solid lines), and the nodes are connected to each other (dotted lines).

Going off grid: Tata researchers tackle rural electrification

At MIT’s Tata Center for Technology and Design, researchers are exploring ways to extend electricity access to rural communities in India using microgrids.

January 21, 2016

Moderator Susan Solomon and panelists Noelle Selin, Jessika Trancik, and Henry Jacoby explored the implications of the global climate agreement in Paris.

History in the making: The outcome of the Paris climate change negotiations

Panel of MIT experts explores the promise and perils of a global agreement.

December 18, 2015

At the 2015 Paris climate talks, MIT faculty, students, staff, and alumni have been observing negotiations and participating in side events. A few of those participating: (l-r) MIT researcher and Climate Interactive director Travis Franck; PhD student Michael Davidson; MIT Center for Collective Intelligence/Climate CoLab Director Thomas Malone; MIT Climate CoLab project manager Laur Fisher; alumna...

Sharing climate research and strategies in Paris

MIT events throughout climate talks underscore Institute’s global perspectives and partnerships.

December 11, 2015

D-Lab's Off-Grid Energy Group launches an online Solar Lighting Product Comparison resource making it possible to compare some 50 products.

D-Lab Off-Grid Energy Group launches Solar Lighting Product Comparison Resource

Comparative charts enhance solar lantern purchasing decisions in the developing world.

December 11, 2015

The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, where massive deforestation has taken place

Climate policy in developing countries: Does one size fit all?

Study shows significant differences in costs associated with curbing greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil and Mexico.

December 10, 2015

Thango, of South Africa, participates in a "World Climate" simulation, developed by MIT and Climate Interactive.

Climate negotiation role-play in Paris feels like the real thing

"World Climate" simulation, developed by MIT and Climate Interactive, challenges perceptions about climate negotiations and countries’ development needs.

December 7, 2015