Kamran Elahian
Founder and Chairman, Global Innovation Catalyst, LLC
As an Innovation Catalyst, Kamran advises various governments on the needed transition from fossil based economies to sustainable innovation economies. In the past, as a global high-tech entrepreneur, he co-founded ten companies, had 6 exits, 3 of them were Unicorn IPOs with a total market cap of over $8B. For 15 yrs., he was Chairman of Global Catalyst Partners, a global VC firm ($350M under management) with investments in the U.S., Japan, China, India, Israel and Singapore. Underlying his vision for global philanthropy is the conviction that modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be instrumental in dissolving barriers between nations and bridging the social and political differences among people. This vision was reflected in Schools-Online, a nonprofit he co-founded in 1996 to connect the world, one school at a time (6400 schools in 36 countries were provided with computers and access to the Internet) and merged with Relief International in 2003; Global Catalyst Foundation, co-founded in 2000 to improve lives through effective education and empowerment of the youth (with special emphasis on young women) using the leverage of ICT, and UN-GAID, a United Nations global forum that promotes ICT in developing countries where he served as Co-Chairman (2009-2011).
Sessions
10/02/2019
02.15 - 03.00
TRA Hall
Generation Unlimited: Preparing young children and youth with the skills (and love!) the new world economy needs
Co-organized by UNICEF’s Executive Director and the UAE Government, this panel discussion opens two new fronts of action for young life: a rallying cry for the formative first 1,000 days of childhood and the UAE launch of Generation Unlimited, the international partnership to have every young person in school, training, or a job by 2030, when 200 million new jobs will be needed. Panelists will profile solutions and failures in evolving the global goals on children and youth from "survive" to "thrive," and in ensuring that early childhood is the start of concerted, meaningful investment that runs through the transition to adulthood.