The Milken Innovation Center and Blum Lab for Developing Economies have successfully graduated the 2021 class of its Development Finance Practice Fellowship. A set of 3 Israeli fellows and 10 Blum Global fellows graduated from the program with Project Implementation Plans and Research papers focused on solving development challenges by blending financial and technological solutions in food, water, energy, education, circular economy, finance, and health.
The Israeli fellows’ focused on producing research papers that would influence public policy at the national level whose implementation is domiciled under the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Israeli Innovation Authority.
The following policy papers produced by the fellows include:
Circular Economy in the Construction Sector – Noam Katzir, Ministry of Environmental Protection
Models of Collaborative Initiatives with Multilateral Financial Institutions – A bridge to Israeli Innovation for International Development, Adi Trigger- Israeli Innovation Authority/ Ministry of Finance
Increasing business credit in Israel- Gili Almagor, Ministry of Finance
The Blum Global fellows worked on Project Implementation Plans that addressed the various Sustainable Development Goals within their placement organizations. The following Project Implementation Plans developed by the Blum Global fellows include:
- Deployment of Greenhouses for vegetable production in Oyo State, Nigeria – Caleb Ife- Oluwa, BIC Farms, Nigeria
- Establishment of hermetic grain storage solutions in Kaduna State – Fatima Umar, UNDP Nigeria
- Cold storage solutions for the avocado value chain in Kenya, Thaddeus Ochieng, Eshet Ellion/iLAB Africa, Kenya
- Bankability Barometer for SMEs Assessment in South Africa – Refilwe Belebesi, GRIP Capital/Solidaridad Network, South Africa
- Upcycling biomass value in Israel/Rwanda- Matan Dahan, Canna Re, Israel
- Building community resilience through community gardens- Nonsi Nkomo, Solidaridad Network, Zimbabwe
- Building climate resilience through Rwanda’s first Green Bond – Alain Gabiro, Ministry of Environment, Rwanda & Nathalie Mutalikanwa, Rwanda Green Bond
- Evergreen ImpacTech Platform (EIP) for investing in agricultural technologies – Laura Shalmaev, Start-Up Nation Central, Israel
- Impact Evaluation for Milken Innovation Center Fellowship Programs- Esther Eshiet, Milken Innovation Center, Israel
The fellows also underwent various activities during their fellowship year including weekly research seminars, skills development workshops and virtual conferences.
About Us
The Milken Innovation Center focuses on developing market-based solutions to Israel’s greatest challenges as it transitions from a startup nation to a global nation. Our work leads to innovative policies and programs and financial technology transfer that democratize capital, finance ideas, create jobs, and accelerate economic growth.
The Blum Lab for Developing Economies is part of the global network of Blum Centers for Developing Economies based at the University of California (UC-Berkeley) enabling interdisciplinary problem-solving in key areas of energy, health, technology, food, water, health, and other challenges to sustainable development.
For further inquiries, please contact Orly Movshovitz- Landskroner on the telephone at +972 (0)52-847465 or via email at orly@jerusaleminstitute.org.il
Orly Movshovitz-Landskroner
Fellowship Programs Manager
Milken Innovation Center
Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research
https://milkeninnovationcenter.org/