Episode 23: MIT Solve Interview On The Gaps Between Ingenuity & Opportunity Worldwide

Mike Grandinetti (0:00)

Hello, everyone. This is Mike Grandinetti, and welcome to a very special episode of this Disruptive Innovation Podcast series. This is the first time that we're broadcasting from the height of the coronavirus pandemic that has completely shut down our entire country, as well as cities and countries across the world.

It's a time when all of us need to pull together and think about helping one another and being part of a supportive global community. So I can't think of a better guest to have join me today than Hala Hanna, who was managing director of MIT Solve, actually managing director of community of the Solve at MIT organization, an incredible platform that is fostering innovation to address a wide range of social, environmental, health, education and prosperity oriented issues. Hala, welcome to the podcast.

Hala Hanna (1:03)

Thank you so much, Mike, and thanks for coming to the studio in this time of social distancing.

Mike Grandinetti (1:09)

Well, I really thought that this was a story that would be very inspiring to my listeners and ideally to the global audience that you're looking to impact. So, quite frankly, I couldn't imagine not doing this.

Hala, maybe as we start, I know we're going to dig in somewhat deeply to your background and certainly the wonderful work that you and your team are doing itself. But just very quickly, can you describe what Solve's mission is and the kind of impact that you're hoping to have in the world today?

Hala Hanna (1:42)

Yes, Solve is an initiative of MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And our mission is to solve world challenges, small things.

Solve is a market place for social impact innovation. And through open innovation, we find incredible tech-based social entrepreneurs from all over the world. And we bring together MIT's innovation ecosystem and a community of member organizations that can fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting and transformational impact. I know we're going to talk more about this.

Just in big numbers, we have 130 of those innovators over teams. We have an equal number of member organizations that support them. And over the past three years that we've existed, we've facilitated the commitment of $14 million in support to these innovators.

Mike Grandinetti (2:40)

That's great.

And I know just an infinite number of inspirational stories of innovators from around the world that you've helped to enable, empower and grow with their impact. We're going to dig into that. But before we do, right, this is, you know, innovation ultimately is a people oriented endeavor. And you're someone who's been on a mission from what I gather since you were a young girl, right? You grew up in Lebanon during the time of the Civil War. And I know that it impacted you greatly.

So can you take us through a little bit of your early history from the time that you were a young girl through your educational experiences, both at the American University of Beirut and then as you've moved on to the States? Because it seems like you've had a singular focus to, you know, bring positive impact to the world through your educational experiences.

Hala Hanna (3:31)

I think I said it right, that being born during a civil war in Lebanon definitely played a big role in the orientation. My parents are also both doctors, so they modeled for me what it is like to have a career that's more in the service of others. After a few years of homeschooling in Lebanon, I grew up watching a country in reconstruction and it was a front row seat to what it looks like when, you know, good governance or less good governance impacts a whole population's access to resources and what kind of inequalities that build into the system.

And so it was fascinating in the best and worst ways and that definitely led me to wanting to understand the mechanisms of that. So whether it was in studying economics in undergrad or international development when I came to the US to study that, it was that quest for, you know, what does it look like to make impact at a scale that is meaningful? I worked with nonprofits at the local level and it was very rewarding because you could see, you know, you could see how that mattered for one single family, but it wasn't systemic in any way. And I think that was, this has been the kind of the pursuit that I've been after in some sense.

Mike Grandinetti (4:57)

That's great. And so eventually you wind up at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard, right? Renowned school for people that are in the universe that you are so deeply immersed in.