Southern Innovator Issue 5 Being Printed and Readied for Launch | 15 February 2014

Southern Innovator‘s fifth issue is being printed and will soon launch. It is a significant milestone for the magazine since its first launch in 2011. The magazine has been able to gather stories on innovative solutions to the many challenges facing the global South in the 21st century. Distributed around the world and featured at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo), it offers a unique opportunity to directly reach the current generation of global innovators.

It is a missed opportunity to not support Southern Innovator at this critical time while the magazine’s profile grows.

Issue 6 will cover the theme of Science, Technology and Innovation.

An infographic from Southern Innovator Issue 5. The cover of Issue 5.

Green Economy Thoughts Published in India | 3 January 2014

Happy New Year! 2014 kicks off with an article on innovation and the green economy published in the newsletter Southasiadisasters.net. It covers the current state of the green economy and the role innovation should play in making the green economy more relevant and more successful. Drawing on what has been learned in producing the magazine Southern Innovator, it ties in well with the upcoming fifth issue of Southern Innovator on the theme of waste and recycling (see posts below).

Keep checking back to learn more about what is in store for Southern Innovator in 2014. The sixth issue is on the theme of science, technology and innovation. Don’t make the mistake of failing to get involved and support the magazine as we gather research resources for this issue.

Southern Innovator 4 in southasiadisasters.net.

Southern Innovator Issue 5 Awaits Sign-Off | 20 December 2013

Southern Innovator‘s fifth issue is ready and is currently being reviewed in New York at the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). On the theme of waste and recycling, it asks some challenging questions about how the world uses its resources and what this means for the advancement of human development, in particular in the global South.

The sixth issue will get underway in 2014 and is on the theme of science, technology and innovation. Southern Innovator is looking for invitations to come and see what innovators are working on and what has been accomplished. Time is tight, so please contact us now to liaise on travel schedules for the first two months of 2014 (January and February). In the past, Southern Innovator has been invited to see first-hand innovators at work in Cuba, South Korea and China.

Issue 5 cover.

As 2014 approaches, SI will draft some thoughts on what has been accomplished and will peer into the future and offer some perspective and thoughts on innovation and resilience in the 21st century.

Southern Innovator Issue 1 at the Tianjin Eco-city in China.

Southern Innovator Issue 5 in Production | 10 December 2013

The fifth issue of Southern Innovator is on the way. It explores innovators in the global green economy and who are tackling the issues of waste and recycling and how to use resources efficiently while raising living standards and boosting human development. Southern Innovator is a great opportunity to reach cutting-edge innovators around the world. Don’t miss this opportunity to support the magazine in 2014 and 2015. The magazine is beginning a new phase in how it is distributed by partnering with innovators to help reach more readers.

First draft cover for Issue 5.

Southern Innovator Issue 4 Launches in Nairobi, Kenya at Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD) 2013 | 5 November 2013

Volunteers help launch Southern Innovator’s fourth issue at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The fourth issue of Southern Innovator magazine has launched at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo) 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. Southern Innovator Issue 4 visits the new cities being built to tackle the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing 21st-century world. The magazine also highlights some of the solutions being devised to the challenges people face as the world becomes a majority urban place.

Some innovators are building new cities from scratch, applying the latest thinking and hard-wiring in cutting-edge information technologies and innovative environmental measures to create ‘smart’ cities and eco-cities. Architects are designing and refining homes that are beautiful and functional, easy to build, affordable and conserve energy. Social entrepreneurs are innovating ways to create liveable and socially inclusive urban areas, often in places where planning has been scant and where incomes are very low. All those featured in the magazine were chosen for their focus on improving human development and their ingenuity and fresh thinking.

Southern Innovator champions a 21st-century global innovator culture. The magazine profiles and celebrates the innovators across the global South finding new ways to tackle poverty, create wealth and improve human development and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In its first issue in September 2011, Southern Innovator featured the people who are re-shaping new information technologies – from mobile phone apps to Internet technologies. Many of the innovators profiled in that first issue came from Kenya.

SI (southerninnovator.org) is based on intensive research and produced by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation in UNDP (UNOSSC) (formerly the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation in UNDP). UNOSSC organizes an annual Global South-South Development Expo (southsouthexpo.org), a roaming celebration and gathering of Southern innovators previously held in New York, Washington, D.C., Geneva, Rome and Vienna. This year’s Expo is being held in Nairobi, Kenya (28 October to 1 November 2013) and is hosted by the UN Environment Programme (unep.org).

SI is being distributed through the United Nations’ network and partners and reaches some of the world’s poorest and remotest places, as well as the vibrant but stressed growing global megacities. It is hoped the magazine will inspire budding innovators with its mix of stories, essential information, facts and figures, images and graphics.

We hope you enjoy the magazine and find its content interesting and illuminating: a snapshot of a fast-changing world awash, as we found out, with innovators, creators and do-ers making their world a better place. It is possible to sponsor issues of the magazine, either through helping to fund its print run, or through sponsored inserts covering that issue’s theme with relevant content for our readers.