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Published on September 14, 2016
This summer was spent working as an intern for the international development organization, Katerva. The organization serves as a platform to provide recognition and consultation to technologies and startups relating to sustainable development, specifically targeting innovation that will help raise the quality of life in the developing world. Each year Katerva presents awards for different areas of environmentally friendly innovations, often referred to as "The Nobel Prize of Sustainability". The award provides recognition and credibility for new ideas to receive needed investment so their technology can be implemented on a larger scale. Katerva serves the mission of connecting innovations with investors for a great cause.
My task as a researcher is to spot new technologies out of top research universities and analyze the potential value for the developing world. This is not an internship of pushing paperwork or getting coffee, but instead an inside look into non-profit management, international development and business intelligence. Starting the internship in June and working through until December, work is completed remotely, by searching through research news and creating reports on potential technologies. I've had the opportunity to become well acquainted with the office of technology transfer at several leading universities, and exchanged dialogues with leading experts and professors from around the country. This internship with Katerva has had me conducting skype calls with researchers in the Netherlands in the morning, exchanging emails with a Professor from UC Berkeley at lunch, and reading academic journals about the new age of efficient batteries in the afternoon. Skype has allowed me to quickly connect with researchers from around the world to produce meaningful analysis for new technologies and ideas. All of this has been a great learning experience and I look forward to continuing through the year.
Written by Adam Murphy