Posters displaying in large letters, “Big Problems, Big Ideas,” covered the walls of the Booth School of Business last Wednesday night. The crowd gathered in the Harper Center buzzed with excitement, eagerly awaiting the annual event sponsored by the Chicago Social Enterprise Initiative, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, and Chicago Urban Network to begin.
“Big Problems, Big Ideas” is a cross campus event meant to provide a forum to discuss issues ranging from healthcare, to energy, to education and to global development. The event’s philosophy is grounded in the diverse and innovative entrepreneurial solutions that can emerge from bringing together intellectuals of all kinds.
Speakers from various fields of interest are invited to deliver short ten-minute keynotes presenting the “problem” they are focusing on and posing some questions for the audience to think about. Attendees then have the choice of attending one speaker’s breakout session in an interactive environment encouraging further discussion of the “problem” and potential solutions.
Robert Gertner, the Joel F. Gemunder Professor of Strategy and Finance at Chicago Booth, kicked off the event last week by introducing the event’s mission to “harness the brain power at the University of Chicago.” Speakers following included Michael Lindenmayer, Founding Partner and Chairman of Caregiver Relief Fund (Healthcare), Sonny Garg, Chief Investment Officer of Exelon Corporation (Energy and Environment), Sara Ray Stoelinga from the Urban Education Institute (Education), and Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, Chicago Booth (Global Development).
I attended Sonny Garg’s breakout session, and was amazed by all that I learned about regarding the different energy distribution models between developed and developing nations and the future of those models. As an undergraduate student, this opportunity to interface with brilliant professionals and Booth graduate students was great motivation for me to one day contribute ideas and solutions to some of these big problems.
The Booth School is expanding outreach to undergraduate students, and encourages students to participate in its events such as the New Venture Challenge (http://research.chicagobooth.edu/nvc/). Additional opportunities related to business and entrepreneurship can be found in many of our on-campus organizations such as the International Leadership Council, Women in Business, and EnvisionDo.