BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Growth Lab - ECPv6.18.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Growth Lab
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T130000
DTSTAMP:20260918T201533Z
CREATED:20260918T130647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260918T201533Z
UID:19077-1790251200-1790254800@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Revitalizing City Centers: the Case of Rio de Janeiro
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRio de Janeiro’s historic center tells a story familiar to many cities across Latin America and the developing world: decades of outward expansion have hollowed out urban cores\, leaving behind degraded buildings\, strained public services\, and neighborhoods that once defined the city’s civic life. Washington Fajardo has spent over a decade designing urban revitalization policies to address this decay. As the Director of the IDB Cities’ Lab he works on cutting-edge solutions to address urban challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously as the Mayor’s Special Advisor for Urban Issues and President of the Rio World Heritage Institute (2009–2016)\, he designed policies and financing mechanisms to preserve heritage\, regenerate buildings\, and improve public services in the city center. He joins the Growth Lab to discuss what it takes to bring city centers back to life: which policy tools actually work to regenerate buildings and public spaces\, how to finance preservation at scale\, and what Rio’s experience offers other cities grappling with urban decay at their core. \n\n\n\nSpeaker: Washington Fajardo\, Director of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Cities Lab \n\n\n\nModerator: Andres Fortunato\, Growth Lab Research Manager \n\n\n\nWhether attending in person or virtually\, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Bio: Washington Fajardo is an architect and urbanist. He coordinates Cities LAB at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)\, in the Housing and Urban Development Division\, where he works on institutional innovation\, urban regeneration\, and digital transformation and AI adoption in Latin American and Caribbean cities. From 2009 to 2016\, throughout Rio de Janeiro’s preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games\, he served as the Mayor’s special advisor for urban issues and head of historic preservation\, working on Porto Maravilha\, the UNESCO World Heritage designation of Rio’s Carioca Landscapes\, and the protection of Cais do Valongo. He returned to City Hall as Chief of Urban Planning and President of the Instituto Pereira Passos (2021–2022)\, where he created Reviver Centro\, the downtown housing and regeneration program. He curated the Brazilian Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale and was a Harvard Loeb Fellow (2019). \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/revitalizing-city-centers-the-case-of-rio-de-janeiro/
LOCATION:Allison Dining Room – Taubman Building 5th floor
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Hybrid
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-18-at-4.14.58-PM.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261002T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261002T160000
DTSTAMP:20260930T184734Z
CREATED:20260922T203523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260930T184734Z
UID:19103-1790953200-1790956800@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Introducing the Global AI Adoption Index: Measuring How AI Is Diffusing Across the World
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\nAI is spreading rapidly across economies\, yet we still know surprisingly little about where\, how\, and by whom it is actually being adopted. Holly Krambeck\, Program Manager for the World Bank Data Lab and founder of the Development Data Partnership\, will present the Global AI Adoption Index\, a new joint initiative bringing together the World Bank\, IMF\, OECD and leading AI companies including Anthropic\, Google\, Microsoft\, OpenAI\, and OpenRouter. \n\n\n\nThe initiative aims to develop harmonized\, privacy-protected measures of consumer and API adoption across countries\, complemented by indicators on infrastructure\, labor markets\, connectivity\, and language. The talk will discuss the unique challenge of turning proprietary data held across competing AI companies into a comparable public good\, and how better measurement of AI diffusion can help governments understand emerging divides\, target investments\, and design more effective policies. \n\n\n\nSpeaker: Holly Krambeck\, Program Manager of the World Bank Data Lab and founder of the Development Data Partnership \n\n\n\nModerator: Pierre-Alexandre Balland\, Chief Data Scientist at CEPS\, Growth Lab Associate \n\n\n\nWhether attending in person or virtually\, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Bio: Holly Krambeck is Program Manager of the World Bank Data Lab and founder of the Development Data Partnership\, a global collaboration uniting 12 international organizations and over 30 technology partners to use private-sector data and AI for international development. The Partnership creates scalable technical\, legal\, and governance frameworks that support secure public-private data sharing and public sector analytics capacity building worldwide. Previously\, Krambeck led World Bank transport infrastructure investments across East and Southeast Asia\, helping government agencies modernize data collection\, analytics\, and infrastructure management. She holds a Master of City Planning and a Master of Science in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/introducing-the-global-ai-adoption-index-measuring-how-ai-is-diffusing-across-the-world/
LOCATION:Malkin Penthouse\, HKS
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Hybrid
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/krambeck43.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T130000
DTSTAMP:20261008T084718Z
CREATED:20261005T172634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261008T084718Z
UID:19174-1791979200-1791982800@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Can Small Nations Compete and Win in the Age of AI? The Case of Wales
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\nThe AI revolution is reshaping the terms of economic competition — and for small nations without Big Tech headquarters or deep capital markets\, the question is whether size can be an advantage rather than a constraint. Wales is a sharp test case. It industrialized early\, de-industrialized hard\, and has important productivity challenges to overcome. Now Adam Price MS\, Wales’s Cabinet Minister for Enterprise\, Connectivity and Energy\, is betting on AI adoption\, clean energy\, and a rebuilt skills system to close the gap — all from a sub-national government with limited fiscal levers. Price joins the Growth Lab to discuss what Wales’s strategy reveals about the prospects for small nations in a world being reshaped by AI. \n\n\n\nSpeaker: Adam Price MS — Welsh Cabinet Minister for Enterprise\, Connectivity and Energy \n\n\n\nModerator: Ricardo Hausmann\, Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. \n\n\n\nWhether attending in person or virtually\, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Bio: \n\n\n\nAdam Price is a former Managing Director of Newidiem\, a UK policy and economics consultancy\, and former Executive Director of the Welsh economic development and cultural change agency\, Menter a Busnes. Before being elected to the National Assembly\, Price worked as a Senior Program Manager for a UK Innovation Foundation Nesta. \n\n\n\nPrice was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Harvard University where he studied a Masters in Public Administration. He went on to become a Fellow at the Centre for International Development at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2014 he won the Bronze Medal at the New York Film and Television Festival for his documentary on the 1984/1985 Miners Strike. In 2015 his 4-part series was recognized with 2 BAFTA Cymru Awards. \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/can-small-nations-compete-and-win-in-the-age-of-ai-the-case-of-wales/
LOCATION:Democracy Lab (R414 AB)\, Rubenstein Building 4th floor\, HKS
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Hybrid
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261015T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261015T130000
DTSTAMP:20261008T190425Z
CREATED:20260918T202640Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261008T190425Z
UID:19096-1792065600-1792069200@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Growth and Structural Transformation in Morocco
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\nOver twenty-five years Morocco built an automotive and aeronautics export base largely from scratch\, expanded renewables\, and positioned itself as a bridge between Europe and Africa — while still struggling with low female labor-force participation\, weak educational outcomes\, and a growth rate that has not delivered the convergence the country hoped for. \n\n\n\nKarim El Aynaoui\, former Director of Economics at Bank Al-Maghrib and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Moroccan Economy\, joins the Growth Lab for a candid accounting: which industrial policies paid off\, which did not and why\, and what Morocco’s experience offers other middle-income economies attempting the same climb. \n\n\n\nSpeaker: Karim El Aynaoui\, Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South\, Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University \n\n\n\nModerator: Muhammed Yildirim\, Director of Academic Research\, Growth Lab  \n\n\n\nWhether attending in person or virtually\, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nThis event is co-sponsored by Harvard’s Center for African Studies (CAS). \n\n\n\nSpeaker Bio: Karim El Aynaoui is Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South. He is also Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities\, Economics and Social Sciences Cluster.  \n\n\n\nFrom 2005 to 2012\, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) as Director of Economics\, Statistics\, and International Relations. He also created and headed the Research Department and served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Previously\, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an economist for its regional units of the Middle East and North Africa and Africa.  \n\n\n\nKarim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. He has co-authored works on growth and the labor market in Morocco and has recently co-edited a book entitled The Oxford Handbook of the Moroccan Economy.  \n\n\n\nKarim El Aynaoui holds scientific and advisory positions in several institutions. He is currently a member of Malabo Montpellier Panel\, the Scientific Committee of The Italian Institute for International Political Studies\, the Advisory Committee of The World Bank’s Institute for Economic Development\, the Scientific Council of The Moroccan Capital Market Authority\, the International Board of Med-Or Italian Foundation\, and a global member of The Trilateral Commission. He also serves as advisor to the CEO and Chairman of OCP Group and is a board member of OCP Foundation.  \n\n\n\nKarim El Aynaoui holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bordeaux where he taught courses in Statistics and Economics for three years. He is Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.  \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/19096/
LOCATION:Malkin Penthouse
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Hybrid
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/3.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261026T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261026T173000
DTSTAMP:20261015T144451Z
CREATED:20261007T212022Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261015T144451Z
UID:19200-1793032200-1793035800@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Wyoming’s Childcare Shortage: Business Solutions for a Business Problem
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\nAcross the United States\, childcare shortages are quietly constraining economic growth — keeping workers\, disproportionately women\, out of the labor force. Wyoming offers an unusual case of a state tackling the problem not as social policy but as economic infrastructure. Since 2023\, the Wyoming Business Council has led an interagency effort that treats childcare the way states treat roads or broadband: as a precondition for workforce participation. The results so far include startup grants for new providers in underserved areas\, regulatory reform to unlock home-based operations\, and a data system that maps supply gaps at the community level — all in a state where provider supply had collapsed by more than 25% in a decade. \n\n\n\nKristin Fong\, Feliciana Turner\, Roxanne O’Connor\, and Devan Costa-Cargill join the Growth Lab to discuss what it takes to build childcare as economic infrastructure\, what the business case looks like when you reframe the problem\, and what other states and countries grappling with labor force participation gaps can learn from Wyoming’s approach. \n\n\n\nPlease register in advance. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nSpeakers: Kristin Fong\, Northwest Regional Director\, Wyoming Business Council \n\n\n\nFeliciana Turner\, Manager\, Wyoming Maternal and Child Health Unit\, Wyoming Department of Health \n\n\n\nRoxanne O’Connor\, Administrator\, Wyoming Department of Family Services Support Services Division \n\n\n\nDevan Costa-Cargill\, Regional Director\, Wyoming Small Business Development Network \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/19200/
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/7.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261110T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261110T130000
DTSTAMP:20261022T154622Z
CREATED:20261005T232812Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261022T154622Z
UID:19182-1794312000-1794315600@growthlab.hks.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Thirty Years of Urbanization in Mexico\, 1990–2020: Urban Expansion\, Central City Decline\, and the Remaking of Urban Form
DESCRIPTION:Development Talks Hybrid\n\n\nOver the past three decades\, Mexico’s urban population has nearly doubled\, yet its city centers are emptying out. Since 1990\, 2.5 million residents have left the central zones of 69 metropolitan areas as growth spread outward in a fragmented\, low-density pattern. Central areas that once held over 40% of the urban population now hold just 22%. Over the same period\, commuting distances have grown by nearly 30% and emissions have risen. These changing patterns of growth create public policy challenges\, mounting pressure on housing\, transportation\, and public services. \n\n\n\nRoberto Ponce-López\, Research Director at the Center for the Future of Cities at Tecnológico de Monterrey\, will present findings from his new Nature Communications paper\, on the dynamics of urban sprawl in Mexico\, and discuss policy pathways toward more inclusive cities. The conversation will be moderated by Diane Davis\, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.   \n\n\n\nSpeaker: Roberto Ponce López\, Research Director at the Center for the Future of Cities\, Director of the M.Sc. in Data Science and Public Policy at the School of Government and Public Transformation\, and Professor of Urban Science at Tecnológico de Monterrey \n\n\n\nModerator: Diane Davis\, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism and former Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD)\, Director of the Mexican Cities Initiative  \n\n\n\nWhether attending in person or virtually\, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Bio: Roberto Ponce López is Research Director at the Center for the Future of Cities\, Director of the M.Sc. in Data Science and Public Policy at the School of Government and Public Transformation\, and Professor of Urban Science at Tecnológico de Monterrey\, where he has been a faculty member since 2018. His research focuses on urban science\, land use and transportation planning\, agent-based simulation\, geospatial analytics\, scenario planning\, and data-driven approaches to urban policy and decision-making. \n\n\n\nBefore joining Tecnológico de Monterrey\, Roberto worked in the Office of the President of Mexico\, where he led public opinion and policy analysis projects. His work bridges academic research with practical applications\, collaborating with governments and international organizations to develop innovative solutions for sustainable and resilient cities. \n\n\n\nRoberto holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. \n\n\n\nThe Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries\, regions\, states\, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Share
URL:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/event/thirty-years-of-urbanization-in-mexico-1990-2020-urban-expansion-central-decline-and-the-remaking-of-urban-form/
LOCATION:Malkin Penthouse\, HKS
CATEGORIES:Development Talks,Hybrid
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Speaker_Photos_Duo.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR