Industry/sector: Education, technology
Geographic Coverage: Africa
Founded in: Capetown, South Africa
Get involved: www.nexteinstein.org
Sponsored by the likes of Forest Whitaker and Stephen Hawking, the AIMS Institute aims to enable the students of Africa. Armed with the vision that Africans will be able to lead the change in finding the solutions to the continent’s ongoing challenges, it supports the academic educations of its citizens in the sciences and mathematics (as expected with sponsors like Stephen Hawking and TED Prize!).
While it is an admirable and ambitious venture by any definition of the word, I wonder if this pursuit of developing creative and innovative problem solvers with the emphasis focused so single-mindedly on the education of mathematics and the sciences will also limit its potential. Granted that these two subjects are inarguably the fundamental building blocks of any society, is it truly the right paradigm to pursue progress in the 21st century?
To truly nurture not only the Next Einstein, but the next generation of problem solvers, does NextEinstein not also need to introduce an interdisciplinary course of study and take full advantage of what we have learned in the 20th century? We have shifted away from the days when the craftsmanship of an ironsmith was a person’s sole calling.
Regardless, we will need more organizations like NextEinstein to help solve the challenges we face today that will only become more opportunities tomorrow. Like other organizations that have leveraged the opportunity to engage individuals from around the world, rather than seeking out solely large institutions as has been the more traditional model, NextEinstein encourages visitors to sponsor students and be a part of the process.
Tags: education, nexteinstein, social entrepreneurship, technology
