Has Social Innovation Abandoned the Developed World

So much of what we have discussed over these seven weeks has been focused on foreign nations such as India, South Africa or China. It goes without saying that innovation is needed in these countries to help those at the bottom of the pyramid- and companies like Google and GE that we read about this week are taking that seriously. We even once again read about the work of Nicholas Negroponte and his One Laptop Per Child program that perhaps hasn't reached its goals, but is putting laptops in the hands of hundreds of thousands of students worldwide. I then think back to some of the videos we've watched - Plumpynut helping starving children, pumps for subsistence farmers, and water filters for women and families. All of this work should be recognized as innovation and will hopefully inspire others to think about what's possible. As I was reading the GE Remodels Business In India and Finishing the Job articles, I was struck by the lack innovation we have read about in the United States and other developed nations. I was left with the question, has social innovation abandoned the developed world? I applaud Negroponte for his efforts around the world, but how many students in US schools do not have access to computers? Quality textbooks? Good teachers? You do not have to travel too far from MIT's campus to see the failures of our public school systems. Likewise, I am excited about the work GE is doing around maternal infant care in India, but again I ask, how many cities in this nation face staggering infant mortality rates? Currently in this country the mortality rate for African American infants is twice the national average. What innovations possibly exist to change this? GE's marketing director stated, "we're targeting the bottom of the pyramid because that's where the masses exist." I am not refuting this point, but again, I am left with the question about the masses of low-income folks in the developed world who are suffering and struggling to get by. I just spent some time in San Francisco and the amount of homeless people on the street is nearly unbelievable - one of the largest I have seen in the US. I won't even mention Skid Row in Los Angeles. While our country is "developed" we are not without huge social challenges of which innovation could provide solutions to. We know that the traditional method of providing services does not work -what else is there? Is the social innovation field here to help us? I am in full support for innovations that help the bottom of the pyramid. I think we, governments, foundations, etc, need to support even more of that work and make it attractive for some of our brightest, most creative minds to devote themselves to these tasks. I would like to think we can innovate ourselves out of the problems that plague us: food scarcity, extreme poverty, inadequate education, maybe even war. What I don't think will work, however, is innovation ignoring the so-called developed world. Do we not have food scarcity, poverty, inadequate education and violence in this nation or other developed countries? Can we allow ourselves to innovate for those at the bottom of the pyramid worldwide, while at the same time addressing the needs of those at the bottom of our the developed world's economic pyramid? I don't think social innovation has abandoned the developed world just yet, but I do believe the field has forgotten the challenges we continue to face.