Doctoral Dissertation Research: Socially Responsible Innovation Systems and Contesting Knowledge: NGOs fighting blindness in the U.S., Kenya, Nepal and India

为什么独立社会企业产生的高技术创新出现在发展中国家？这些创新是如何转移到世界其他国家的？本论文通过对世界卫生组织2020年愿景（WHOV）计划的研究来探讨这些问题。世界卫生组织的目标是在全球范围内消除可避免的失明，除其他活动外，赞助印度和尼泊尔的非政府组织，他们创造了新的外科科学和眼科技术，以治疗失明。这些创新在全球范围内传播，传播给其他发展中国家的眼科医院，以及美国等富裕国家的眼科医生和全球卫生专业人员。为了调查这些创新是如何发展的，以及它们是如何转移到世界其他地区的，使用了一种称为扩展案例法的研究方法。它包括一个多地点的民族志分析和在肯尼亚、尼泊尔和印度眼科医院的半结构化访谈。这项研究的理论意义在于，它与高度尖端的科学和技术在西方发展并转移到发展中国家的假设相矛盾。它还发展了关于非营利组织在创造市场方面的作用的新理论知识，为社会企业资助高质量现代科学技术的动态理论做出贡献。关于创新和技术转让的理论和实证研究结果用于培训工程专业的学生在美国国家科学基金会三重障碍GK-12计划在伦斯勒理工学院。参与式摄影项目将患者的观点纳入创新过程。

Why has high-tech innovation produced by independent social enterprises emerged in developing countries? And how are these innovations being transferred to other countries around the world? This dissertation research investigates these questions through a study of the World Health Organization Vision 2020 (WHOV) program. The goal of the WHOV is to eradicate avoidable blindness globally, by, among other activities, sponsoring NGOs in India and Nepal who create new surgical science and ophthalmic technology in order to treat blindness. These innovations are distributed globally, to eye hospitals in other developing countries and to ophthalmologists and global health professionals in wealthy countries such as the United States. To investigate how these innovations are developed and how they move to other parts of the world, a research methodology called the extended case method is used. It includes a multi-site ethnographic analysis and semi-structured interviews at eye hospitals in Kenya, Nepal and India.The theoretical significance of this research is that it contradicts the assumption that highly sophisticated science and technology is developed in the west and transferred to developing countries.It also develops new theoretical knowledge about the role of nonprofit organizations in generating markets, contributing to theories of the dynamics of social enterprise funding for high-quality modern science and technology. Theoretical and empirical findings about innovation and technology transfer are used to train engineering students in the NSF Triple Helix GK-12 program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. A participatory photography project incorporates the perspectives of patients in the innovation process.