Angel Cabrera, president of Thunderbird School of Global Management, in his paper presents a series of examples of how social innovation can be a laboratory for entrepreneurial innovation. As in the case of low-cost computers aimed at the poor, this idea has generated social innovation because a non-profit organization is developing an inexpensive computer that meets the needs of disadvantaged people at an affordable price but also has created a product to market based on this innovation. He highlights the need for a sustainable world economy, and the urgency to change the traditional model that is not producing the innovations needed to allay the problems of sustainability (economic and climate) that the world faces today. He also describes the roles and characteristics which must involve all actors (governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, etc.) in this paradigm shift.

As president of Thunderbird School of Global Management, Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., guides a truly global learning network with operations in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe, including Russia. The school is regarded as the world’s leading institution in the education of global managers, holding the No. 1 ranking in the Financial Times, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey of corporate recruiters. Dr. Cabrera, who is a citizen of Spain, is a world-renowned global leader and management educator whose work and expertise has been recognized and tapped by top global organizations including the World Economic Forum and the United Nations. The World Economic Forum has named Dr. Cabrera a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” and appointed him to the World Economic Forum of Young Global Leaders. Along with being a regular attendee of the World Economic Forum held Davos each year, Dr. Cabrera has been named the Founding Chair of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Promoting Entrepreneurship. He is an active member, a current or past board member of several international organizations including AACSB International, EFMD-EQUIS, the UN Global Compact, the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, the Georgia Institute of Technology, ESSEC, the Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Future Trends Forum in Madrid. Dr. Cabrera earned his Ph.D. and MS from the Georgia Institute of Technology, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar, and a BS and MS in Engineering from Madrid Polytechnical University, Spain’s premier Engineering school.