Fostering an open and diverse scientific community that draws from an array of unique experiences and viewpoints is a necessary step to realizing development goals. Young men and young women may innovate differently. But by bringing together varying points of view, Vietnam can build a stronger foundation around which industry can build. Unfortunately, whether in education or the workplace, the proportion of women in STEM decreases dramatically at the highest levels. Men are more likely than women to be in technological and scientific activities, information technology, manufacturing, construction, utilities and transportation, while women are concentrated in education and training, human health, and hotels. Throughout several industries, Vietnam continues to have gender bias in recruitment in sectors relating to STEM and for positions with higher salaries. In many cases employers still add written gender preference in their job advertisements and men are most often targeted for more technical and highly skilled jobs such as architects, engineers, and IT professionals, despite the fact that the performance of highly qualified women often surpasses that of men.

At the Summit last month President Obama called on us to continue our critical work to build the next generation of leaders – in Africa and around the world. “Together,” he said, “let’s keep empowering our young people whose energy and enthusiasm and optimism can lift up countries, no matter how tough the circumstances.”

Thank you for that energy. For that enthusiasm. For that optimism. And please know that we will keep doing our part to answer the President’s call. And I know I speak for everyone at USAID, State, and all of our partners when I say that we can’t wait to watch you do yours.

And I’m proud that since the first Saving Lives at Birth Event six years ago – it just feels like yesterday –we have supported the development and scale of over 90 novel technologies and solutions. So we know that this is a model that works. And we’re institutionalizing it so that it’s something that USAID does and the U.S. Government does far into the future.

We’re also committed to continue investing in science, technology, innovation, and partnership across the board. This is something the President directed us to do in 2010 when he signed the first ever Policy Directive on global development. Ironically, there had actually never even been a policy on global development before. But part of it was to make these investments. The Agency has done that, and we’re seeing the world bear the fruit of that, and we will continue.

Building a Smart Grid has become a top priority for India.  Approximately 45 percent of India’s poorest households lack access to electricity and approximately 20 percent of its installed electricity capacity is lost to various technical and commercial inefficiencies.  These combined technical and commercial losses threaten to deplete state finances that are already strained, but also prohibit millions of Indians from living with a stable and reliable power source.