The Blum Center for Developing Economies
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is a UC Berkeley academic center that operates interdisciplinary educational programs, including the GPP minor, MDevEng graduate degree, and Big Ideas Contest, serving undergraduate and graduate students focused on global poverty alleviation and development engineering.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What The Blum Center for Developing Economies does
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is an academic center at the University of California, Berkeley, established in 2007 to address global poverty through interdisciplinary education, research, and student innovation. It operates as a university unit housed in Blum Hall on the Berkeley campus and serves primarily UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students, with an extension of activities to affiliated fellows, faculty, and partner organizations across more than 70 countries.
The Center's core offerings include the Global Poverty & Practice (GPP) undergraduate minor, the 15-month Master of Development Engineering (MDevEng) graduate program, the NSF-funded InFEWS fellowship at the food-energy-water nexus, and the Big Ideas Contest, which has received over 1,200 student proposals and catalyzed $100M+ in additional funding for student ventures. Research and product outputs include EpiNu (an offline AI nutrition assessment system), Climate Health Photovox (a digital storytelling curriculum for documenting climate-health impacts), STARR (a Din\u00e9 astronomy-based math learning tool), and the #GlobalPOV mixed-media curriculum paired with the UC Press book "Encountering Poverty." Senior Fellows such as Sonia Navani advance frameworks like Precision Community Health, which applies representational learning to community-scale disease risk in conflict and disaster settings.
The Center is funded through UC Berkeley institutional allocations, donor-designated fellowships (e.g., Bruce Pray Undergraduate Fellowship), and competitive grants led by the 2017 National Science Foundation InFEWS grant of $3 million. Programs are delivered at no incremental cost to students through the university's enrollment and fellowship systems. The Center extends its reach through partnerships with tribal colleges (Navajo Technical University, AIHEC's Native FEWS Alliance), international organizations (IRC, UNICEF, UNFPA), and research entities (Columbia School of Public Health, DHDI).
The Blum Center for Developing Economies firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Blum Center for Developing Economies
- Legal name
- Blum Center for Developing Economies
- Website
- https://blumcenter.berkeley.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Blum Center for Developing Economies is a UC Berkeley academic center that operates interdisciplinary educational programs, including the GPP minor, MDevEng graduate degree, and Big Ideas Contest, serving undergraduate and graduate students focused on global poverty alleviation and development engineering.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Blum Center for Developing Economies industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Higher Education / Academic Research Center
- NAICS
- Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Public Research Universities with Major Extension & Outreach Missions (EDAHAAAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Education Systems & Skills Technical Assistance (BPADAEAI), Education Access & Quality (International Development) (BPAGABAE), Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management (BPADALAK)
Keywords
Where The Blum Center for Developing Economies is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Blum Center for Developing Economies business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
Revenue model
- University Core Funding: The Blum Center operates as a university research and education center at UC Berkeley, funded through institutional budgets, philanthropy, and grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation (e.g., $3 million InFEWS grant).
- Student Fellowships and Grants: The center distributes fellowships to students for practice experiences and summer programs, funded by donor-designated funds (e.g., Bruce Pray Undergraduate Fellowship for South Asia) and institutional funding.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
The Blum Center for Developing Economies product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is an academic research and education center at UC Berkeley that designs and delivers interdisciplinary programs, fellowships, and competitions aimed at alleviating global poverty through development engineering, policy, and practice. It offers a Minor in Global Poverty & Practice, a Master of Development Engineering degree, the Interdisciplinary Frontiers in Food, Energy, and Water Systems (InFEWS) program, fellowships, and the Big Ideas Contest for student-led innovation.
Product overview
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is an academic center at UC Berkeley focused on education and innovation for global poverty alleviation. It operates as a portfolio of interconnected academic programs and research initiatives rather than a unified commercial product. The core academic offerings include the Global Poverty & Practice (GPP) Minor for undergraduates and the Master of Development Engineering (MDevEng) for graduate students. Research initiatives include InFEWS (food-energy-water nexus training), the Big Ideas Contest for student innovators, and the DToD Fellowship. The Center also develops technology tools and frameworks including EpiNu (an offline AI nutrition system), Climate Health Photovox (a digital storytelling curriculum), and STARR (a Diné astronomy-based math learning tool). The #GlobalPOV Project provides multimedia educational content on poverty studies. These offerings work together as an ecosystem supporting students from theoretical coursework through practical field experience to social impact careers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Global Poverty & Practice (GPP) Minor
- Master of Development Engineering (MDevEng)
- InFEWS Program
- Big Ideas Contest
- Development Through Dialogue (DToD) Fellowship
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 1,200 student proposals submitted to the Big Ideas Contest with $100M+ in additional funding awarded to student projects
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use The Blum Center for Developing Economies
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments3 records
The Blum Center for Developing Economies technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
The Blum Center for Developing Economies partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.
- Native FEWS AlliancemajorThe Native FEWS Alliance is a cross-institutional initiative to expand participation in Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS) education to all students, including Native Americans. DevEng Director Dr. Yael Perez serves as program coordinator for the Alliance, which includes tribal colleges and research universities.
- Navajo Technical University (NTU)coreUC Berkeley's Development Engineering programs partnered with NTU's Electrical Engineering program for a joint engineering curriculum targeting Native American students. Six Berkeley students interned at NTU's campus in Crownpoint, New Mexico, working on engineering projects including solar energy and air quality monitoring alongside NTU faculty and students.
- American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)majorAIHEC initiated the Native FEWS Alliance, of which the Blum Center's DevEng programs are a part. AIHEC serves as the 'backbone' of the Alliance, facilitating partnerships between tribal colleges and research universities to expand participation in Food, Energy, and Water Systems education.
- DHDI (Digital Health & Development Institute)coreSonia Navani founded DHDI, a nonprofit research group that collaborates with local civil society partners in eastern DR Congo and beyond to implement the Climate Health Photovox curriculum and EpiNu AI system. DHDI serves as the implementation arm for Blum Center research on community health and climate adaptation.
- Big Ideas ContestcoreThe Big Ideas Contest (bigideascontest.org) is a signature Blum Center program that provides mentorship, funding, and a platform for student teams to develop and pitch social impact innovations. Over 1,200 student proposals have been submitted with $100M+ in additional funding awarded to student projects.
- Taktaka PlasticsminorPaige Balcom, a DevEng PhD emphasis graduate (2022), co-founded Taktaka Plastics — a social enterprise producing plastic products through local manufacturing in Africa. Taktaka Plastics emerged from DevEng research and represents the commercialization pathway for Blum Center-affiliated innovations.
- A Better Education (ABE) ClubminorUC Berkeley DevEng students partnered with the ABE Club in Kasigau, Kenya as part of a DevEng internship pilot program. The organization supports youth education and women's empowerment in Kenya's southwestern region, focusing on health, food security, hygiene, and farming practices.
- American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)minorDevEng Director Dr. Yael Perez and NTU professor Peter Romine presented the idea of the joint DevEng-NTU engineering curriculum at the ASEE conference in Minneapolis in 2022, which initiated the NTU partnership.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Blum Center for Developing Economies competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy: Harvard's Carr Center researches and teaches at the intersection of human rights, poverty, and inequality. It overlaps with Blum Center's GPP mission but sits within a broader portfolio of human rights and global affairs programming at Harvard Kennedy School.
Direct peers
- Purdue EPICS: Purdue's EPICS program sends interdisciplinary engineering teams into community service projects over multi-year engagements, overlapping significantly with the Blum Center's Development Engineering pedagogy of pairing technical coursework with sustained, community-based practice.
- University of Oxford Department of International Development: Oxford's ODID is a leading interdisciplinary centre for research and graduate training on international development, providing a globally benchmarked comparison for the Blum Center's blend of applied poverty research, graduate degree programs, and policy engagement.
- MIT D-Lab: MIT's D-Lab is the closest peer to the Blum Center's Development Engineering mission, training students and practitioners to design and deploy technologies for poverty alleviation in low-resource communities. Both centers combine engineering rigor with fieldwork and operate as teaching-and-applied-research hubs within major US research universities.
- Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs: Northwestern's Buffett Institute convenes interdisciplinary faculty and graduate students on global challenges including poverty, governance, and sustainability, serving a similar cross-faculty convening and education role as the Blum Center on UC Berkeley's campus.
- Tufts Feinstein International Center: Tufts' Feinstein International Center conducts interdisciplinary research and education on humanitarian assistance and international development, mirroring Blum Center's combination of academic programs (GPP-equivalent), applied research, and field-based practice experiences.
- Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA): Cornell's CIPA trains graduate students in policy analysis and development practice through applied capstone projects, overlapping with the Blum Center's MDevEng-style intersection of professional graduate education and real-world field engagement.
- Duke Center for International Development: Duke's CID generates interdisciplinary research and graduate-level training on economic development, governance, and poverty reduction across the Global South. Like the Blum Center, it pairs degree programs with practitioner-oriented research and operates as a university-wide hub.
- Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality: Stanford's Center on Poverty and Inequality produces research on poverty and inequality in the US and internationally, sharing the Blum Center's interdisciplinary lens on global poverty and providing a comparable university-based hub for graduate training and policy-oriented research.
- Princeton Bobst Center for Peace and Justice: Princeton's Bobst Center supports interdisciplinary scholarship and training on peace, justice, and inequality, sharing the Blum Center's academic-activist orientation and its model of supporting student-led practice within a major research university.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Blum Center for Developing Economies social profiles
Digital presenceThe Blum Center for Developing Economies financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
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The Blum Center for Developing Economies leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
The Blum Center for Developing Economies funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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The Blum Center for Developing Economies M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about The Blum Center for Developing Economies
What does The Blum Center for Developing Economies do?
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is an academic research and education center at UC Berkeley that designs and delivers interdisciplinary programs, fellowships, and competitions aimed at alleviating global poverty through development engineering, policy, and practice. It offers a Minor in Global Poverty & Practice, a Master of Development Engineering degree, the Interdisciplinary Frontiers in Food, Energy, and Water Systems (InFEWS) program, fellowships, and the Big Ideas Contest for student-led innovation.
Is The Blum Center for Developing Economies a public or private company?
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was The Blum Center for Developing Economies founded?
The Blum Center for Developing Economies was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Blum Center for Developing Economies based?
The Blum Center for Developing Economies is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Blum Center for Developing Economies make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. University Core Funding is the primary driver. The others are student Fellowships and Grants.
Who are The Blum Center for Developing Economies's main competitors?
Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are Purdue EPICS, University of Oxford Department of International Development, MIT D-Lab, Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Tufts Feinstein International Center, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), Duke Center for International Development, Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and Princeton Bobst Center for Peace and Justice.
Does The Blum Center for Developing Economies have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Blum Center for Developing Economies.
What industry is The Blum Center for Developing Economies in?
The Blum Center for Developing Economies's product category is Higher Education / Academic Research Center. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAHAAAG, Public Research Universities with Major Extension & Outreach Missions, with a secondary code of BPADAEAI, Education Systems & Skills Technical Assistance. Its NAICS code is 611310 and its SIC code is 8200.