Yesterday, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a new partnership to promote investment in innovation at the inaugural Global Impact Economy Forum in Washington, DC.

The Accelerating Market-Driven Partnerships (AMP) initiative is a public-private partnership that seeks to mobilize innovation and investment around critical global challenges such as poverty, climate change, sustainable cities and waste, and addressing agricultural value chain waste in key growth markets. The pilot initiative will initially focus on promoting sustainable cities and related issues in Brazil.

During the launch of AMP, Secretary Clinton said: “AMP will bring a business eye to taking on social and environmental problems in developing markets. We will launch it in Brazil, focused first on building sustainable cities, from providing low-cost housing, to offering skills training that builds capacity of local workers, to improving urban waste management systems. AMP will draw on the resources of the private sector, civil society, and multilateral partners in both Brazil and the United States.”

AMP will provide a platform for businesses, private investors, social entrepreneurs, government, multilateral institutions and philanthropic organizations to identify and tackle key environmental, social and economic challenges in countries that are transitioning from development assistance. The partnership supports the U.S. Department of State’s efforts to promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth and development that strengthens diplomatic efforts and bolsters U.S. business opportunities and investments abroad. MORE

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at the Global Impact Economy Forum in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2012. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

Thank you. Oh, thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you, all. Thank you. That was perfect timing, bottoms up. I loved hearing that as I walked in. Thanks to Kris Balderston, his staff in our office of the Global Partnership Initiatives, and everyone here who has helped to plan this forum providing us a lot of great advice and counsel.

I’m also delighted to welcome Sir Richard Branson. Thank you so much for being here. I love the fact that he is such a strong proponent for business as unusual. And I’m excited he’s here because many, many, many years ago, I wanted to be an astronaut, and I think he may be my last chance to live out – (laughter) – that particular dream.

You’re here because you know that we have an opportunity with the convergence of the recognition on the part of government, the private sector, civil society, that we can be so much more effective working together than working at cross-purposes. And for me, this is a great moment to look at where we stand in the world in the pursuit of economic growth and prosperity that is broadly inclusive and sustainable. You know the statistics as well as anyone: One out of three people in the world today living on less than $2 a day; the challenges we face from finite resources, climate change, and other environmental degradation; looking at how people themselves are being empowered from the bottom up in large measure because of the phenomenon of social media. And it’s not only happening somewhere out there, it’s happening everywhere. MORE