Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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Spreading Agricultural Technology to India’s Poor Farmers

India_Technology
It is an accepted fact that poverty is the root cause of malnutrition. Over 42% of the Indian population lives on less than $1.25 a day. However, if farmers could increase their output and earn more from what they already have through the use of innovative technology, food insecurity could decrease and that same dollar and a quarter could go much further.

Technology can help farmers to augment their knowledge of which crops to produce for the best return, find the most effective farming practices and make plans based upon weather forecasts.

The e-Choupal initiative is one way that technology is being used to give farmers the information they need to be more successful. The aforementioned benefits of technology are all accounted for on the e-Choupal platform, even enabling buyers to come to the farmers instead of having to haul the produce to market, where oftentimes traders manipulate the market in order to exploit the farmers out of their proper earnings.

The initiative also provides access to storage services and agricultural equipment in addition to other important assets for rural farmers. The e-Choupal network has expanded to 6,500 centers synchronizing the efforts of 40,000 villages to produce greater quantities of better produce and profit.

In this same vein of increased technology and higher profits, organic farming is a possible venue poor farmers could explore. Organic produce consistently garner high prices, the demand for which is only rising. The only constraints are the ones that the e-Choupal network is already helping to eradicate, at least in India, including lack of technical expertise and insufficient market knowledge.

Another example of innovative agricultural technology is the use of drip-irrigation, which cuts water use by 40%, and saves the equivalent of 10 million households water expenditures per year. Much in the same way, the e-Choupal initiative has created a network where over 25,000 small farmers have organized a supply chain that has augmented their average annual incomes by a very significant $1,000.

India is a country of fertile lands and capable farmers. Technology is the catalyst that promises to drive the more than 400 million people living on less than $1.25 a day out of poverty.

– Jordan Schunk
Sources: The Huffington Post, New Indian Express, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: The Fourth Revolution

Africa Awards Innovation

africa science
In 2011, the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) started an initiative called the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA). Through the IPA, the AIF awards and encourages innovation and African ingenuity, with the hopes of accelerating economic growth on the continent. AIF focuses on advancements in business, economy, agriculture, and technology. The award’s mission is to:

  • Mobilize leaders from all sectors to fuel African innovation
  • Promote science, technology and engineering across Africa
  • Promote innovation across Africa in key sectors through the competition
  • Encourage entrepreneurs, innovators, funding bodies and business development service providers to exchange ideas and explore innovative business opportunities

The IPA competition awards $150,000 (USD) to those who can provide innovative and market-oriented solutions that are African led. The 2013 Innovation Prize for Africa Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner took place in Cape Town, South Africa. Three applications were chosen from over 900 teams representing 45 different countries for Best Overall Innovation, Best Business Potential and Best Social Innovation. The award for Best Overall Innovation and an award of $100,000 went to a Cape Town team of entrepreneurs and researchers from AgriProtein Technologies.

AgriProtein devised a new approach to nutrient recycling involving the use of waste and fly larvae to produce natural food for animals. The team has been developing nutrient recycling technology as a solution to the global need for new and sustainable sources of protein.

Nutrient Recycling is a system where farmers collect biodegradable waste and feed it to flies. The flies produce larvae that are used to make a type of animal feed that is more ecologically friendly and occurs naturally. Production of the feed will result in cheaper animal feeds for African farmers and processors.

Africa has experienced an average 6% economic growth due to innovative development around the continent. The application deadline for the 2014 Awards was November 30.

– Daren Gottlieb

Sources: Innovation Prize for Africa, AgriProtein Technologies, Business Fights Poverty
Photo: Giphy.com

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Google’s Project Link to Connect in Uganda


Google is joining the quest to bring parts of the developing world that are not yet online up to speed, and the parts that are, to a much faster speed. Google’s Project Link initiative will build fiber-optic networks to assist in connecting the last few billion people around the world to the internet.

Three million residents in and around Kampala, the capital of Uganda, will be the first to experience Project Link.

The country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has publically shown disinterest toward developing technology. However, in the case of Uganda, the initiative is predicted to enhance the services of pre-existing providers, rather than create new ones.

According to Google, the city currently has what is described as “pre-broadband” speed, and “unreliable connections.”

Kai Wulff, Google’s Access Field Director, took to the company’s blog to explain how Project Link will strengthen the supply chain between undersea cables that deliver data to Africa and internet service providers.

Testimonials from Kampala residents, featured in a Project Link promotional video, cite the initiative as the way to encourage development, trade possibilities, and improve education. They describe it as being more than just a tool with which to grow business, but also as a vision of prosperity for Uganda.

Project Link is being compared to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org initiative – another attempt to bring the developing world online.

Both Facebook and Google run the risk of appearing exploitative of new markets and ultimately pursuing profits under the guise of philanthropy. A possibility that does not seem far-fetched, considering only 16% of Africa’s population currently has Internet access.

However, the general consensus at the recent Transform Africa Summit, suggests that corporate motivations are not the primary concern for those invested in Africa’s development.

Government officials discussed the importance of public and private sectors working together – something that is evident in Rwanda, where the summit was held.

A successful example of this, is Korea Telecom’s heavy investment in Rwanda. The collaboration between corporation and country has even enabled a 4G broadband rollout to 95% of the population.

It seems Google is following suit. Project Link is not the only endeavor the multinational corporation has undertaken in Africa lately. Its navigation system has been slowly extended to multiple developing countries on the continent.

As of December, owners of Android phones in Somalia, Burundi, and Djibouti could access the voice-guided Google navigation system on their phones.

– Zoë Dean

Sources: Wired, Google blog
Photo: Occupy Corporatism

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IFC Invests in Fluidic Energy Climate-Smart Batteries

Energy is tantamount to the development of poor nations. Several sectors rely on energy — from lighting schools and hospitals, powering farms, manufacturing facilities, maintaining water sanitation plants to keeping emerging businesses afloat. Mobile telecommunications has become a fundamental part of successful business — especially, the business of global development.

IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, plans to invest $7 million to the clean energy company, Fluidic Energy, which is a company for the research and development of new climate-smart batteries that power cellular phone networks in developing countries. The rechargeable energy sources are promised to be a solution that is both cost-effective and power-efficient. As the technology will reduce costs of powering mobile networks in rural areas, the battery is also a cleaner alternative to diesel generators and lead-acid batteries. In result, it is less damaging to the environment for it leaves a smaller carbon footprint.

The technology is currently used in Indonesia and other South East Asian countries. The hope is that the technology will branch out into the rest of Asia and South America. Fluidic Energy, the Arizona-based company, is a fine example of private businesses working in tandem with The World Bank Group for the common goal of global development.

Providing sustainable energy to telecommunications is a development that is promised to open new frontiers in other sectors where sustainable energy can be a progressive alternative.

– Malika Gumpangkum

Sources: IFCPressRoom, thegef
Photo: Panos

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How To Be More Globally Aware

We’re all busy. Hectic schedules and technology practically run our lives, so here are nine easy ways to make them work in your favor and become more globally aware.

1. Twitter
It’s not all celebrities and witty screenwriters. Worldwide news organizations like CNN, BBC, and the Financial Times host Twitter accounts. Follow them or have their updates sent directly to your phone. Keeping an eye on worldwide trending topics can also help alert you if news is breaking.

2. Google Alerts
More along the lines of a “target acquired” approach, Google Alerts allows you to plug any phrase, country, word, or person into the endless Google engine and have the new results delivered to your inbox whenever you’d like.

3. RSS Feeds
Most sites these days will have an RSS Feed option. Signing up for it allows you to have the most important news right on your tablet or computer without having to search the internet.

4. Global News Sites
Go directly to the source. Sites like BBC News and CNN allow you to see the most important articles around the globe and then divide them by continent and country.

5. Magazines
Political magazines tend to take the occasionally dull topic of foreign affairs and make them digestible for larger audiences. However, because they tend to be monthly issues, you only get the greatest hits.

6. Council on Foreign Relations Daily Briefs
Delivered to your inbox every morning, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) gives you a summary of the most important events around the globe, analyzes them, and explains why what they’re giving you is important. CFR tends to be nonpartisan, gathering analysis from both sides of the aisle.

7. News Television/Radio Channels
Turn that remote to your favorite news channel of choice and have it serenade you with factual goodies while working the evening away. Not a morning person? Turn on the news while making coffee or getting ready to help get the juices flowing.

8. Books
Transport the written word to your iPad or tablet and take it with you on the morning commute, or take a mental health break while waiting for a meeting. If non-fiction books aren’t your thing, try historical fiction like Khaled Hosseini’s novel, “The Kite Runner.”

9. Newspapers
They’re still alive! Subscribe to a newspaper and have it on your phone or tablet whenever you have time.

– Hilary Koss

Sources: CFR, Amazon, Financial Times, BBC News

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How MP3s Promote Education in Africa

For many high school teachers, the explosion of the iPod represented another way for their students to become distracted in the classroom.  It turns out that instead of using those MP3 players to blast music, they are being used to promote literacy and education all across Africa.

Meet the Lifeplayer MP3.  A solar-powered radio, recorder and MP3 player, the Lifeplayer is manufactured by Lifeline Technologies to give rural African communities greater access to education.  The Lifeplayer comes with reading and writing lesson plans already pre-loaded.  Since it is solar-powered, rural communities without access to electricity can now enjoy this technological wonder without worrying about access to electrical outlets for recharging.

The company currently runs initiatives in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Zambia.  In Ethiopia, Lifeline has partnered with the British Council to promote English language education to over 50,000 school children.  Kristine Pearson, the CEO of Lifeline, traveled to South Sudan to deliver 15,000 Lifeplayers to educators.

Pearson instructed trainers and teachers on how to use the technologically-advanced device in the hopes of reversing the discouraging education trends in the country.

“Nearly three-quarters of the population can neither read nor write,” states Pearson.  “According to the Overseas Development Index (ODI), less than 2% of the population have completed a primary education and even less completed secondary school.”

In addition to the Lifeplayer MP3, the company also produces two other solar-powered marvels: the Prime Radio, an analogue radio with an LCD display, and the Solarstor, a portable charging station for cell phones.

The Prime Radio has been especially beneficial in Rwanda, where the company spearheads an initiative called Project Muraho.  Partnering with organizations such as UNICEF, the initiative has provided 13,000 radios and power sources to families ravaged by the effects of the Rwandan genocide and the continued devastation of HIV/AIDS.

Although access to education has improved worldwide in the past decade, there are still great disparities in rural areas and communities without power and electricity.  The Lifeplayer MP3 is a wonderful invention to help push education in these struggling communities.

– Taylor Diamond 

Sources: World Economic Forum, Lifeline Energy: Technology, Lifeline Energy: Projects
Photo: Texarkana Gazette

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10 Innovations That Are Changing the Face of Africa

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Although Africa has long been seen as the forgotten continent, it is more important now to the United States and the rest of the world than ever before. Home to 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world, the continent is increasingly in the eye of foreign investors from London, New York, Shanghai and Dubai. Here are some of the innovations that are changing the face of Africa in this rapid transformation from an allegedly “lost” continent to a new growth engine.

1. Start-ups and incubators

Innovation hubs like iHub in Nairobi, Co-Creation Hub in Lagos and the Silicon Cape Initiative in South Africa are now competing with the already well-established initiatives in the start-up capitals of San Francisco, London and Berlin. These communities are giving African start-ups access to capital and the advice they need to take new products to the market.

2. Afro-entrepreneurs

Omidyar Network has highlighted the growing number of “afro-entrepreneurs” that are emerging all across the continent with innovations that are uniquely African. One such example is Bridge International Academies, with over 46,000 students enrolled in their schools across Kenya. This is an initiative that commoditizes schools; pupils pay just $5 dollars a month to study at one of their “Academies-in-a-Box.”

3. Local technology producers

Several African technology firms have begun to design and produce mobile and computing hardware tailored to local needs. In the Republic of Congo, for example, there is VMK’s Way-C, an affordable Android tablet, and in Kenya, the Nairobi-based company Ushahidi developed BRCK, a black box designed to address unreliable power and data connections that has been dubbed the “backup generator for the Internet.”

4. Smartphones built for Africa

Major firms are starting to produce smartphones made specifically for African consumers. The Chinese company Huawei, for example, recently introduced its new product, 4Afrika, an affordable smartphone which will let users benefit from the growing data connectivity across the continent.

5. The maker movement

This trend from the developed world, which has seen millions of people creating and selling self-made products, has officially made it to Africa. The movement’s trademark event, the Maker Faire, took place last year in Lagos. The most notable locally produced product that resulted from this event was a generator designed and built by four teenage girls that uses 1 liter of urine to produce 6 hours of electricity.

6. Greater connectivity

Africa is leading the way when it comes to developing innovative solutions for limited connectivity. By taking advantage of unused radio and TV frequencies, providers are able to widen data coverage to include countless rural areas through white space technology. Microsoft has already partnered with Kenyan regulators and Google with South Africa’s ICASA to show that broadband can be offered over white spaces.

7. Mobile money

Africa is frequently seen as leading the world in mobile money solutions. In December 2012, Visa launched mVisa in Rwanda to serve the unbanked, improve ATM services across Rwanda and promote electronic payments which will contribute to formalizing the economy.

8.  mHealth

Health organizations have started to use mobile technology to address critical medical needs. SMS, in particular, is being used for countless needs, such as sharing vital information with expectant mothers or sending reminders to HIV/AIDS patients about taking their anitretrovirals. In Malawi, Baobab Health is developing solutions to replace traditional paper-based systems.

9. eLearning

Initiatives like One Laptop Per Child, Samsung’s e-learning technology platform, and solar-powered schools are innovative ways to ensure that students across the continent have access to up-to-date information and online resources, and are able to interact with teachers even when geographical obstacles stand in the way. Other organizations such as Wikipedia have teamed up with Orange to provide free access to the online encyclopedia to anyone with a mobile phone in Africa.

10. Social media

The use of social media is rising at astronomical rates in Africa. Besides Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Africans are also creating and using local social media platforms, such as MXit, which has over 50 million users who can use the platform to chat and play games at low data costs.

– Nayomi Chibana
Feature Writer 
Sources: Portland, Center for Global Development
Photo: Education Innovations

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GIS: The Universal Language of Development

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, a custom-tailored map which can be manipulated to display the interactions between multiple selected variables must be worth entire books. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provides this power to the user who understand the language of the software, and this power is especially important to development and aid organizations seeking to maximize their impact.

Unlike conventional cartography, GIS software can exploit social, economic, political, and environmental data to create an image which can then be layered onto the topographic landscape in any way the user desires. The relations between layers, and between data within layers, can then be presented to the viewer in a way that draws attention to the important facts.

This differs fundamentally from the report by presenting information visually, without losing depth in the way that a chart or graph flattens the ethnographic depth of the actual survey informing it.

Geospatial analysis has been used primarily for military purposes in the past, but that situation is already evolving. USAID is deploying geo-analysts in almost every program to give its staff the most useful information possible, going so far as to institute its own geospatial arm, to ensure the best possible use of the existing technology. The United Nations is on a similar path.

A software which was once esoteric and difficult to manage – akin to prototypical PC operating systems – has been streamlined and aestheticized so that with less than a year’s training, anyone can masterfully manage multiple databases with thousands of streams of data into coherent maps.

As with any form of communication and representation, there is a danger of misrepresentation and error. Factors can be ignored or manipulated to produce maps that do not mirror reality, or that fail to bring attention to critical factors. Even if the map is sound, it can still be misused by those with ulterior motives or simple incompetence.

As with all analysis, GIS relies entirely on a substrate of reliable data from which to extrapolate conclusions. Unlike polls, however, GIS data does not require a ‘boots on the ground’ approach – though this can be useful. For many applications, remote sensing, satellite imagery, and tomography are sufficient, meaning that, in many situations, the difficulties of other analytical approaches are evaded.

What is more, with cloud computing becoming nearly universal, a global GIS network, shared by all development agencies, would perpetuate a system whereby an up-to-date cartographic representation of reality would be accessible to those seeking to capitalize on its wealth of information, thereby bridging the gap between those who are able and willing to help – but lack an idea of where to begin or what needs doing – and those who require assistance. GIS transcends language barriers, enabling global cooperation and understanding to tackle pressing issues. In that way, GIS is becoming the universal language of development.

– Alex Pusateri
Sources: Directions Mag, Esri

Humanitarian Robots

Drone strikes and the moral turbidity they incite have been hot international topics this year. Advancements in drone technology are happening more quickly than our understanding of their potential. The U.S. war on terrorism has become dominated by precision drone strikes, and other countries like Iran and China are quickly developing their own drones to counter. Stealth reconnaissance, missile guidance, and bomb delivery are just some of the ways Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are being used in combat to improve military power. Yet, the expanding technology can be used for more than just warfare, and, in the future, UAVs could potentially save more lives than they destroy.

Drones have a couple of advantages over humans in the exploration of dangerous areas in that they are both expendable and as resilient as you choose to make them. While many people are known for having thick skin, metal and high-density plastics are tougher. In Costa Rica, the Dragon Eye UAV successfully travelled into the plume of an active volcano. Obviously, going inside a volcano would be incredibly dangerous, but just getting close has proven difficult for scientists due to the toxic sulfuric ash, high temperatures, and ash and smoke clouds that can stretch for miles. Understanding more about how they erupt will lead an increased ability to predict eruptions and allow for earlier, more accurate warnings.

Smoke from forest and brush fires is just as harmful to human lungs and seriously obstructs vision. In 2012, just 13 people died from wildfires in the U.S., but over 2,000 homes were destroyed. Many of those who die each year are the firefighters who attempt to control these fires. Fireflight Unmanned Aircraft Systems has developed a lightweight UAV to assist firefighters that uses infrared cameras to locate people in danger and track the path of fires.

Natural disasters present other dangers to rescue teams than fire and smoke. Floods, typhoons, and earthquakes can level structures and make roadways impassable. UAVs are perfect for rescue missions into inhospitable areas like these. After being frustrated at the amount of time it took to locate and help survivors of Japan’s 2011 tsunami, Shane Coughlan developed OpenRelief to create affordable drones that could map disaster areas in real-time and better facilitate relief efforts. The drones will cost no more than $1,000 to make commercially and offer upgradeable sensor systems to customize for the needs of the disaster.

Perhaps the most innovative and amazing use of robots for disaster relief comes from a group led by Vijay Kumar at Penn State University. A team there has developed automated micro-UAV’s that can work in tandem to perform herculean tasks. Weighing less than ten ounces and with a diameter of 50 centimeters, these fully automated robots can map areas without GPS, lift hundreds of pounds in teams, maneuver through obstacles without guidance, and even construct basic structures, to name only a few of their capabilities. Getting help to those in disaster areas is becoming faster and easier as UAV design moves away from the battlefield.

– Tyson Watkins
Sources: TG Daily, USA Today, Linux Magazine, TED, Popular Mechanics, International Symposium on Robotics Research 2011, FireFlight Unmanned Aircraft Services

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Simplified Global Trend Statistics: Gapminder

A web service that specializes in providing time series of development activity statistics for all the world’s countries, Gapminder is a modern museum which allows for a simple overview of overall progress among nations.

It was first formulated in Sweden in 2006 to complement the Trendalyzer software, which is the platform that puts statistics to animated images. In 2007, Google bought Trendalyzer from the Gapminder development team; they soon followed suit and joined Google in California.

Gapminder is free to use and easy to navigate. The Gapminder World section provides not only data for comparing countries; there are sections for U.S. interstate and provinces of China and India versus the rest of the world analyses. Some of the data available goes back as far as the year 1800. Data providers which supplied the information at hand are only a click away; all statistics are verified and official.

A total of 260 countries and territories are covered by Gapminder. Although they all have varying degrees of completion (based upon available data), the minds behind the website have pledged to have no less than two indicators (or categories, one of the two being population) filled in for each separate entity.

The graphs feature anything from birth/death, unemployment, aid provided rates (all conveniently categorized by age), new and fatal cases of cancer among male and female subgroups, number of people living in extreme poverty, amount of women taking birth control, and hundreds more. On the front page, a handful of links for the most important trends are conveniently placed.

The creative, minimalistic design of the charts instills a sense of clarity and order; this is especially beneficial for simplifying numerical stats. Rather than going through official records and having to fumble with digits and percentages, one can easily open it all in one place.

In an attempt to “fight devastating ignorance with fact-based worldviews everyone can understand,” Gapminder is a comprehensive website, accessible to and widely used by teachers and corporations alike. Statistics gain shape for making up a unique overview of the past two centuries. The platform leaves room for free exploration – browsing the website, one feels invited, even compelled, to look up data at random.

Focusing on a specific topic? Gapminder has a whole section of videos, some of which present curious statistical shifts while others are case studies from outside sources explaining certain phenomena.

The website itself is no longer updated on a regular basis; the blog has but a couple scarce posts since 2011, the news section is outdated, and no major changes to the platform itself have been made recently. But the innovative system is not forgotten. Gapminder has released an offline version of its web-based library; a program is available for swift download which puts Gapminder World right on the user’s desktop.

Visualization is the main strategy of Gapminder – trends that don’t seem out of the ordinary on paper will ‘pop out’ in the graphs, saving the user time while providing a fresh perspective on worldwide occurrences. An intelligent take on unifying data, Gapminder is an invaluable tool for studying causal relationships between global factors and understanding social trends.

– Natalia Isaeva

Sources: Gap Minder, Singularity Hub
Photo: Ann Michaelson