Technology Salon

ICT access

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a discussion at the intersection of technology and development

More Tech Salons About ICT access

  • African Entrepreneurship in Mobile Hardware Technology

    New York | By on July 8, 2013 | Comments Off on African Entrepreneurship in Mobile Hardware Technology

    At the recent Technology Salon on African-Led Mobile Innovation in Congo Brazzaville, we welcomed Verone Mankou, the head of VMK, a company in Congo Brazzaville that designs and produces the Way-C Tablet and the Elikia smart phone. The event was graciously hosted by ThoughtWorks, and Verone’s US trip was organized by Senam Beheton of EtriLabs.

  • Electrical Power is No Longer a Problem in ICT4D

    San Francisco | By on March 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Electrical Power is No Longer a Problem in ICT4D

    It was not long ago that electrical power was the largest barrier to using ICTs in rural areas. Back when desktop computers had big CRT screens, each computer needed 150-200 watts of power. Just turning on a computer required a costly generator and an inverter.

  • How to Use ICT for Citizen Participation

    Washington DC | By on February 11, 2013 | Comments Off on How to Use ICT for Citizen Participation

    The model citizen participation process has citizens holding their governments accountable to deliver quality public services in a transparent and responsive manner. At the recent Technology Salon on How Can ICT’s Support Citizen Engagement with Governments? around 30 thought leaders debated the best ways to empower citizens and governments to define what a government should…

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  • The Top 6 Technology Challenges in International Development

    Nairobi | By on December 3, 2012 | Comments Off on The Top 6 Technology Challenges in International Development

    Let us be honest with ourselves. Most of the shiny, flashy new technology is not designed for the developing world we care about. Technology is designed for the rich Hardware designers in rich countries are turning out super light laptops and tablets of glass to impress their rich peers. Software developers are creating apps for…

  • How Can We Make Cloud Solutions Relevant in the Offline World?

    Washington DC | By on October 17, 2012 | Comments Off on How Can We Make Cloud Solutions Relevant in the Offline World?

    I am Amos Cruz and below are my thoughts around a recent Technology Salon on “How Can We Make ‘Cloud’ Solutions Relevant in the Offline World” with a cohort of though leaders and decision makers in information technology and international development.

  • Silicon Valley Technology Salon: How Can Every African Woman Have Access to Broadband?

    San Francisco | By on October 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Silicon Valley Technology Salon: How Can Every African Woman Have Access to Broadband?

    We all know that broadband connectivity is an accelerant for social and economic development. And we know that in the developing world, women are the key investors in family health and education. So shouldn’t we be working towards a world where every African woman can have access to broadband Internet?

  • How Can ICT Improve the Lives of Children and Youth Living in Cities?

    New York | By on April 9, 2012 | Comments Off on How Can ICT Improve the Lives of Children and Youth Living in Cities?

    At the global level, a very small percentage of development funding goes to urban spaces, yet hard-hitting issues impact many of the urban poor: lack of tenure, lack of legality of land, informal settlements, lack of birth registration and civil registration in general, waste disposal, clean water, politicizing of local authorities and more. Can new…

  • Every African Woman Should Have Access to Broadband – But How?

    San Francisco | By on March 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Every African Woman Should Have Access to Broadband – But How?

    If we are serious about ICT as an accelerant for social and economic development, and we know that a) women are the key to investments in family health and education, and b) broadband connectivity is a major ICT catalyst for both, then we should be working towards a world where every African woman can have…

  • Mobile Money is Better than Cash at the Bottom of the Pyramid

    Washington DC | By on December 7, 2011 | Comments Off on Mobile Money is Better than Cash at the Bottom of the Pyramid

    Open your wallet right now. Most likely, you have a debit card, a credit card, a health insurance card, and access to the massive financial infrastructure that these three cards represent. The ability to store, save, use, and borrow money anywhere in almost limitless fashion, without worry about amount, theft, or even making change. Add…

  • Back when Bill Gates was young, he had multiple opportunities to geek out – he had access to computers at home and at school – but he would sneak out of his house to go the library. Why? Because he loved the wealth of knowledge, curated and guided by libraries.

  • What is the Future of Public Access to Information in the Mobile Phone Era?

    Washington DC | By on November 7, 2011 | Comments Off on What is the Future of Public Access to Information in the Mobile Phone Era?

    Access to information has been part of the development discussion since the Internet arrived. Previously, many saw community telecenters as the way to bring technology to the developing world. Yet telecenters are not sustainable without donor funding and the concept of public access hasn’t kept pace with advancing technology.

  • How ICT Entrepreneurship is Building Haiti Back Better

    Washington DC | By on June 1, 2011 | Comments Off on How ICT Entrepreneurship is Building Haiti Back Better

    Local Internet Service Providers woefully under served rural communities in Haiti before the 2010 earthquake. ISPs said that broadband infrastructure was too expensive to deploy and there were too few customers to make the investment profitable. Using traditional sales models and technology, they were right. Then the earthquake happened. During the humanitarian relief phase, Inveneo…

  • Electrical power is key for an ICT deployment – and many other basic services as well. Yet it is often the main barrier to deployment because often it simply doesn’t exist in rural and underserved areas, or “off-grid” locations. If electrical systems do exist, they can be expensive, intermittent, and unreliable. In short, there is…

  • OLPC in South America Update

    Washington DC | By on August 24, 2010 | Comments Off on OLPC in South America Update

    There has been a great deal of media attention on the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ (OLPC) project since the announcement of a “$100 laptop” over five years ago. Most of this attention focuses on its potential to address the educational challenges in developing countries. Much less is known about what is actually happening on-the-ground with…

  • A New ICT4D Paradigm: Women + Mobile Phones + mServices = Economic Development

    Washington DC | By on July 19, 2010 | Comments Off on A New ICT4D Paradigm: Women + Mobile Phones + mServices = Economic Development

    While everyone is amazed at the quick proliferation of mobile phones in the developing world, here’s a startling statistic which should check our unbridled enthusiasm for m-everything: 73% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia do not have a mobile phone. Across all developing countries, adult women are 21% less likely to have a…

  • mServices for Women: the Social and Economic Impact of Closing Mobile Phone Gender Gap

    Washington DC | By on July 2, 2010 | Comments Off on mServices for Women: the Social and Economic Impact of Closing Mobile Phone Gender Gap

    Over 300 million women are being left out of the benefits of mobile phone ownership as it becomes the most ubiquitous technology in the developing world, which has major implications given women’s role in social and economic development. Furthermore, the potential value of cell phone ownership increases as mobile services (mServices) including health, finance, and…

  • Technology in Disaster Response: ICT in Haiti and Beyond

    San Francisco | By on April 12, 2010 | Comments Off on Technology in Disaster Response: ICT in Haiti and Beyond

    On April 8th, Inveneo was pleased to host approximately 20 experts in technology and development for a Technology Salon held at mission*social, a collaborative workspace for social enterprises. The event was billed as a conversation about the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Haiti earthquake response, but the conversation focused on a…

  • In the immediate aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, several Bay area organizations deployed life-saving ICTs to speed disaster response in Port-au-Prince and the greater humanitarian efforts across Haiti. At the next San Francisco Technology Salon, we’ll hear from InSTEDD and Inveneo on how they deployed their respective technical ecosystems, its impact, and their transition possibilities…

  • We at SSG Advisors are currently incubating a new approach to the delivery of higher education services that leverages both new technology and disruptive business models. We presented this model at last week’s eLearning Technology Salon and I am very grateful for all of the thoughtful and useful input received The Salon was a great…

  • The Girls and ICT Technology Salon was a great opportunity to get an amazing group of thinkers and do-ers in the same room to debate around a particular topic. I’m Linda Raftree, Plan International West Africa Regional Office, Advisor for New Technology and Social Media. I was honored to lead 20+ people in a conversation…