A blog far superior to mine

I found a blog that covers the same territory and does a far better job than me (does this mean I'm out of a blog??), so I encourage you lovers of Tworque subject matter to add White African to your reader or email list or whatever. Of course, his blog focuses entirely on technology in Africa, so I won't quit my ramblings anytime soon! :-)

Links and Opinions: Tworque Tweets for the week

I think I'm going to start a thing called "Tworque Tweets." Henceforth, like other bloggers, I'll add my cool links of the week, along with a one line ('tweet' from "twitter") opinion. Its more efficient for you and me.

Here are this week's Tworque Tweets (TT):

1. Time Magazine has two interesting and insightful photoessays:

• India's Health Care Crisis outlines the awful healthcare problems facing India's poorest. On this note, I wonder where agencies like the WHO should intervene and incentivize/encourage basic health care provisions for the poor; and how much other countries who want to eradicate disease (eg. the US) need to interfere in an issue like this.
• Psychic Scars of Kashmir outlines the psychological consequences of a long enduring war and where the people are turning for help. Its just a beautifully narrated and covered piece. I also ask you to read about Sufism before passing any judgement, it is one of the more tranquil sects of Islam.

2. Good Magazine highlighted the world's first billion dollar home being built in Mumbai, India, by and for an Indian petrochemical magnate. No place in the world is poverty more starkly visible than in India, where gaps like this (a billion dollar home and the world's largest slums) are so blatantly visible.

3. Rising rice prices have the world's largest rice producers considering a rice cartel. Good idea, but somehow I don't think this will fly. It would need good leadership...something Asia is desperately lacking (in my opinion!).

4. The geekiest science fair is on this weekend (may 3 and 4) in San Francisco. Check out video of the Maker Faire.

5. Check out the preview for the impressive film Africa Investment Horizons. I really do think that Africa is the place to be right now...so much happening, SO much potential, so badly needed.

6. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has an impressive Youtube channel with excellent videos from around the world highlighting sustainable and socially responsible businesses in developing countries.

TechShop should expand to the developing world

TechShop in Menlo Park (source: Make Magazine)

Today Boing Boing (one of my favorite blogs) highlighted a really cool company called TechShop. It provides lab space with every kind of machine that a D-I-Yer can dream about. For a low monthly membership, anyone can access the shop's large workspace and machinery, and get a community of other people to bounce ideas off (on the video below, you'll get an idea of what a space like this can do...including teach you to build a car!).

I really really think that a TechShop concept is desperately needed in developing countries, particularly the India's, China's, and Kenya's of the world where ideas and entrepreneurship abound, but people lack the workspace, knowledge, community (especially), or finances to get equipment of their own.

For the concept to work though, there are some things that need to be taken into consideration. I've worked out a way to combat some of these issues:

1. The problems with lack of electricity, can be combated by starting out small and basic; by having (biodiesel, diesel or biogas) generators, or even using the workshop as a training space to build generators (so that the farmers can build their own). Lighting is easy, particularly if efficient lanterns (LED, solar charged CFLs, or such) are provided or can be rented. Most of India, for example, is connected to a power grid of some sort. The problem is that the grid is extremely unreliable and power comes on during the day when no one can use it...so the point is to charge the batteries when the power is flowing and use them in the night.

2. Lack of basic knowledge. This is probably the most critical issue as quite often, people have no concept of building their own stuff, or what tools are capable of, or even how to go about building something they envision in their heads. This can be combated by hiring trained local artisans to man the workshop at different times and providing advice as necessary; developing pictoral user guides for the tools; and doing promotion workshops in the villages to get people started (eg. how to build a plough out of a piece of wood, how to build a thatched roof, etc). I know for a fact that a lot of men end up using their evening time either drinking or doing other pointless activities, and would gladly switch that for something as curiously engaging as this.

3. Better financing options: Since the poor live by the day, financing options need to run by the hour or quarter of an hour.

However in bigger cities, where there is better electricity, education, higher willingness to pay, and in general wealthier people, this could be run similar to the U.S and will do extremely well...

See Boing Boing TV (BBTV)'s visit to TechShop:

An Update on the Aquaduct

A few weeks ago, I blogged about/reviewed a technology called The Aquaduct. As stated in that post, I had emailed the team a few questions that I couldn't find answers to. It took them three weeks to respond, and they sent me a generic answer after all of that. But apparently, they've started a blog with the first post answering a lot of my questions, including how they came up with their design, the type of filter they used, the cost of their product, and where they were heading with it.

Frankly I'm a bit disappointed with the vagueness of their answers. Still it atleast scratches the surface...

More Contests Spurring Tech Innovation

Following up on my last post about the X-Prize, I wanted to point out three more contests that are improving technology (this is in the same vein as the WB Development Marketplace, and others like it).

1. Keen Footwear's Stand Up Out For contest:


Keen's Stand For winner, Brian Bell, plans to melt Haiti's ubiquitous plastic trash and transform it into footwear for kids (source: Robert Gottofrey)

Recently Keen released profiles of their Stand contest winners. For each of the categories, entrants had to provide a write-up of their idea for "changing the world," a budget, and a personal statement about who they were and why they deserved the prize. In return, they won US$25,000 to implement their visions. Probably the ones I am most interested in are the engineer who plans to recycle plastic trash collected from the roadsides in Haiti to be converted into footwear (croc-like??); and to a lesser extent (only because its not very original) in another engineer who will be using her prize money to build water pipelines in Kenya.


2. Dell's Regeneration Green Computing Challenge:


The Lawn PC, one of five finalists from Dell's Regeneration challenge (source: regeneration.org)

You've all probably heard about toll e-waste (electronic waste) is taking on the developing world. Most of the toxic e-waste from the developed world ends up in landfills in the poorer parts of the world. So Dell decided to take responsibility and run a contest for greener design. As of a few days ago, Five finalists have been chosen and its upto you to vote for your favorite. Computers, with One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and others, are changing the world and continue to break down a lot of education barriers in the developing world. Green computing will improve access to the electronic world and education in the developing world, without increasing the damage that has already been done. Very important.


3. INC.com's Inspired Innovations Great Idea Contest:



Unlike the rest, this is still running. If you have an idea that will change the world, submit it here and you'll get some cash, venture funding, and other resources to make your dream come true. HURRY, applications are due May 9th. According to their website, here's what the contest is about:

Let us hear about your great idea. Give your submission a headline that describes your idea in brief, and then tell us about your innovation in an essay, being sure to include:

A thorough description of the idea -- Is it a product, a service, an enhancement to something that exists already? The market it serves -- Who is the target market and what need does the idea serve so well?

Be creative in your submission -- sell us on why your idea is truly innovative.

Note: We recommend you create your submission in a word-processing program prior to submitting. Each submission should be no longer than 5,000 characters with spaces. After reviewing and editing your essay, you can cut and paste it into the form below.

Related Posts:
Playpump International
The Development Marketplace and other social competitions/conferences

Contests as Sources of Technology Innovation: The X-Prize

I love contests. They serve as brilliant incentive for technology development. Quite often far more money is spent on the technology development, than the prize money that is won in the end.

This is probably most obvious from the X Prize Foundation, where Peter Diamandis decided to take the idea of technical innovation to a whole new level with his prize. His Ansari X-Prize for space travel pushed space technology so far that it suddenly seemed possible for anyone to buy a ticket to space. Example, Virgin Galactica.

Peter Diamandis talks about the origin of the X Prize Foundation.


Peter is pushing the envelope in other fields as well. His recently announced Progressive Automotive X-Prize will reward US$10 million to the first team that produces a car that meets EPA standards and can do about 100 miles per gallon. Of course there are more details than that and you can read about them here. But briefly in their own words:

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE will place a major focus on affordability, safety, and the environment. It is about developing real, production-capable cars that consumers want to buy, not science projects or concept cars. This progress is needed because today’s oil consumption is unsustainable and because automotive emissions significantly contribute to global warming and climate change.

So you might be wondering why I'm going off on these X-Prizes. Well, I'm highlighting them for two reasons:

A. Efficient technology development is good for the world at large, because of their primary and secondary benefits. For one, it levels the playing field in terms of technology development, i.e. Bangladesh can produce an entry and earn the prize money just as well as the United States. Prizes level the playing field in that it mitigates the risk of investing in technology development...essentially you can possibly make the money back once you win the prize. Some people might argue that prizes give a fake sense of security, but in reality even teams that don't win the prize, spur secondary benefits such as entrepreneurial ventures based on the new technology, economic development, increased environmental quality because of increased efficiency and much more.

B. X-Prizes for poverty alleviation and other social problems. Diamandis is already talking about expanding X-Prizes into the social areas of water purification, poverty alleviation, etc. Imagine the possibilities of innovation and the lives that could be changed as a result.
It would also serve to attract and involve the minds of people who may not have otherwise been engaged. When I think about what could happen if the world would get together to think about social problems, I feel overwhelmed. On one hand the possibilities are extraordinary, on the other, its sad that it should take economic incentives like these to bring people to think about caring about their own fellow human beings.



I'd recommend watching other videos from the X-Prize here.

Back from Vacation

I've been off this week, and will start posting again by this weekend, if not sooner. As I'm catching up on the week, I'm finding that there is SO much to blog about that I'm searching for a place to start. In the days to come, please excuse the barrage of posts.

Thanks as always for your patience, and for sticking with me.