Jonathan Donner Blurring Livelihoods and Lives The Social Uses of Mobile Phones and Socioeconomic Development Consider your own mobile phone use over the last 24 小时. Recall the family pho- tos you might have set to appear as caller ID, the ringtone you have chosen, and the bookmarks or applets you may use to check everything from sports scores to movie times. But mainly, 只是

Thomas Kalil Harnessing the Mobile Revolution The premise of this essay is that the explosive growth of mobile communications can be a powerful tool for addressing some of the most critical challenges of the 21st century, such as promoting vibrant democracies, fostering inclusive econom- ic growth, and reducing the huge inequities in life expectancy between rich and poor nations. The benefits of mobile communications are

David Porteous Mobilizing Money through Enabling Regulation Money will be fully mobile only when everyone has a safe place to store it, and the capability to receive and make payments, quickly and affordably, from and to any other person or entity from that store of value—in other words, to use mobile money.1 We are a long way from that goal today. Bank accounts are regarded

Kamal Quadir and Naeem Mohaiemen CellBazaar: A Market in Your Pocket In the late 1990s, there was much prognostication about the sub-computer future. It would put leapfrog theory into action, allowing developing economies to catch up with industrialized nations in one generation. But despite all the publicity and investment, usable sub-computers have not become the holy grail. Only the edu- cated middle class has adopted

Karim Khoja Connecting a Nation Roshan Brings Communications Services to Afghanistan Just as railroads opened up vast continents to development, 商业, and progress in the 19th and early 20th centuries, mobile technology today is a catalyst for economic growth and social development. Nowhere is that more evident than in Afghanistan. Roshan is proud to have played a leading role in bringing the ben- efits of

Mohamed (莫) Ibrahim Prerequisite to Prosperity Why Africa’s Future Depends on Better Governance Once, while flying over Kenya, I looked out over the countryside and asked myself why the inhabitants of a continent filled with resources could ever go hungry. Africa is a place rich with talent and possibility. As a businessman who has had suc- cess building a company in Africa, I have seen

Iqbal Quadir and Nicholas Negroponte Phone vs. Laptop Which Is a More Effective Tool for Development? Iqbal Quadir, the founder of Grameenphone, and Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of One Laptop per Child, discuss the role of technology in development. 问. If we assume that technology will help bring the benefits of the modern world to developing societies, we can also assume that the resources to

威廉·J. 克莱默, Beth Jenkins, and Rob Katz Large Companies, ICTs, and Economic Opportunity The past 50 years have, 在许多方面, been a revolution in global economic growth. Yet not everyone has participated in this revolution. 多于 65 percent of the world’s population, over four billion people, still lives on the equivalent of less than $4 per person per day. 更糟, 这

Gautam Ivatury, Jesse Moore, and Alison Bloch A Doctor in Your Pocket Health Hotlines in Developing Countries Afiya lives in the rural Sylhet region of Bangladesh. For two days, her youngest daughter, Rubina, has been complaining of fatigue and has felt warm to the touch. Taking the child to the nearest clinic would cost Afiya a day’s lost wages, round-trip bus fare, and clinic fees

Patricia N. Mechael The Case for mHealth in Developing Countries While the health community debates whether a specialized field of “mHealth” exists and how to define it, most people will agree that individuals around the world are using mobile technologies to access health services and information and that health professionals are formally and informally integrating mobile technolo- gies into public health and clinical activities. 作为

Soraya Salti Students Incorporated INJAZ on a Mission to Send Arab Youth to Planet Free Enterprise Competition was fierce among the teenagers flocking to the Omani desert from across the Arab World with their corporate mentors on May 6, 2008, to battle for the title of the Best Student Company in the region. Oman’s Ministry of Manpower rolled out the red carpet for the topnotch

Rory Stear and Kristine Pearson Power Play Freeplay Energy and the Freeplay Foundation Expand Access to Energy, 信息, and Education Innovations Case Narrative: Freeplay Energy and Freeplay Foundation Thirty-five percent of the world’s population has no access to electric power. 其他 35 percent has access to electricity, but only intermittently. Only the 30 percent of people residing in the world’s wealthiest places can rely on

Robert Bryce The Delusions of “Energy Independence” Whether it’s financial independence, political independence, the Declaration of Independence, or grilling hotdogs on Independence Day, America’s self-image is inextricably bound to the concepts of freedom and autonomy. The promises laid out by the Declaration—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—are the shared faith and birthright of all Americans. Alas, the Founding Fathers didn’t write much about gasoline.

右. Gopalakrishnan India and Tata National Development and the Corporation A fundamental characteristic of entrepreneurship is its capacity to generate employment, offer the promise of more income, and increase wealth. 通过这样做, it plays a pivotal part in providing individuals with a platform from where they can aspire to a life in which their potential is realized. 随着时间的推移, much of the devel- 专栏

Fadi Ghandour A Partnership for Development The Middle East suffers from a highly complicated set of problems and challenges that reflect directly on issues of security and political, 社会的, and economic well- 存在. Some of these problems are of a traditional nature with well-known solu- 系统蒸发散, whereas others have historical, 政治的, and social dimensions requiring participatory and innovative solutions. 今天, we stand at a crucial

James N. Levitt and Charles C. Chester Conservation and Climate Change: The Immediate Need to Adapt I used to think adaptation subtracted from our efforts on [climate change] prevention. But I’ve changed my mind. —Al Gore, quoted in the Economist, 九月 11, 20081 Over the past several decades, a global consensus has emerged around the need to address climate change through mitigation, dramatically slowing the

Jaison G. Morgan Inducing Innovation Through Prizes Today, as corporate and philanthropic interests experiment increasingly with dif- ferent types of competitions to induce breakthroughs, we are experiencing a resur- gence of innovation through prizes. From competitions for writing business plans to cash purses that have inspired private commercial space exploration, the power of prizes is gaining increased attention. This essay seeks to establish a common

Jim Fruchterman Developing Information Technology to Meet Social Needs Innovations Case Narrative: Benetech Technology can be an immense force for good in the world. 然而, if a technol- ogy innovation doesn’t generate major financial returns, it rarely is pursued. Overcoming market failure in socially beneficial applications of information tech- nology is the objective of my organization, Benetech. We build innovative technol- ogy solutions and widely