tech4society - february 2010 - final report

Event Report

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 4

The Evolving Inventor-Entrepreneur Matrix ....................................................................................... 6

Empathy & Community Focus: Serving Communities not Markets ............................................... 7

Building Sustainable Inclusive Models .................................................................................................... 8

Information Architecture ....................................................................................................................... 10

Building Networks of Trust ................................................................................................................... 12

Telling Powerful Stories ......................................................................................................................... 14

Collaborations and Networks .............................................................................................................. 16

Reflections and Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 17

Appendix I: Africa Trends Roundtable ............................................................................................... 18

Appendix II: Agenda ................................................................................................................................ 19

Appendix III: Fellow Participants .......................................................................................................... 22

Appendix IV: Other Participants .......................................................................................................... 32

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Executive Summary

Invention and technology are critical to development. Yet at this moment in human history, a time when the technology revolution seems to be at its peak, we seem to be no closer to solving big social problems than ever. Indeed, with the world changing at a logarithmic scale, even the most rapidly advancing technologies seem hard-pressed to keep up. As Ravi Venkatesen, Chairman Microsoft, India, said:

“Why do these solutions which seem so full of potential so seldom live up to their potential?”

Tech4Society, a three-day convening of 76 Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows with hundreds of thought leaders, engineers, philanthropists, venture capitalists, and business leaders in Hyderabad, India, at once posed the question and proposed a solution. The essence of invention, participants agreed, must change – and is changing. It is far less likely to occur in anonymous garages, a function of individual brilliance, persistence, and luck. Instead, truly world-changing invention today is linked inextricably to entrepreneurship. The goal of Tech4Society was to dramatically narrow the gap between technological potential and realization – by learning how to build systems that maximize the social impact of technological innovation, and that continually cultivate the next generation of inventor-entrepreneurs forging change around the world.

Successful inventor-entrepreneurs tend to engage in four critical activities toward creating social impact. This “idea to impact process”, as described by The Lemelson Foundation, includes:

• Backing initiatives that deliver hands-on opportunities in engineering, science and invention in order to nurture future innovators.

• Cultivating long-term partnerships with organizations that mentor gifted inventors by connecting them with the tools and expertise necessary to develop their innovations from concept to commercialization.

• Taking risks on early-stage innovations that promise to dramatically improve lives.

• Scaling and replicating successful dissemination models by connecting entrepreneurs and their organizations with networks of funders, partners and practitioners.

Tech4Society discussions revealed five core competencies that cut across those functions. In order to effect system change, inventor-entrepreneurs must develop and exercise at least one of the following:

• Empathy and community focus – understanding the user perspective and broader context.

• Building sustainable inclusive models – forging models that don’t rely on subsidies or grants and serve the full market, including the poor.

• Information architecture – the ability to aggregate and synthesize diverse information.

• Building networks of trust – the skill to connect with other individuals and organizations based on trust in order to minimize risk.

• Telling powerful stories – the ability to use narratives to build networks and motivate people, especially youth, to make change

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What emerged over the course of the conference was a matrix linking the four stages of inventor-entrepreneurs with the five core competencies. This report articulates that matrix, exploring each competency in terms of the stages they critically inform. The report concludes with three primary reflections and recommendations to increase the scale of impact of inventor-entrepreneurs and cultivate the next generation:

1. Support the development and strengthening of the five core competencies outlined in this report for future generations.

2. Work to create and value networks of trust.

3. Create pathways for women and girls to become inventor-entrepreneurs.

4. Practice the art of storytelling and work to engage young people.

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Introduction

Invention and technology are critical to development. Yet at this moment in human history, a time when the technology revolution seems to be at its peak, we seem to be no closer to solving big social problems than ever. Indeed, with the world changing at a logarithmic scale, even the most rapidly advancing technologies seem hard-pressed to keep up. As Ravi Venkatesen, Chairman Microsoft, India, said:

“Why do these solutions which seem so full of potential so seldom live up to their potential?”

Tech4Society, a three-day convening of 76 Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows with hundreds of thought leaders, engineers, philanthropists, venture capitalists, and business leaders in Hyderabad, India, at once posed the question and proposed a solution. The essence of invention, participants agreed, must change – and is changing. It is far less likely to occur in anonymous garages, a function of individual brilliance, persistence, and luck. Instead, truly world-changing invention today is linked inextricably to entrepreneurship. Design processes often involve global collaboration and require the ability to aggregate and synthesize diverse information. More and more inventors move beyond the design of a product or process into its implementation and scaling. One Tech4Society participant, Satyan Mishra, put it aptly: “an inventor today is an aggregator,” weaving together many disparate parts into an ecosystem capable of designing, introducing, and disseminating new technologies.

In 2006, Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation launched a partnership that aimed to find, support, and celebrate these emerging inventor-entrepreneurs – social innovators whose inventions and technologies offer fresh, effective approaches to advancing social change. Combining Ashoka’s 30-year track record for finding and supporting the world’s leading social entrepreneurs with The Lemelson Foundation’s renowned expertise in incubating and celebrating invention for social good, the partnership has sought to prove that entrepreneurship and invention can align in powerful ways to enable everyone to be changemakers and problem solvers and, ultimately, to improve the world.

Over the course of three years Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation have supported over 100 Ashoka Lemelson Fellows whose individual work fits into one or more of these categories:

1. Invention and design of a technological innovation for social good

2. Dissemination of the new technology

3. Education of the next generation of inventor entrepreneurs in science, technology, engineering, and math.

4. Creation of an enabling environment for invention and innovation (includes market creation and new economic models)

Among the Ashoka Lemelson Fellows are pioneers on the cutting edge of innovation in solar energy, clean water, mobile technology, science education, agriculture, and healthcare. Each of these inventor entrepreneurs is bringing powerful and affordable solutions to many millions of the world’s poorest people and inspiring people around the world to envision solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges.

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The Tech4Society event represented a culmination of a range of activities where Fellows shared ideas, began collaborating with each other, and interacted with leaders from industry, academia, the citizens sector, and the media. Four regional meetings were held prior to Tech4Society which allowed smaller forums for discussion and helped shape the Tech4Society agenda. In addition, a special edition of the journal innovations was created for the event highlighting inspiring stories of invention-led development (Invention-Led Development, innovations, special edition, 2010).

The goal of Tech4Society was to dramatically narrow the gap between technological potential and realization – by learning how to build systems that maximize the social impact of technological innovation, and that continually cultivate the next generation of inventor-entrepreneurs forging change around the world.

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The Evolving Inventor-Entrepreneur Matrix

Successful inventor-entrepreneurs tend to engage in four critical activities toward creating social impact. This “idea to impact process”, as described by The Lemelson Foundation, includes:

• Idea Conception – identification of the problem, the initial design, and prototype

• Incubation – feasibility studies, development of a business plan and attraction of early adopters.

• Market Development – building the supply chain, selling the product and providing maintenance and servicing.

• Impact Expansion – increasing production capacity and expanding distribution.

Tech4Society discussions revealed five core competencies that cut across those functions. In order to effect system change, inventor-entrepreneurs must develop and exercise at least one of the following:

• Empathy and community focus – understanding the user perspective and broader context.

• Building sustainable inclusive models – forging models that don’t rely on subsidies or grants and serve the full market, including the poor.

• Information architecture – the ability to aggregate and synthesize diverse information.

• Building networks of trust – the skill to connect with other individuals and organizations based on trust in order to minimize risk.

• Telling powerful stories – the ability to use narratives to build networks and motivate people, especially youth, to make change

What emerged over the course of the conference was a matrix linking the four stages of inventor-entrepreneurs with the five core competencies. This report articulates that matrix, exploring each competency in terms of the stages they critically inform:

Competencies/Stages Idea Conception Incubation Market

Development Impact

Expansion Empathy and community focus Building Sustainable Inclusive Models Information architecture Building networks of trust Telling powerful stories

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Empathy & Community Focus: Serving Communities not Markets

In order to graduate from isolated impact to widespread adoption, an inventor’s idea must be infused with empathy in every aspect of its implementation – from design to distribution to governance. Indeed, the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes is the primary “competitive advantage” of Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows. Empathy allows inventor-entrepreneurs to gain a holistic sense of the problems and solutions at hand, to understand how they fit within the broader system. By connecting to a greater diversity of perspectives, they have a better chance of seeing the “whole elephant” so to speak.

For instance, why have two Fellows – Anshu Gupta and Mohammed Abba, both male, no less – focused on sanitary napkins as an incredible force for change? They understand that lack of sanitary napkins keeps girls from going to school and is the source of frequent reproductive infections (leading to vicious cycles of poverty and child mortality). Their low-tech, simple inventions are powerful levers for social change. In this way, inventor-entrepreneurs see inter-connections between problems that elude others in the development world.

Ashoka Lemelson Fellow Albina Ruiz tackles the problem of garbage in Lima, Peru, by seeing and tackling a far broader set of challenges. Her project organizes waste collectors into micro- enterprises, giving people at the base of the pyramid populations their dignity back and solving extreme poverty through employment creation. Albina thus creates economic incentives to build healthier cities and healthier relationships between waste collectors and the rest of society, supporting her core mission to improve the lives of marginalized populations. (And yes, Lima is a lot cleaner as a result.)

The second critical contribution of empathy is in the design of the product itself. How will it actually be used? What real problem does it solve? For example, Elizabeth Hausler, who uses recycled materials for post-earthquake reconstruction, discovered that making adjustments and “tweaks” to existing technologies that people already used yielded better results than creating entirely new ones; people trust what they have and resist change. Hilmi Quaraishi, by contrast, designed a CD-based distribution strategy for his e-learning games overlooking the fact that a vast majority of schools in India do not have computers. “We went to the villages and realized kids were using CD´s as reflectors,” he recalls. Hilmi shifted his strategy to incorporate mobile technology and phones. Gustavo Gennuso speaks about being empathic about the context for the design: “Our water pump has two wooden legs –wood is easily found anywhere in Patagonia. But when we went to install the pumps in La Puna region, we realized that people there don´t use wood; they replace it with a cactus that was useless for the water pump. This mistake taught us that even though we believed we had a universal product, local context always calls for adaptations.”

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Building Sustainable Inclusive Models

“We are a social enterprise. We need to be sustainable. But our goal is to maximize inclusion, not profit.” – Gustavo Gennuso, Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow

Creating a sustainable inclusive model was seen by some at Tech4Society as a critical step towards scale and impact – though there was disagreement on whether “inclusive” meant serving the full market or focusing strictly on the needs of the very poor. In either case, participants viewed the model for distribution and use as at least as important as the design of the invention itself.

Though some may dismiss social businesses as small-scale endeavors with limited impact, sustainable inclusive approaches have the potential to influence the entire market by reordering pricing, and distribution, and financing.

Pricing. Rebeca Villalobos’s ASEMBIS has transformed healthcare for vision in Costa Rica by dramatically undercutting commercial prices for eye surgery and glasses. Its gross margins of 150%, far lower than the 1000% realized historically by competitors, allow it to cover operation costs with enough left over for expansion and reinvestment. In response, commercial eye glasses stores have dropped their prices, and long lines for surgery in public hospitals have been dramatically reduced. David Green similarly has forced his competitors to drastically lower their prices for contact lenses. He says: ”It’s not just that Aurolab was able to grow (10 million lenses sold). It has changed the competitive landscape. Pricing becomes the weapon to change the competitive landscape.”

Many Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows maximize inclusion through tiered pricing strategies. ASEMBIS and Aravind both provide the identical medical treatment to rich and poor at different prices depending on the customer’s income. In the case of Aravind, led by Executive Director Thulasiraj Ravilla, 60 percent of patients get the service for free or at a steeply subsidized rate, and 40 percent pay the full price. Aravind was able to successfully implement a tiered pricing system by creating effective product differentiation: middle/higher class people pay for a private room and other amenities, but the treatment is the same for all customers.

Some Ashoka Lemelson Fellows discuss that pricing is a function of two dimensions: the objective – people’s income – and the subjective – people’s perceptions. For instance, Pradip Sarmah’s customers say “they can afford to spend 10 rupees a day but 300 rupees per month is too expensive.” In this context, David Green’s insight, although simple, is crucial: “the capacity to pay has to translate into the willingness to pay.” Through multiple market studies, he has found that people are generally willing to pay their average monthly income to get their sight or their hearing back. Similarly, in order to gain acceptance of solar lighting in Nepal, Fellow Anil Chitrakar looks at how much the families spend on kerosene, and applies the monthly savings to the initial cost. Anil also helps families switch technologies by integrating with payment schemes and education programs here village youth help the elders become familiar with new technologies.

The work of many Fellows, including Harish Hande of SELCO, also shows us that financing is often an important element that either enhances or limits market penetration. While some of Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows directly offer financing either to individual customers or to borrowing groups, “keeping it informal, not too bureaucratic”, others like Gustavo Gennuso prefer to outsource financing by partnering with existing microfinance institutions.

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Distribution. Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow Satyan Mishra is lowering the cost of entry into remote or small markets by creating a network of local entrepreneurs who open multi-product kiosks. Once his entrepreneurs have established one line of business, it becomes much easier for them to diversify to other industries such as health or education to strengthen the business. In this way, the product or service in and of itself ends up being less important that the distribution channel. As Mishra puts it: “The last mile has to be travelled first.” (see box).

Satyan Mishra says “at the beginning, we were focused on bringing Internet connections and affordable access to information in extremely remote areas. We identified local entrepreneurs, trained them to start a business – a kiosk — and brought added value to them with capital, know-how, coaching.” After reaching the break-even point he realized that they were still only affecting a very small percentage of the population, so his organization transformed itself into “a supply chain of a wide range of products and services linked to education, health, employment generation, micro finance and banking, among others. We are an alternative low cost and effective distribution network for rural India, we transformed ourselves from a McDonald’s into a FedEx”; from a focus on a single product to a focus on developing an entire distribution chain.

Aravind creates more effective distribution chains by training village girls to become technical contact lens experts. They simultaneously free up the time of medical doctors, ensure higher efficiency and lower the cost of treatment. The strategy also creates new jobs that give girls opportunities to develop into highly-demanded professionals. Aravind and the hospitals it has trained have achieved all this while halving the number of surgery complications compared to the rates in the UK: “Volume translates into quality in eye surgery,” says TK

Financing. Enterprises designed to be sustainable and inclusive cannot be funded with the same logic as a traditional business. As venture capitalist Mark Cheng observes: “We need to be more creative in the financial instruments we want to design; we need to build more suitable fund structures that are adjusted to the social enterprises reality, without imposing on them exits strategies and other burdens.” He identifies three features that financial tools for social enterprises should have:

• Time horizon must be long enough to allow the social business to start repaying,

• Exit strategy that enables repayment to the investor from the cash flow of the business and not from a sale,

• Return requirements that are lower than for a typical VC

Program Related Investment strategies from traditionally grant-making foundations are in the formative stages, but they can play a critical role in allowing inventor-entrepreneurs to take greater risks, experiment, and then enable the entry of other investors into a social business. As Julia Novy-Hildesley states, “At the Lemelson Foundation we are moving beyond grant making into program-related investments, taking new risks and making equity and other creative investments. We can afford taking high risks because these type of investments may be counted against the minimum 5% of assets foundations are required to pay annually, so we may or not have returns on the investment. Trying these tools is particularly important for Lemelson Foundation, because these pioneers are making a strong leverage for others to enter the market, so we are contributing to shaping a new field”.

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Information Architecture

It’s clear that successful technological innovation is, with increasing frequency, married to a well-considered information strategy. Indeed, for many Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows, the underlying information system is at least as critical to the adoption, spread, and scaling of their work as the technology itself.

Inventors once thrived in a world of information balkanization. Those who had access to the best information, won: If you had a technology no one else knew about, or exclusive market intelligence, you enjoyed an advantage.

The dissolution of historical barriers to information production and distribution, and of the historical economics of information, has had a profound effect on technological invention. Arguably, more efficient flows of information have enhanced social problem-solving, and better information has created more efficient marketplaces — more informed buyers and sellers, fewer pricing dislocations. Just as arguably, when information is so freely available, there’s the potential for everyone to participate in the process of invention.

This increasingly open-source world implies new paradigm for invention – and a new set of skills needed to create impact. Much like journalists, inventors are becoming stewards of an information-based process rather than sole producers. They support and collaborate with other inventor-entrepreneurs to improve products, offer complementary services, etc. Information is continuously shared within this ecosystem, making it better adapted to respond to rapidly changing customer needs.

This confirms the observation of Fernando Flores: “The central problem of the planet for the next century is communication.” That is, social problems don’t get solved unless they’re effectively articulated and understood. Solutions aren’t spread and scaled until demand is created – which depends on efficient flows of information. Suppliers, customers, partners interact effectively only to the extent that credible offers, assertions, and commitments (to borrow from Flores’ lexicon) yield trust. So, better information systems are foundational to more effective social entrepreneurship in all realms.

In the context of design for example, inventor entrepreneurs at Tech4Society made it clear that information gathered through user-centered listening is of critical importance. Rather than coming up with ideas in isolation, they constantly listen and respond to the marketplace. “We made this mistake in the beginning,” said Swati Bhogle. “We said, we have a technology, where can we put it? We thought we knew everything. We didn’t ask.” By contrast Sachin Malhan argued that his organization, Inclusive Planet, was successful because it listened effectively to a broad network of customers, suppliers, and partners. The information architecture allowed deeper listening and hence a greater understanding and empathy of the end user.

Mayur Patel of the Knight Foundation demonstrated how important feedback was in retelling his experience in 2007 during the Google-sponsored competition called “Innovate or Die” to encourage new pedal-powered technologies. The winning team proposed building a solution to provide rural communities with access to clean water. But the contest didn’t end there: Within days, the Google community had piled on with thousands of suggestions to improve the invention. Inventor-entrepreneurs operate in a cycle of continuous invention and iteration. The value of any one invention begins dropping the

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instant it is introduced; because flows of information are efficient, new ideas quickly are copied and adapted by others. An entrepreneur’s real value, then, lies in his/her ability to continuously and rapidly come up with the next new thing. While there was consensus that design must be user-centered and ideally co-created to some extent, there was a smaller group that had incorporated learning and feedback mechanisms as part of their overall strategy.

Greg Van Kirk has also made customers and entrepreneurs’ feedback integral to the approach. The MicroConsignment model reaches remote populations with essential products and services at affordable price, through local entrepreneurs. “Local entrepreneurs are our partners, they bring us information about the local needs, and on the other side they play a key role in making villagers understand how this new product or service will improve their lives. Often the objective need is there, but the person does not have the motivation to purchase a product to address it because he does not know it, does not know its benefits.” Similarly in Anil Chitrakar’s work, a client can exchange a broken or malfunctioning tuki lamp for a new one. The client does not need to wait for a repair and more importantly the broken tuki lamp and client feedback become part of a continuous improvement process.

In Tanzania, Joseph Sekiku helps smallscale producers understand how markets work, and how they can move beyond subsistence by adopting new approaches to postharvest production, marketing, and distribution. He introduces methods that improve yield and helps farmers connect to each other and to new markets. He’s figured out that, in his mountainous, very isolated corner of the world, lack of information poses the biggest barrier to his success – and his constituents’. So he has founded his own, tiny community radio station that brings farming education to villages that no other media can reach.

For some inventor-entrepreneurs, information systems form the basis of a distribution network for solutions. Andres Martinez Fernandez designs and tests technologies like video microscopes and long-distance stethoscopes that increase the efficiency of rural health centers in Colombia, Peru, and Nicaragua – but those inventions depend on a proprietary communications platform that wirelessly connects those remote health centers to each other, allowing the continuous exchange of data and expertise.

“To be an entrepreneur,” Flores said, “is a co-invention of a world with others.” That co-invention, implying an eco-system of connected networks, requires inventor to effectively navigate a complex web of information flows: knowing when and how to connect, borrow, and refine, leveraging the expertise of others in the network. Sanjeev Arora’s work was a powerful example and practical implementation of a network approach to co-create knowledge and continuous learning, tapping directly into theories around diffusion of innovation. His Project ECHO, aimed at improving care for patients with common chronic diseases, creates a one-to-many “knowledge network” of specialists and up to 40 rural providers, who meet by videoconference to co-manage specific patients and share two-way teachings in which the ECHO staff works with remote clinics to coordinate and educate.

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Building Networks of Trust

“Trust overcomes the uncertainty” – Fernando Flores

Networks are relationships of exchange – money, information, experience, goods, and services among other things. These exchanges come with risk – the potential for lost investment or bad information, for example. This risk is greatly mitigated by trust. This ability to empathize with their stakeholders enables inventor-entrepreneurs to scale their impact dramatically through the trusting relationships that emerge as a result.

As Flores discussed, successful entrepreneurship in an increasingly networked world relies critically on converting transactional relationships – with clients, with suppliers, with government – to relationships rooted in trust. Trust overcomes the uncertainty that’s associated indelibly with technological innovation: Bringing a new idea to market, especially in the remote and insular communities where many social entrepreneurs operate, depends on converting suspicion of newness to credibility and support.

You have to remain true to your beneficiaries, maintain your true north, so that you can avoid the trap of focusing on the organization rather than on the people you are helping. As you scale, you can change everything in what you do but the mission: the focus on the beneficiaries. – Greg van Kirk

Greg Van Kirk enables unprecedented village access to affordable, essential health-related goods and services, from reading glasses to energy-efficient stoves. Because these products have never been available to the remote populations Greg caters to, the environment is risky and perceived demand is highly unpredictable. Trust is therefore of the highest importance. The first step is to mitigate risk associated with starting a micro-enterprise. Through his MicroConsignment approach, sellers do not need to worry about the burden of debt payments that often push rural entrepreneurs further into poverty. This risk is circumvented as entrepreneurs pay for their merchandise only once it has been sold.

While bourgeoning micro-entrepreneurs begin to trust the approach, Greg simultaneously focuses on building trust between his new business partners and their communities. This is not an easy task as the women he works with do not have a history of entrepreneurship and the small communities in which they live do not necessarily trust that they can suddenly become professionals. Greg therefore insists that all micro-entrepreneurs begin their careers in neighboring villages where the women do not have a history. They can thus prove their successes in those villages and convince their own communities that they are competent. In addition, Greg’s micro-entrepreneurs are not seen as salespeople, they are aptly called “community advisors.” This complex and extremely efficient web of trust is thus bringing essential health products to more than 1,000 remote villages and fostering local entrepreneurship.

Trust is also critical when it comes to working with external stakeholders such as the government and business partners, indicates Manoj Kumar of Naandi Foundation. When the Foundation began bringing safe drinking water to remote villages in India, they held inaugurations for each water facility. However, only one political party would attend, which led to the danger of possible backlashes against Naandi when that party went out of power. So Naandi took a stand. They declared that they wouldn’t inaugurate a center unless there

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was complete representation from all parties at the event. By staying non-partisan, Naandi acquired the trust of every political faction. David Green says “Trust is absolutely key to bring a company into manifestation. You need to stay together during tough times, and this creates the resiliency you need to create a social enterprise. I tell potential investors up front all the bad things that can happen, and I am willing to bring on board only those who are willing to be with you through difficulties, who won´t get nervous or suddenly want to exit when things look bad – and they can look very bad, particularly in the initial years.”

But retaining trust is just as crucial as acquiring it; Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows discussed the importance of setting up mission-focused governance models to ensure that trust is not lost amidst the range of competing needs and challenges inherent in operationalizing their solutions. In Indonesia, Willy Smits faces a dilemma. Having demonstrated the tremendous economic and social potential of the sugar palm tree, he is keen to show his model to the market to attract the kind of investment he needs to take his work to global scale. However, early indications have been that large private firms would focus on tapping every last drop of profit out of the sugar palm tree, reducing the local villagers’ income in the process and distorting local politics and social structures. Willie is seeking to develop a regulatory mechanism that would allow for significant return on investment yet maintain a healthy margin for the local entrepreneurs and farmers. Until he can develop such a governance model that respects the relationships and trust he has already established, he will not proceed further.

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Telling Powerful Stories

“Invest in stories, not just technologies.” – Javier Fernandez-Han, Youth Venture

More than even business cards, the most traded currency at Tech4Society in Hyderabad was stories - stories of “eureka!” moments, creative flow, product launches, successful partnerships, impact on beneficiaries, and more. We tell stories not just to inform and entertain. We also use them to INSPIRE and to CONNECT. We use stories for the same reason we use many of our most important technologies - to transform and be transformed. The narratives constructed and discussed during Tech4Society enabled participants to understand their work in new ways and to expand their work by inspiring others to join them in specific ventures or in the broader work of technology as a force for social change.

The transformational power of narrative was most evident among the 13 young inventors in attendance. Traveling from the U.S., Argentina, Mexico, and India, they are among the 50 invention ventures supported by Ashoka’s Youth Venture through its Lemelson-funded Invent Your World campaign. The youth were invited to Hyderabad not just to immerse themselves in inspiration, but to share their own inspirational stories.

Through a workshop, youth were encouraged to reflect on their own stories. Carlos Llaytuqueo, the Argentinean teen who created a water turbine, said he used to only tell people, “I make water turbines.” Now, he understands the story he needs to tell is how he helped a rural community overcome its many obstacles to electrification. Similarly, Shailesh Upadhyay and Ujala Shanker didn’t just focus their story on the Eco-switch they created that allowed Indian villagers to use a tractor battery to power compact florescent light bulbs. They framed their story as one about helping rural students succeed in school, despite having no electricity. Facundo Ferreyra, the 16-year-old Argentinean youth who invented Trici-X, shifted his story. Whereas at first he talked about the challenge of creating a tricycle for a child with many disabilities, now he talks about the connection he established and had to establish with the child he was trying to help. These new narratives will help to transform the way these youth think about the role of the invention in social change.

Stories inspire us to do more and expand our impact. Javier Fernandez-Han, the 15-year-old Excellence Award winner of the Invent Your World campaign, shared the story of how he first became inspired to design for “the other 90 percent.” He had been interested in robotics at an early age. But when he was nine, he happened to see a Lemelson Foundation-funded exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science and it changed him forever. He was especially drawn to the story of Dr. Ashok Gadgil and his UV water purifier. Javier explained this was the first time he had come across someone who married the same two passions he had: inventing and helping the less fortunate. Javier was so inspired that he made a trip out to UC Berkeley to meet with his new hero. They spent an hour together and Dr. Gadgil shared with Javier stories from his childhood – how when he was young, his family instilled in him a strong sense of justice and compassion. He remembers vividly how his family would share their food with those who otherwise would go hungry. “Take one handful of rice for yourself, give one handful to the poor.” For Javier, Dr. Gadgil’s story helped him understand not what to invent or what problems to solve, but what type of inventor he should be. That knowledge became his inner compass.

Inventor-Entrepreneurs are, at their best, great storytellers. “What scales is narrative,” said John Wilbanks. “A social entrepreneur’s toolkit must have an understanding of what the

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narrative is and how to get it out there. The grasp of how to craft narrative, to tell your story, is critical.” A striking example came from Manoj Kumar of Naandi Foundation: “Women are usually tasked with the ‘menial’ jobs. There is a well entrenched system, which is more powerful than the cast system and difficult to penetrate. We stumbled on a new solution. If we make a ‘menial’ job look sexy, men are silly enough to pick it. The container designed for water was like an oil container. It had to be fetched, money to be traded. That seemed to do the trick for men to come to the water center stores. If you can make it look good, men grab onto it. Now women can go tell their sons, nephews and husbands to go fetch the water. We need to figure out why men chose to do this.”

These kinds of stories enable inventor-entrepreneurs to both understand and communicate the actual change they seek through their idea and with this enhanced ability to communicate comes the potential to attract other partners and to increase impact.

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Collaborations and Networks

One of the most important outcomes of Tech4Society was the opportunity for Fellows to build trust and empathy with each other, resulting in the seeds of potentially powerful collaborations. In a world that is increasingly connected virtually and electronically, one should not underestimate the importance of face-to-face meetings for building rapport and creating trust. Some of the highlights of collaborations formed at Tech4Society are:

1. Gustavo Gennuso has started to implement Greg van Kirk´s MicroConsignment model in Patagonia. Besides the fact that Gustavo´s social enterprise now has a new skill and approach to distribution, this is a mutually beneficially partnership affording both Fellows new products to distribute and, therefore, larger scale with which to negotiate prices with suppliers, etc.

2. Juan Carlos Aguilar & Juan Carlos Calizaya are integrating their specific knowledge to create a catalogue of technologies for rural housing. They are also developing new technologies, starting with the creation of an eco-toilet that uses less than 2 liters of water.

3. Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows from seven Africa nations established the “Africans Without Borders” expert pool on social-technology innovations 2010-2020, which will focus on developing a “social bank” (a sort of barter system) of expertise and experiences to address regional challenges; their second meeting will take place in Nairobi in May 2010 (see Appendix1).

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Reflections and Recommendations

1. Support the development and strengthening of the five core competencies outlined in this report for future generations The competencies described in this report do not reflect current course offerings in business or engineering schools. Tech4Society participants developed these competencies as they implemented programs and solved problems on the ground. Future generations should benefit from this learning through course offerings, apprenticeships, mentorships and other creative pedagogical tools.

2. Work to create and value networks of trust To a surprising extent, participants emphasized the urgent need for trust-based networks as the basis for both partnership and impact. The immediate trust built among Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows at Tech4Society was striking and has obvious potential as the foundation for future collaborative activities.

There need to be more opportunities for Fellows to share and benefit from other engineering designs, products suitable for low income communities, and implementation strategies. There also need to be opportunities for investors to interact with inventor-entrepreneurs to understand the constraints and requirements of both sides and increase invested funds and shorten the time needed for investment discovery and due diligence.

3. Create pathways for women and girls to become inventor-entrepreneurs Few women attended Tech4Society, reflecting a global society that still finds more men in fields of engineering and invention. One potential strategy: create stronger connections between math, science and engineering and art, humanities and social sciences. In other words, by bridging fields traditionally dominated by men with fields often more popular with women.

Marketers tell us that we buy products often based on how we “feel” and the web of associations of any particular product. When using invention and technology for social change, feelings matter, cultural conceptions matter, and gender roles matter. And yet youth are encouraged very early to choose between people or numbers, between art or science. Eden Full, a Youth Venturer, is a freshman at Princeton University and is faced with deciding between majoring in engineering or history of science. Eden sees the interconnections between science and humanities and this is a false choice for her. We need to create educational experiences that leverage the power these different fields can bring to solving social problems.

4. Practice the art of storytelling and work to engage young people Javier Fernandez-Han asked a very concrete favor of all of the inventors in the room: spend one hour inspiring someone. "Think not only of investing in inventions, but also of investing in people's lives." Inventor-entrepreneurs understand the power of stories to create empathy, to create networks of trust as well as to inspire others.

18

Appendix I: Africa Trends Roundtable

Resolution # 1 African Ashoka Lemelson team (7 countries) meeting in Hyderabad, India 11th-14th February 2010 during the Tech4Society conference, Hereby resolve to:

1. Establish the “Africans Without Borders” expert pool on social-technology innovations 2010-2020, drawn from All Member Countries.

2. The team coordinated from Nairobi, Keny will Dialogue; Redesign and Establish a social bank of expertise and experiences to address regional challenges identified during the consultative panel discussions – Trends from Africa; and Round Table discussions – Personal Challenges in Africa.

3. The Team has agreed to hold the 1st Regional Dialogue Session on April-May 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya

For further details consult: David Kuria, Ashoka Lemelson Felllow Schwab Fellow and CEO of Ecofact [email protected]

or

Douglas Racionzer [email protected] South Africa

19

Appendix II: Agenda

Arrival 4:00pm-8:00pm Registration • Executive Housing Lobby, ISB

7:20pm Fellow’s Dinner • Mirror Pool

Day 1 7:00am-8:15am Breakfast • Hotels

8:00am-8:15am Shuttle to ISB • Hotel Lobbies

8:00am-10:00am Registration • Atrium

9:00am-9:45am Plenary Panel: Welcome Panel • Khemka Auditorium

9:45am-10:45am Keynote Address: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Pluralistic Networks with the Power to Change the World • Fernando Flores • Khemka Auditorium

10:45am-11:15am Tea/Coffee Break

11:15am-12:30am Plenary Panel: The New Leaders: Serial Inventor Entrepreneurs and the Lessons Learned • Khemka Auditorium

12:30pm-2:00pm Lunch • Atrium

2:00pm-3:15pm Breakout Sessions:

• Solar, Wind, and Biofuels: The Future of Alternative Energies • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Engineering Design for the Full Market • Khemka Auditorium

• Bridging to the Future: Building the Business Social Bridge • AC 7 Mini Lecture Thea-tre

• Disaster Response and Rebuilding • AC 3 Max Lecture Theatre

3:15pm-3:45pm Tea/Coffee Break


• Intellectual Property • AC 7 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Medical and Health Innovations • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Climate Change: Coming Together to Address Planetary Issues • AC 3 Max Lecture Theatre

• The Future of Social Enterprise • Khemka Auditorium

• Dialogue in the Dark • TBA

5:00pm-5:30pm Demonstration: Healthnet Medical Network • Khemka Auditorium

5:45pm Group Photo of Ashoka Lemelson Fellows • Mirror Pool

7:30pm-9:00pm Dinner • Atrium

20

During Breaks Interactive Booth for Photos with White Boards • AC 4 Board Rooms



9:00am-9:15am Emcee Recap and Announcements • Khemka Auditorium

9:15am-10:30am Plenary Panel: The Future of Innovation: Young Inventor Entrepreneurs • Khemka Auditorium

10:30am-11:00am Tea/Coffee Break • Outside Auditorium

11:00am-12:15am Breakout Sessions:

• Regional Trends from Africa • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Not a Drop to Drink: The Global Clean Water Challenge • AC 7 Mini Lecture Thea-tre

• Reaching for Economies of Scale: Mass Production • Khemka Auditorium

• Innovations in Payment Systems • AC 8 Board Room

12:15pm-12:45pm Demonstration: Mobile Science Lab • Outdoors



• Information Explosion: The Power of Information in Deploying New Technology • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Engaging Government as a Stakeholder and Change Agent • AC 3 Max Lecture Thea-tre

• Reaching Remote Populations: The New Distribution Highway • Khemka Auditorium

• Sanitation: Moving Up the Importance Agenda • AC 7 Mini Lecture Theatre


• Open Space • AC 8 Board Room



• Investment Readiness: Lessons from VCs and Other Investors • Khemka Auditorium

• Regional Trends from Latin America • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Personal Challenges and the Life of the Innovating Entrepreneur • AC 7 Max Lecture Theatre

• Half the Sky: Women and Girls in Science and Invention • AC 7 Mini Lecture Thea-tre



21

6:30pm-8:30pm Marketplace Evening • Mirror Pool

8:30pm Dinner • Atrium

During Breaks Interactive Booth for Photos with White Boards • AC 4 Board Rooms



9:00am-9:15am Emcee Recap and Announcements • Khemka Auditorium

9:15am-10:45am Plenary Panel: Cultivating the Next Generation of Leaders: Innovations in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education • Khemka Auditorium

10:45am-11:15am Tea/Coffee Break

11:15am-12:30pm Breakout Sessions:

• Engineering Challenges of the Next Decade • AC 3 Max Lecture Theatre

• The Ever Green Revolution: Trends in Agriculture • Khemka Auditorium

• Cell Phones and the Future of Mobile Technologies in Social Change • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Innovative Pricing: The Case of Aravind • AC 7 Mini Lecture Theatre




• Tipping Point: Elements that Help to Spread Social Impact from Local to Global • AC 3 Mini Lecture Theatre

• Mind the Gap: Financing Strategies for the Future • AC 3 Max Lecture Theatre

• Changing Visions: When Your Mission Shifts • AC 7 Mini Lecture Theatre



3:45pm-4:15pm Keynote Address: Our Unique Moment In History: Building an Everyone A Changemaker™ World • Bill Drayton • Khemka Auditorium

4:15pm-5:30pm Plenary Panel: Global Trends in Social Innovation and Invention • Khemka Auditorium

7:00pm-10:00pm Gala Dinner • Kemka Auditorium and Mirror Pool

22

Appendix III: Fellow Participants

A. H. Md. Maqsood Sinha • Bangladesh Developing community-based, high-tech, low-cost composting plants to convert organic waste into income-generating fertilizers

Abhijit Bardhan • India Launching a grassroots movement to train teachers to change the way science is taught in government-run schools

Abhishek Ray • India Drawing on the emerging field of Universal Design to create affordable, barrier-free environments that are highly functional for all people—regardless of age, ability, or situation

Agus Gunarto • Indonesia Creating the technical design for the construction and operation of community-financed and managed mini-sewage treatment plants

Albina Ruiz • Peru Working with Lima’s waste management workforce to design products that improve their work flow—custom tricycles and a variety of trash collection and composting tools

Amol Goje • India Developing user-friendly and low-cost IT tools for farmers to increase productivity and stimulate economic growth

Ana Luisa Arocena • Uruguay Creating new technologies to recycle and dispose of hazardous materials in responsible ways while promoting transparency, spreading environmental and public health awareness, and creating decent jobs for waste management workers

Andres Martinez Fernandez • Spain Designing and testing technologies—video microscopes, long-distance stethoscopes, and other diagnostic and treatment tools—to save lives and increase efficiency of rural health centers in Colombia, Peru, and Nicaragua

Andrés Randazzo • Mexico Incorporating appropriate technologies—cisterns, ovens, and houses—into the existing health infrastructure of Mexico’s poorest rural areas to better basic living conditions

Anil Chitrakar • Nepal Bringing together financing, simple and sustainable technologies, and marketing to support a range of socially-useful technologies, including water purification and solar tukis

23

Anna Alisjahbana • Indonesia Developing new practices and technology that have changed the face of early childhood care and development throughout Indonesia

Augustin Woelz • Brazil Reducing the inefficient use of electricity for hot water heating through a do-it-yourself system disseminated by young people

Babu Raja Shrestha • Nepal Replacing traditional kerosene lighting sources with solar-powered tukis, assembled and serviced by local people

Balaji Sampath • India Revolutionizing the way science is taught in India through low-cost materials that promote hands-on learning and incorporate creative dissemination techniques

Bernard Amadei • United States Transforming the field of engineering by revamping the traditional training model and establishing professional standards to integrate the field more closely with global issues such as poverty alleviation, hunger, and disease

Bindeshwar Pathak • India Introducing an eco-friendly, twin-pit, compost, pour-flush toilet technology for households—an alternative to the cost prohibitive sewerage or septic tank-based systems of waste disposal

Bir Bahadur Ghale • Nepal Constructing micro-hydropower plants and linking them to industrial and commercial ventures to manage the system

Bright Simons • Ghana Combatting fraud in the pharmaceutical industry by creating a SMS-telecom solution that allows consumers to verify pharmaceuticals at the point of purchase

Carlos Simão • Brazil Adapting new shallow tube wells for Brazil’s semiarid regions

Collins Apuoyo • Kenya Protecting the environment by safely collecting, storing, and reusing spent oil that is otherwise dumped into rivers or uninhabited land in Kenya

Cosmas Okoli • Nigeria Manufacturing special prostheses, manual car controls, and sports equipment for the disabled so that they may lead full lives and have pride in themselves

David Green • USA Producing and disseminating socially useful products—including affordable hearing aids and intraocular lenses—using a tiered pricing structure

24

David Kuria • Kenya Designing technology-enabled sanitation “kiosks” that halt environmental degradation and promote health and social cohesion in Kenyan slum areas

Dipendra Manocha • India Using an open source approach to creating screen reading software for Hindi and other local languages and low-cost playback devices for disabled persons, particularly the blind

Douglas McMeekin • Ecuador Developing a rural education model that integrates academic study with practical experience in microenterprise so that students are prepared to resolve the social, economic, and environmental challenges in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Douglas Racionzer • South Africa Transforming existing, small, technology-focused businesses into successful enterprises that deliver of community services

Elizabeth Hausler • USA Changing practices of home building in earthquake-prone regions to engage citizens and set in place new and lasting practices to ensure that earthquake-resistant construction becomes common

Enrique Gustavo Gennuso • Argentina Designing and distributing appropriate tech-nologies for low-income communities, including a manual rope pump for water extraction, and battling unemployment among Argentina’s young people by enabling and inspiring inventors and entrepreneurs

Fábio Luiz de Oliveira Rosa • Brazil Bringing electricity to the rural poor through low-cost electrification technology

Francisco Javier Arroyo y Galván Duque • Mexico Devising an urban food production scheme which simultaneously improves low-income familiial nutrition and moves Mexico City’s marginal neighborhoods toward taking ownership of their own development

François Marty • France Inventing construction tools that enable the building of ecologically-sound, energy-saving public housing on a large scale and in ways that mobilize and employ France’s poorest residents

Gregory Van Kirk • USA Engaging rural entrepreneurs in distributing essential products through a “micro-consignment” approach

Hamzah Harun Al’Rasyid • Indonesia Raising agricultural productivity through new farm products and a drip irrigation implement he invented, benefiting farmer cooperatives and markets

25

Hamzah M. • Indonesia Introducing technologies that improve the quality of water and sanitation in Indonesia

Hany Hassan Mahmoud El Miniawy • Egypt Developing eco-friendly methods of home construction that incorporate local materials and create jobs

Harish Hande • India Uplifting underserved populations by selling, servicing, and financing clean energy that improves quality of life

Heike Schettler • Germany Spreading bottom-up, child-centered Science Labs and curricula throughout primary schools in Germany

Hilmi Quaraishi • India Using mobile telephony to bring important public health messages to the masses

Howard Weinstein • Brazil Manufacturing and distributing low-cost hearing aids with extended battery-life options allowed by solar-powered batteries

Iftekhar Enayetullah • Bangladesh Developing community-based, high-tech, low-cost composting plants to convert organic waste into income-generating fertilizers

Ingrid Munro • Kenya Creating a microfinance organization that provides business and housing loans, health and life insurance, and business education to the urban poor and slum dwellers of Nairobi

Isaac Durojaiye • Nigeria Creating Nigeria’s first mobile toilet initiative to remedy rampant urban unemployment and poor sanitation conditions

Jack Sim • Global Revamping the field of sanitation worldwide by bringing technical, financial, organizational, and market-related strategies to citizen organizations working on sanitation

Joachim Ezeji • Nigeria Building and training a network of ‘water entrepreneurs’ to manufacture, distribute, and service basic water filters that use local plants as bactericides in lieu of chlorine

Jose Dias • Brazil Empowering small farmers in northeastern Brazil to collectively manage and appropriate resources for drought-resistant technologies

Jose Raúl Moreno • Colombia Increasing the availability and affordability of housing in low-income communities in

26

Colombia by developing and disseminating new earthen construction technologies that boost the local economy and are environmentally friendly

José Roberto Silva • Brazil Enhancing small-scale farming with a solar-powered micro-irrigation system of production, marketing, and commercialization that makes farming profitable for poor farmers in Brazil’s northeast

Joseph Adelegan • Nigeria Developing a commercially viable system that uses a fixed filter anaerobic biogas converter to clean air and water from slaughterhouse effluence

Joseph Sekiku • Tanzania Improving economic possibilities for small-scale farmers by giving them greater control over their products after production and opening access to a global markets

Juan Carlos Aguilar Macizo • Peru Encouraging aspiring young inventors to use local materials and their own creative talent to improve living conditions among the poor

Juan Carlos Calizaya Luna • Peru Installing environmentally friendly sanitation systems at the household and community level and building the social infrastructure needed to support them

Juan José Oña • Uruguay Engaging community and youth groups in a comprehensive multi-media documentation of native fauna and flora, establishing the Uruguayan environmental conservation movement

Juan Rivera • Peru Improving the productivity and quality of impoverished, small-scale coffee producers in Peru by teaching them sustainable coffee production methods and giving them access to more efficient, affordable, and environmentally-friendly technologies

Jyoti Sharma • India Combining technological interventions with a community governance structure that makes citizens responsible for water consumption decisions

Kalyan Paul • India Providing local communities in the central and western Himalayas with the organizational, technical, and managerial skills to effect ecological restoration of their area

Kongkiat Kespechara • Thailand Developing an open source technology that is enabling hospitals to use their limited resources more effectively and to design new and improved services addressing the health needs of disadvantaged populations

27

Kovin Naidoo • South Africa Providing access to eye care through technological innovations that reduce lens costs to $1.50

Lalith Seneviratne • Sri Lanka Bringing sustainable electricity to rural Sri Lanka, and building the components that allow community members to maintain and finance small-scale biomass generation

Lazaro Cunha • Brazil Popularizing scientific knowledge in order to strengthen the black movement within the knowledge society, while also increasing the country’s potential for technological development

Leonora Mol • Brazil Stimulating the local economy and increasing the quality of life of people living in low-income residential communities through housing loans, participatory governance structures, technical assistance, and the incorporation of clean technologies

Luis Orlando Castro • Colombia Inventing technology that turns organic waste into fertilizer that is better, cheaper, and greener than conventional alternatives, and is deploying the technology widely to maximize the number of quality jobs it can create in waste collection, fertilizer production, agriculture, and marketing of produce

Lynn Freiji • Egypt Improving the way science is taught by introducing an effective outdoor educational platform where children can experiment with the concepts they learn about in their classrooms and science labs

Madan Mohan Rao • India Refining a nearly extinct technology—the party line system—to provide connectivity to villagers living in rural areas unable to attract mobile phone service providers

Mahabir Pun • Nepal Using solar power, tree-based relay systems, and adapted technologies to create wireless networks that are suitable for the remote mountainous regions of Nepal

Maher Bushra • Egypt Fighting to establish legal, social, and economic protections for neglected workers as a first step toward guaranteeing basic rights to all the workers of his country’s informal economy

María Ferro • Argentina Improving the quality of life and social integration of marginalized communities such as the elderly and disabled people by enabling them to access new technology at reasonable prices

28

Mathias Craig • USA Developing a community-based clean energy model dependent on local manufacture and maintenance of a specially designed hybrid solar/wind turbine along the impoverished Caribbean coast of Nicaragua

Maxwell Marshall • Nigeria Widening access to housing for Nigeria’s urban and rural poor through the introduction of a new building technology that is low-cost, sustainable, and attractive

Mohammed Abba • Nigeria Creating economic opportunities for Nigerian farmers through a system that naturally refrigerates fruits and vegetables

Moses Kizza Musaazi • Uganda Reducing the rate of absenteeism among school girls in poor urban and rural communities by increasing access to affordable sanitary pads

Muthu Velayutham • India Pairing rural farmers with engineers to design products and distribute them through rural citizen networks

Narcís Vives Ylla • Spain Developing Atlas of Diversity, a new education model that makes learning fun and effective while also closing the digital gap between those communities who proactively use new technologies and those who do not

Narong Patibatsarakich • Thailand Putting together classes of disabled people to challenge the age-old belief that disability is a matter of dharma and seeking to ensure each person an equal opportunity to contribute

Nawee Nakwatchara • Thailand Empowering small farmers to make their own informed decisions in pursuit of decent livelihoods and enabling them to break the cycle of debt and dependency on inviable farming practices

Omar Azad Chowdhury • Bangladesh Advancing a new model of science and invention learning in Bangladesh

Onno Purbo • Indonesia Building Indonesia into a knowledge-based society by bringing low-cost Wi-Fi Internet access to communities and schools throughout the country

Patrick Gathitu • Kenya Empowering the people of Kenya to make good choices about what technologies to buy and how best to use them on their farms and micro-enterprises

29

Paul Basil • India Developing promising rural technological inno-vations into successful commercial enterprises

Pedro Serrano • Chile Employing a holistic approach that combines energy-saving technology, education, and political action, to introduce new energy technologies that will reduce pressure on Chile’s scarce firewood resources

Pradip Sarmah • India Distributing safer rickshaws with improved ergonomic design through Rickshaw Bank loans geared towards ownership

Prema Gopalan • India Training rural women to identify community needs and design, build, and operate water and sanitation systems

Ramji Raghavan • India Working to provide teachers and out-of-school, at-risk children access to hands-on science that arouses curiosity

Randolph Wang • India Matching high-quality pedagogy with low-cost technology to link quality teaching in urban schools with poor rural schools, and to do it cheaply and on a large scale in order to overcome the shortage of qualified teachers in rural areas

Ravindranath • India Mitigating flood disasters by introducing—through an active citizen network—life-saving technologies such as modified tube-wells to keep drinking water safe, quick-assemble toilets for use in floods, and stilt designs to elevate homes

Rebeca Villalobos Vargas • Costa Rica Developing a participatory system of eye care that enables Costa Ricans of all classes access to affordable medical services

Roshaneh Zafar • Pakistan Introducing solar technology to Pakistani homeowners through the national financial tools network she has built

Salah Arafa • Egypt Creating a model that combines local resources with rural civic engagement to promote social advancement and modernization while preventing rural migration to urban areas

Sameh Ghali • Egypt Disseminating a new community-based latrine system and producing a water byproduct clean enough to use for irrigation

30

Sanjeev Arora • USA Using communication technologies to dramatically reduce disparities in care in the United States for patients with common chronic diseases who do not have direct access to healthcare specialists

Satyan Mishra • India Building service kiosks in countryside villages to bring internet connections and ready, affordable access to information

Sergio Oceransky • Mexico Democratizing the future of the energy economy by making it possible for local and indigenous communities to participate in, and benefit from, their own grassroots renewable energy projects

Simón Parisca • Venezuela Sustaining social innovation in Venezuela and, in the process, developing a new kind of leadership capacity for long-term development

Sonam Jorgyes • India Empowering the Ladakh agricultural community to use outside technological innovations and local resources in a sustainable manner to foster rural economic development and expand rural farmers’ market reach

Souleymane Sarr • Mali Creating “the new generation” of artisans in Mali by training artisans, unemployed school graduates, and street youth to create and produce consumer goods services in clear market demand

Sourirajan Srinivasan • India Promoting the production and distribution of essential drugs at affordable rates to the poor

Stanley Zlotkin • Canada Manufacturing and distributing affordable iron and nutrient supplements to combat “hidden hunger,” the debilitating vitamin and mineral deficiency experienced by millions of women and children in developing countries

Toto Sugito • Indonesia Bridging the gap between public issues, such as pollution and health problems, and individual lifestyles, encouraging people to recognize their individual role in larger social problems and participate in collective action towards solving them

Tri Mumpuni • Indonesia Tackling challenges of rural electrification and economic development by creating community-owned, micro-hydropower systems throughout Indonesia

31

Vibha Gupta • India Training rural women to use scientific skills and technologies to create economically productive enterprises

Victoria Hale • USA Building the first non-profit pharmaceutical company to work with the mainstream pharm-aceutical industry in bringing new drugs to the world’s poor

Vijay Pratap Singh • India Creating new access platforms—software and manual—to benefit rural Indians

Vineet Rai • India Providing venture capital financing and management support to socially conscious and environmentally friendly ventures with limited access to capital

Willy Foote • USA Financing developing-world rural business entre-preneurs and technologies that boost agriculture production and protect the environment

Willy Pessoa • Brazil Designing an integrated, holistic model combining technology, low-cost, and community involvement in planning for small-scale agricultural production

Wilson Passeto • Brazil Helping design and market technological innovations aimed at improving efficiency and reducing water waste

Willy Smits • Indonesia Finding ways to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems

Yohanes Surya • Asia Transforming the way children are introduced to, and engage with, science and math learning by creating new materials, science comics, and national and international competitions

32

Appendix IV: Other Participants

Karabi Acharya Ashoka

Geovanni Roblero Adorno Solar Pyramid Youth Venturer

John Anner East Meets West Foundation

Ali Ansari Muffakham Jah College of Engineering

Phil Anerswald Innovations

Ken Banks Frontline SMS, Kiwanja.net

Hanae Baruchel Ashoka

Dheeraj Batra Innosight Ventures

Krista Bauer GE Company

Orazio J. Bellettini Gupo Faro

Daniel Ben-Horin Techsoup Global

Sohini Bhattacharya Ashoka

Svati Bhogle TIDE

Ron Boehm Boehm-Gladen Foundation

Mukti Bosco Healing Fields

Jennifer Bruml The Lemelson Foundation

Valeria Budinich Ashoka

Paula Cardenau Ashoka

Bill Carter Ashoka

Dean Deepak Chandra Indian School of Business

Mark Cheng Chelwood Capital

Yu-Ling Cheng University of Toronto

Ali Cherry GreenMango

Paroma Roy Chowdhury Google India

Kevin Cluff H2OforHumanity

Barrett Comisky E-Ink

Lee Davis Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team (NESsT)

Carolina de Andrade Artemisia

Danielle Dumm Ashoka

Ana Estenssoro Ashoka

Sandeep Farias Elevar

Javier Fernandez-Han Inventors Without Borders Youth Venturer

33

Facundo Imanol Ferreyra Trici-X Youth Venturer

Terry Ferris

María del Pilar Ferro CARE - Centro de Asistencia y Rehabilitación Especial

Lani Fraizer Synergies in Sync

Eden Full Princeton University Youth Venturer

Ashok Gadgil Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Vikas Goswami Microsoft

Justin Guay Sierra Club

Anshu Gupta Goonj

Keith Hammonds Ashoka

Peter Han Inventors Without Borders

Tarcio Handel Agência Mandalla DHSA

Elliot Harmon Techsoup Global

Sanjana Hattouwa Ground Views

Elizabeth Hausler Build Change

Aji Hermawan RAMP-IPB

Leila Hoballah ESCP EUROPE

Chloe Holderness Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation

Juli Huang Artemisia

Patrik Huber responsAbility Social Investments AG

Richard Jefferson Cambia

Mark Jeunnette International Development Enterprises

Paneet Jhajharia Grassroots Business Fund

Jai Kishan Jhaver Jhaver Group

B.K. Jhawar Usha Martin Group

Elizabeth Johansen Design that Matters

Lorie D. Jackson Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative ExxonMobile

Amit Jain HealthPoint

Gautam John Pratham Books/Akshara

Lakshmi Karan Skoll Foundtion

Pascal Katana

Robert (Bob) Kennedy University of Michigan / Davidson Institute

Susannah Kent

Anand Krishnaswamy

Chandra Kumar Nacks Ventures

34

Catherine Laine AIDG

Eric Lemelson The Lemelson Foundation

Linus Liang Embrace

Carlos Llaytuqueo Aquaturbi Youth Venturer

C.V. Madhukar PRS Legislative Director

Anurag Mairal Stanford Bio Design

Sachin Malhan Inclusive Planet

Umesh Malhotra Hippocampus

Patrick Maloney The Lemelson Foundation

Jaydeep Mandal Renaissance Consulting/IWSB Incubation Centre

Mariana Mazon Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy

Debbie Menaged The Menaged Foundation

Mitch Menaged The Menaged Foundation

Zachary Menaged

Jane Meseck Microsoft

Murray Metcalfe University of Toronto

Luciano Moccia East Meets West Foundation

Anita Moura

Devashri Mukherjee Ashoka

Carl Munana Ashoka

Hari Nair Innosight Ventures

Shoba Narayan Knowledge@Wharton

Sarath Naru Ventureast

William Nitze

Elizabeth Nitze Ashoka

Ricardo Ordoñez NESsT

Mauricio Osorio The Lemelson Foundation

Rakesh Pandey

Mayur Patel Knight Foundation

Upmanyu Patil Sakhi Rretail

Lily Paul Ashoka

Roshan Paul Ashoka

Hsun-Chin (Kevin) Peng The Big Question, Ltd.

Aaron Pereira Vartana

Maria Clara Pinheiro Ashoka

Santiago Ponce BIOCALEFON Youth Venturer

35

Andy Pradjaputra Inotek/Yayasan Inovasi Teknologi

Solomon Prakash Ashoka

Timothy Prestero Design that Matters

Subhi Quraishi ZMQ Software Systems

Sriram Raghavan Comat Technologies Private Limited

James Rajanayagam Villgro Innovations Foundation

Prasad Ram Google Inc.

Anuradha Ramachadran Ventureast

Sreekanth S Rameshaiah Mahiti Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

Thulasiraj Ravilla LAICO - Aravind Eye Care System

Regula Ritter responsAbility Social Investments AG

Erin Rogalski Indian School of Business

David Roll Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation

Amitabha Sadangi IDE-India

Hemant Sahal CALLMAT Youth Venturer

Varun Sahni Acumen Fund

Ambika Sambasivan Villgro Innovations Foundation

Gonzalo San Martin NESsT

Sanjoy Sanyal New Ventures

Miguel Saravia CONDESAN

Abigail Sarmac The Lemelson Foundation

Eric Savage Unitus Capital

Beverly Schwartz Ashoka

Pedro Serrano Fundación TERRAM

Karon Shaiva Idobro Media & Marketing Services

Ujala Shanker Tractor-Factor Youth Venturer

Willie Smits Masarang Foundation

Tyler Spalding Ashoka

Alan Spybey KickStart

Hanumappa Sudarshan Karuna Trust & VGKK

Vishnu Swaminathan Ashoka

Roswitha Swensen The Lemelson Foundation

Krishna Tanuku Indian School of Business

Ka Chun To

Carolina Tocalli Ashoka

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Erin Tochen The Lemelson Foundation

Charles Tsai Ashoka

Jill Tucker The Lemelson Foundation

Shailesh Upadhyay Tractor-Factor Youth Venturer

Shalini Urs International School of Information Management

Tina Vajpeyi The Akanksha Foundation

Alok Vajpeyi

Philip Varnum The Lemelson Foundation

Ravi Venkatesan Microsoft

Rosa Wang Ashoka

Logan Ward Popular Mechanics

Phil Weilerstein NCIIA

John Wilbanks Creative Commons

This report was prepared by the Tech4Society Knowledge team of Ashoka including Karabi Acharya, Hanae Baruchel, Paula Cardenau, Keith

Hammonds, Roshan Paul, Charles Tsai, and Rosa Wang. It was designed by Rai Land of the Global Marketing Team and benefited from comments by

Julia Novy‑Hildesley and Abigail Sarmac of The Lemelson Foundation.

tech4society - february 2010 - final report

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