Silicon Valley Musings

What lessons have you learned since September?

NGO’s are averse to technology. NGO?s and large health organizations like the WHO are very conservative when it comes to adopting technology.

Build instead of buy. Many NGO sponsored projects spend a great deal of effort reinventing existing technology. Some times it is due to a lack of awareness, but most of the time it is to avoid paying for existing technology.

Holistic approach. Point solutions that do not address the overall conditions have limited long-term success. Dr. Green?s On-Cue service has proven to increase TB patient?s adherence to their medical regime. But it does not address the living and economic conditions of the patient. It is very likely that the same patients will contract TB again unless their situation is changed. I am becoming convinced that the best way to effect change is to help communities holistically.

Africa needs an advocate. Many companies are starting to look to the ?developing world? for new markets and talent. Unfortunately this enthusiasm all but ignores Africa.

Suggest projects that future Reuters Digital Vision Fellows or the Reuters Foundation could explore.

Developing a standard configuration and a global licensing agreement for a distributed information collection network. Several fellowship projects had similar requirements for a distributed information collection infrastructure. That is to say a network of hand-held or laptop devices that occasionally synchronize with a central database using cellular (i.e. GSM) ?hot spots.? A standard technical specification of such an infrastructure as well as pre-negotiated set of licensing terms that is affordable to the developing world increase the success of many future fellowship projects.

Sustainability models and funding avenues. Almost all the fellow?s project will require funding to continue. Most of us are ill equipped to devise business models, grant proposals, and ?elevator pitches? for venture capitalists. A set of business plans and grant proposal templates existed as well as a database of potential donors and investors that have previously agreed to evaluate submissions from the Reuters Digital Vision program would be helpful.

Adopt a village. All of the fellow?s projects have the potential to help a community, but they are applied all over the world. It may much more effective if all the projects for any given year were coordinated such they were applied to a particular village. This would also allow the projects to share infrastructures, user need research, travel and accommodations, etc.