The highlight of our first day on tour in Central and Eastern Europe was a visit to Cafemax iCafes in Moscow. I’ve seen many iCafes but this one struck me as leading edge. Why? Variety.

The Cafemax chain understands what their customers want and they know how to maximize their opportunities. They cater to a variety of needs: quieter areas for people studying, and a separate gaming room for louder pursuits.  They make you feel at home, offering much more than internet access – you’ll find everything from a pool table to sushi. This is a place where I could hang out, but we were there for a very specific reason…

The variety of Cafemax offerings grew even larger last month when they implemented an eLearning portal where customers can get certified on Microsoft software – a proud Michael Rawding was given the opportunity to present the first certificate of completion to Sergey who is the IT specialist for the chain. After he was presented with the certificate, Sergey showed Michael the ropes on the Cafemax eLearning portals. Check out the video below for a taste of what we saw today.

-  Greg Macris, Director, Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group

Recently, I spent a little under a week traveling throughout India, visiting some of Unlimited Potential’s programs and partners that are working to bring increased social and economic opportunity to the region through the benefits of technology.   It’s an exciting time to be in India.  The economic success of the nation in the recent past, much of which has been driven by India’s unprecedented IT sector boom, has allowed for the development of much broader efforts to alleviate social and economic disparity.  This was my first visit since January of 2005, and the amazing progress made in this relatively short period of time was evident throughout my trip.

Still, the significant challenges caused by what is still fundamentally an uneven society continue to cast a wide shadow over this positive progress.  As Orlando Ayala noted here after a trip to India just over a year ago, despite this economic and social advancement, over 98% of India’s citizens remain in the middle and bottom of the economic pyramid.  These are the millions of people that we have committed to reach, working to expand the benefits of India’s remarkable economic progress to include those people currently living at or below subsistence levels.

Microsoft believes that technology holds an immense transformative power to address these iniquities.  However, we equally acknowledge that while technology is a powerful tool, it is still only a tool.  To translate this into tangible human impact requires training and strong partnerships that can scale technology’s benefits to create real and lasting results.   During this trip, I met with many of our partners in India, both within the government and the private sector, to discuss how we can continue working together to help generate this scale.

On July 29 in New Delhi, I was honored to deliver a plenary address at eINDIA 2008, India’s largest collaborative ICT conference.  The event gathered a variety of participants from across the public and private sectors to share knowledge and examine how the country’s numerous challenges can best be addressed through the benefits of technology.   Microsoft was well-represented in the conference, with colleagues participating in forums, panel discussions and keynotes covering a multitude of topics, including addressing IT innovations in municipalities and e-Government solutions, leading changes in e-Education, the sustainability of telecentres, the role of Communities of Practice (CoP) and Networks in eAgriculture, and many others.

In my remarks, I addressed the importance of affordable computing to education—a key aspect of Unlimited Potential’s mission to transform education in India and worldwide.  One innovative way of making computing more affordable, particularly in schools, is to allow many people to use a single computer simultaneously. Based on work out of the MSR India lab in Bangalore, Microsoft has developed Windows MultiPoint, which allows as many as 50 computer mice or other peripherals to be attached to a single computer.  We’re supporting broader initiatives to transform education in India, as well.  Through our Partners in Learning program, we’ve made great progress with Project Shiksha, which aims to accelerate computer literacy for teachers and students across government schools in India.  With Project Shiksha, we have trained 260,000 teachers since 2003, and intend to reach another 100,000 teachers in the next year.

This morning, we heard presentations by the five teams in the finals for the Rural Innovation Award at the Imagine Cup 2008. All five teams did an amazing job, and the enthusiasm and the quality of the work really made me appreciate what the Imagine Cup is all about.  In alphabetical order by country, except for the winner…

The team from Colombia presented an application that tracked the health and germination capabilities of trees, using data collected by ecologists or botanists. They had a sophisticated data-analysis component whose results could then be viewed by region or even by individual tree.    

Abdullah Hazaa Abdullah, from Egypt, was the lone, and courageous, representative of that team – unfortunately, his teammates were unable to attend. This team tackled the important problem of detecting landmines, with a solution involving software-based analysis of signals collected by an existing hardware device that scans the earth under it. He mentioned that landmines were preventing some of Egypt’s most valuable land from being farmed or developed.

India focused on providing rural farmers with information to help them farm better, based on input from electronic sensors that would measure local conditions, with parameters such as humidity and temperature. They hoped that local entrepreneurs would set up the systems and then charge farmers for information that would be worth even more to them in farm yield. I thought it was great that they spoke with farmers to see what they liked about the system.

Team Smile from South Africa presented a beautifully implemented project to inform commuters about when the next bus will arrive, using their mobile phones as an interface. The problem of waiting for the bus apparently takes a particular twist in South Africa, where people are afraid to spend too much time waiting, due to public safety concerns.

Ultimately, the judge’s tally came out in favor of the Indonesian team. They had built a system, called Butterfly, that allowed people from rural areas to log environmental issues with the government, via SMS text-messaging. As with many of the other teams, Indonesia had chosen a relevant topic, the demo was compelling, and the presentation was polished. But, what impressed all of us most about their effort that they spend time to talk to their eventual users. They had spoken with rural residents to understand their needs better, and they had asked for feedback from the government offices that they hoped to interact with. The resulting project certainly benefited from this extra attention to the “customers”.

Congratulations to all the teams for making it as far as the finals, and good luck to all in your future endeavors! Additionally, a special congratulations to the team from Indonesia! The award comes with two components – one is a $10K award sponsored by Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group. The other is the offer to do a research internship with Microsoft Research India, where I run a group called Technology for Emerging Markets (http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem). So, I hope to see you next year in Bangalore, India!

The following guest post comes from Antarmuka, a team of finalists for the Imagine Cup Rural Innovation Award from Indonesia. Antarmuka developed a reporting system, Butterfly, which allows users to immediately report environmental problems that they discover via voice, SMS, MMS or alternatively, mobile or web applications. After problems have been reported, Butterfly will classify them according to category, priority and location.  It then alerts the responsible local authority. 

I do research in an area called ICT4D, short for “information and communication technology for development” – the goal of which is to invent technologies that support socio-economic development of poor communities worldwide (http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem). But, the more I understand ICT4D, the more ICT4D disappears. I’ve come to realize that while technology is important, it’s nothing without people who are motivated to make a difference. Technology amplifies, empowers, and inspires, but it’s still people who have to learn to read, save for their future, or protest against injustice.

When we think of innovation, we sometimes become very focused on the product. Of course, the product is what we’re after in innovation, so, it deserves the glamour. The product, though, is also sandwiched between people: the people who do the innovating, and the people who benefit from the innovation. And, it’s only because of both sets of people that an innovation has impact. One of the research projects I’m involved in is called Digital Green, where locally recorded digital video is used to help spread sustainable agriculture practices through mediated instruction. The technology – digital video – amplifies the impact of the material, but it’s the people in the video, who are local farmers, that draw in other farmers to watch. We jokingly call the project “Farmer Idol,” because the farmers almost compete to appear in future videos.

The Imagine Cup is one of my favorite annual events, partly because it draws attention to both technology and people. The projects are amazing, with so much display of creativity, design, and brilliance, and the student teams bring it all to life with their passion and energy. This year, I’ll be judging for the Rural Innovation Award, where the technology and energy are directed to supporting rural communities. I can’t wait!

The following guest post comes from Team Smile, a team of finalists for the Imagine Cup Rural Innovation Award from South Africa. Team Smile developed WhereIsMyShuttle?, which uses GPS/GPRS tracking devices fitted to buses to provide daily schedules of bus activities via SMS.  The system also provides an automated notification service to alert riders of abnormal bus activities. 

I’m pleased to be participating in the judging panel of this year’s Rural Innovation Award at Imagine Cup 2008—evaluating the brilliant work of the young students who have created new technology solutions targeted to the needs of the world’s least fortunate citizens.

Technology is a key capacity building service for effective communications, operations and strategic impact on poverty in the world.  Capacity building is a much used term in nonprofit organizations.  It can mean training, adding headcount and the ability to scale up programs.  But these are often linear growth opportunities.  Increasing the impact of scarce resources requires the productivity enhancing capabilities that only technology can offer.  In short, technology helps the same people get more done.  And this means reaching more of the disadvantaged in the world.

Why is technology such a critical need in addressing world problems such as poverty?  The bottom line is that we are not having the impact needed to stem this rising problem and begin to reverse it.  There is a strong and compelling need for greater effectiveness, efficiency, and yes, capacity building.  We need a quantum leap in impact that requires doing things in radically different ways.

To illustrate, let me share a couple of examples of on-the-ground program results where technology is making a difference at Save the Children.

In Bangladesh, we are distributing food to 192,000 people monthly.  Historically, food distribution was tracked and reported using paper forms, a long, administrative process.  Laptops made it possible to serve more people, but laptop batteries died after two hours of use and fieldworkers had to revert to paper.  Porting the tracking application to PDAs which with maximum battery packs could last ten hours, translated into a 39% savings in data entry time. Lest anyone think this is merely a data efficiency gain, being able to handle 39% more transactions per day could mean the difference between life and death for women and children who walked kilometers to the food distribution center and who are waiting in line in 90 degree and 90% humidity weather for food rations.  Going home hungry is not an option.

And in Bolivia, 18,000 poor are enrolled in SC’s food distribution program.  Historically this program was tracked by collecting paper forms in El Alto, traveling an hour back to the country office in La Paz and taking 17 days per month to transcribe data into a database and report on results.  Again, by applying PDAs to this work flow, we were able to reduce data collection and reporting from 17 days per months to just over 7 days, for a gain of 57%.

A key principle of all of these efforts is the relevance of the technology used.  Connecting the poor with information relevant to their livelihoods has delivered interesting and important results from the pay cell phone cottage industry that Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank has incubated among poor women in Bangladesh to the elimination of fraud in the Dominican Republic by connecting farmers to the on-line port of export prices. 

How nonprofits can move their technology investments in this direction will determine how strategic their technology use and impact will be.  And how effectively corporations and the academic community can partner with INGOs will determine the quality and reach of our impact.

Thank you,

Edward Granger-Happ

Hello- I’m Paul Polak, one of the judges of this year’s inaugural Rural Innovation Award at the 2008 Imagine Cup.  I’m thrilled to be attending this year in Paris to examine the technology innovations that this amazing crop of young minds has created to help address the most pressing solutions of rural communities around the world.

There is a design revolution under way.  That revolution can be seen, for example, in the work of the Rural Innovation Award finalists (and the work of Unlimited Potential) to create relevant technology solutions for the estimated five billion people underserved by technology—that’s nearly 90% of the world’s population.

My new organization, D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%, has already started designing products for this huge untapped market represented by poor customers.  For example, we are now working with Cascade Designs, a big outdoor company, on a $300 water purifier that churns out 1,300 gallons of safe water a day. The idea of designing and marketing products to the poor is growing among many multinational corporations, Microsoft notable among them, not only because it’s the socially responsible thing to do, but because innovators are beginning to see poor people as customers in new, mutually beneficial relationships.

I invite you to become part of this design revolution by following these principles:

·          Allow the poor customer to rule the design process.

·          Don’t design it unless you’ve discussed it with at least 25 people, it will pay for itself in one year, or it will sell one million units at an unsubsidized price.

·          Focus on scale: for your customers and for sales.

·          Pursue affordability ruthlessly—affordability: this is the most important consideration.

·          Set a specific cost target.

·          Analyze what the technology does.

·          Identify the key contributors to cost.

·          Design around each of the key contributors to cost by finding acceptable trade-offs.

·          Make a multitude of prototypes.

·          Make changes based on field tests.

·          Adapt a technology if you transplant it in a new place.

Thinking of poor people as customers instead of as recipients of charity radically changes the design process.  Poor people won’t invest in a product or service unless the designer knows enough about their preferences to create something they value. Because of market demand, D-Rev is working with an electronics company to engineer a small, potent power generator.  In countries where the supply of electricity isn’t accessible to all or dependable in general, this resource is invaluable, particular for poor people.  The process of affordable design starts by learning everything there is to learn about the market needs and market forces created by poor people. 

The importance of this principle has clearly been grasped by the students participating here in Paris as well as by Unlimited Potential—creating technology solutions targeted precisely to be accessible and relevant to the specific needs of rural populations.  I’m excited to see these additions to the group of innovators and designers beginning to develop products to improve the lives of poor people around the world.

-Paul Polak

The following guest post comes from Novices@Work, a team of finalists for the Imagine Cup Rural Innovation Award from India. They developed a site-specific crop-management system for farmers called Kalpvriksha. The system employs Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to collect localized data on soil characteristics such as moisture, pH, ambient light and temperature.  Using the data, Kalpvriksha makes recommendations on the ideal amounts of agro-inputs like water and fertilizers.

Agriculture is the way of life for people all over the world. When we made our solution, we first had in mind the 247 million people in India employed in agriculture, but we later realized that or solution has the potential to be scaled to any size or type of land holding that the farmer may own. The promise of sustainable agriculture resulting into a better standard of living for farmers is what made us participate in this category for the Imagine Cup.

Our technology, Kalpvriksha, not only addresses the problems of food shortage and the depletion of arable land, but also rural development by making the farmer aware of recent technologies and practices that can better his farming methods and help him make optimum use of his meager resources and minimize wastage. We feel our technology can make a big difference if given the chance.

We have taken the first steps towards turning our idea into reality. We underwent an Incubation training workshop for technology commercialization at Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship.  We have interacted with various experts in the fields of social entrepreneurship, agricultural sciences, soil sciences, hardware manufacturing and others. Additionally, the Agricultural Ministry of State of Gujarat has been extremely helpful and is ready to extend their support to us in the future. With all this backing, we plan to take Kalpvriksha from theory… to practice!

Those of you that follow Microsoft might be familiar with Imagine Cup – an annual student technology competition that Microsoft sponsors. This year Unlimited Potential has worked with Imagine Cup to add a new category -- the Rural Innovation Award.

At its core, Imagine Cup is about capturing the creativity of university students from all over the world and building on their unique perspectives to develop technology solutions that address the challenges and issues they care about and that are unique to their countries. With the Rural Innovation Award, we’re beginning to harness the energy and the innovations of the competitors and channeling them to tackle the challenges addressed by Unlimited Potential – creating relevant, accessible and affordable technology for the next 5 billion people who are not currently served by technology. Rural computing efforts have the potential to drive some of the most inventive and critical new technologies of our day.

Our shared access team is committed to using technology to help the nearly 3.5 billion people in rural underserved communities realize their potential, and help enable socio-economic development. This work is a unique facet to Microsoft’s global approach. The personal computer industry has historically evolved around markets found in developed nations, so the unique characteristics of these markets have therefore had a profound influence on the way computing solutions are designed, manufactured and sold. While the benefits of computing power have been realized by the developed world, billions of people living in poor nations have been excluded from this process.

Microsoft is in a distinctive position to explore new approaches to technology for underserved rural communities – given the global reach of our work, the resources and expertise we can apply to this challenge, and the commitment from the very top of our company to affect positive change through the ‘Creative Capitalism’ approach that Bill Gates talks about.

Take mobile phones as an example. They have taken off in emerging markets because they offer a very relevant and affordable way for both urban and rural citizens to communicate efficiently, get help in an emergency, and reach beyond their locality to grow small businesses. Now we are also seeing the emergence of mobile scenarios that can help bank the unbanked. In my recent trip to Kenya, I looked into a new digital payment system that allows users to transfer money across mobile phones using text messaging. One of our collective challenges in this industry is to try and find relevant ways to reach customers on the most basic of phones.

The exciting thing for me is that many of the greatest opportunities for technology to spark growth and development lie in rural areas. But these areas are also among the most difficult to serve because they are often economically challenged and lack adequate electrical power and