> 1. What new "high impact" technologies are on the 3-year horizon? Who > (exactly) needs to do what (concretely) to make those technologies > widely available?
It seems to me that most of the component technologies needed for deploying ICT in rural areas are already in place. What really needs to be done is to knit these together into a system that can be easily deployed in rural areas. To give an example, Philips in India, is looking at expanding its market by tapping the "bottom of the pyramid." They have skills in lighting systems, power storage and solar power. Now, they are exploring how they can combine these skills into a system that can be deployed in rural areas. One proposal is to create community owned solar power systems into which villagers can plug rechargeable lamps. The lamps can be charged during the day and used during the nights to bring light to off-the-grid locations. This will probably need some microfinance intervention but my point is that we don't need more technology because the components -- low cost computers, renewable energy, VSATs etc exist as discrete pieces. We need to spend a lot more time and effort to knit these together into solutions that fulfil the needs of people in different locations. Hope this makes some sense. Venky ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org
