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Why Startup Accelerators Won’t Create the Global Climate Technology Revolution
Accelerators may be a great way to launch the next Pokémon Go app or even Airbnb, but they're not as suited for climate startups in low- and middle-income countries. Jean-Louis Racine, leader of the infoDev Climate Technology Program at the World Bank Group, explores several reasons why accelerators are "at best an incomplete tool for building climate tech sectors."
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- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology
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‘Internet Access is Like Oxygen’: Converging Connectivity and Energy Access
Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative is providing grants to internet access and related services companies and startups reaching underserved communities in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and North America. In June, the tech giant announced the second year of grantees. Paul Garnett, senior director of the Affordable Access Initiative at Microsoft, explores how internet connectivity can have a ripple effect.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Technology, Telecommunications
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Making Hardware Easier: ASME ISHOW Helps Expand Social Impact of ‘Frugal Technologies’
There are few resources to help “frugal technologies” and their makers succeed. That’s the problem that ISHOW, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' innovation showcase, tries to solve. The competition draws on ASME’s network of engineers, industrial designers, product specialists and diligence and standards experts, as well as venture capitalists and business specialists, all of whom are keen to see hardware innovation achieve a new level of positive impact.
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- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Fear of a Jobless Planet: Can Entrepreneurship Counter the Coming AI Employment Crisis?
Imagine a future where robots are capable of doing just about everything under the sun, rendering countless professions across practically every industry obsolete. The first part of that dystopian vision has already come to pass. The second part hasn't, but could well be coming. What might be the solution? According to what we learned in July – entrepreneurship month at NB – it might fall on small businesses to answer the challenge.
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- Social Enterprise, Technology
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Social Impact Incentives: A New Solution for Blended Finance
In just six years, social enterprise Clínicas del Azúcar has grown into the largest private provider of specialized diabetes care in Mexico, but faces an almost constant challenge to balance its financial and social performance. That's where social impact incentives (SIINC) come into play. A new solution for blended finance, SIINCs align profitability with social impact by paying social enterprises directly for proven social outcomes.
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- Energy, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Addressing Eye Care in Emerging Markets with Blended Finance
WHO estimates that 39 million people suffer from blindness, more than half of them due to cataracts, and more than 90 percent of blind people live in the developing world. Cataracts are often curable but the traditional surgery is expensive. Convergence is supporting GlobalVision's plan to build on the affordable eye model that Aravind pioneered in India and establish a network of 60 eye care hospitals in emerging markets over the next 10 years, borrowing techniques from the microfinance sector.
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- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Three Ways Entrepreneurs Can Tackle Climate Change (Hint: It’s Not Just About Scale)
There are ways entrepreneurs can make sizeable impacts on climate change without Facebook-like growth curves. Jean-Louis Racine says investors should follow the lead of the venture capital sector and support startups that won't grow or be profitable. Traditional impact metrics such as goods sold, customers served, revenues generated or jobs created no longer apply. The best way to catalyze a climate technology market is to help ensure that innovative high-risk, low-growth ventures don't fall through the cracks.
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- Energy, Environment, Technology
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Development Engineering: Scaling Tech Solutions from Ideation, to Pilot … to the World?
Scaling technologies that promote economic development is challenging. That's why UC Berkeley established the Development Impact Lab. Natasha Beale, the lab's manager, discusses the concept of "development engineering" and gives examples to illustrate that large-scale impact is indeed possible with the right mix of targeted funding, technological innovation and rigorous field work.
- Categories
- Education, Technology, Telecommunications
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