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MIT: 20 startups using tech to build a more inclusive economy
A “social reputation” algorithm, a crowdsourcing platform for homeless job seekers, a digital credit line for bodega owners, an identity-blind hiring platform. The ideas and inventions of the 2019 MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge finalists are as wide-ranging as the international competition’s boundaries.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Tata, Rockefeller Foundation Plan 10,000 India Microgrids
Tata Power Co. Ltd., in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, plans to develop 10,000 microgrids in India to boost access to affordable and reliable electricity to homes and enterprises across the nation’s vast rural areas.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Delivering Online Skills Training in Africa: Three Keys to a Successful Program
The shortage of data science skills is a major challenge for Africa. With relatively few local institutions offering degrees in the subject, African data scientists must often acquire their skills via online courses, leaving some unable to fully participate in the continent's emerging digital future. Dumisani Dube at Insight2Impact shares insights from a successful online course offered to its DataHack4FI participants, which could help other organizations better leverage digital learning in Africa.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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MTN Launches Mobile Money API Hackathon
The Hackathon, run in partnership with Ericsson (MTN’s MoMo technology partner), will give app developers based in Ghana, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Zambia the opportunity to create innovative financial and transactional applications using the MTN MoMo API platform.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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AI for All: How India Can Become an Artificial Intelligence Superpower
From asking questions to Siri, to watching a movie served up by Netflix’s algorithms, it's now common to interact with products powered by artificial intelligence. As Brinda Sapra at Vera Solutions explains, AI is predicted to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy – and $957 billion to India’s economy – in the near future. She explores why – and how – India should harness the disruptive potential of AI, rather than fearing its impact on employment.
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- Technology
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How India’s Farmers Are Using Technology to Feed More Than a Billion People
Piggybacking on India's mobile boom, these companies are using smartphones and the internet to help farmers grow, harvest and sell their crops more efficiently.
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- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Is Rwanda in Line to Become One of Africa’s Major Tech Hubs?
Recent years have seen countries across the African continent investing deep into the tech industry. Rwanda is angling to get ahead of the pack.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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From Early Adopters to Tech Laggards: Understanding Off-Grid Energy Customers
The team at 60 Decibels recently set out to understand the motivations of customers served by off-grid energy firms in Africa. Researchers quizzed customers in Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia about their attitudes and behaviours toward new products to find out who were the early innovators, early adopters or tech laggards. Kat Harrison and Hassan Nasser of 60 Decibels explain the research and how firms can convert ambivalent customers into product ambassadors.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Impact Assessment, Technology
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