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India’s Biggest Private Company Gets Paid on a Blockchain
Reliance Industries, India’s largest private sector firm, has successfully participated in its first ever trade finance transaction powered by blockchain technology.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Viewpoint: Should Paraguay invest its energy wealth in bitcoin ‘mining’ or fighting poverty?
The Itaipú dam is already enriching some, and they believe the country should invest more in cryptocurrency, while others argue it should spread Itaipú’s bounty more widely.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Aerospace technology could enable farmers to produce more with less
The researchers say the central challenge for the highly fragmented African agriculture is, therefore, one of farmer access to the satellite data and analysis. “The question … is less about whether space-based and aerial technologies can help the agriculture. The question is, how exactly can these tools be put in the hands of most farmers?”
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- agtech, global development
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Banker proposes new blockchain technology for African market
A new mobile phone blockchain network is under development and is projected to acquire large-scale consumer adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2021.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Financing the Energy Access Revolution: Three Technologies That Are Driving Africa’s Momentum
Technology has become central to the energy access story in Africa. It’s an essential part of all the key stages of an enterprise’s work – from raising the initial capital and financing the equipment, to designing and delivering the final product itself. And the new possibilities opened up by technology are increasingly seen as potential game-changers, in a region where some 590 million Africans – around 50 percent of the population – are still without access to electricity. Ben Good, the CEO of Energy 4 Impact, explores three areas in which tech-driven approaches – from crowdfunding to cryptocurrency – are making an impact.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Google launches $25 million AI Impact Challenge
Google AI today announced the AI for Social Good initiative, an ongoing project to apply core AI research and engineering efforts to social good projects both inside Google and among the broader AI ecosystem.
- Categories
- Technology
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A device that can pull drinking water from the air just won the latest XPrize
The winner of the Water Abundance XPrize creates enough water for 100 people every day by making an artificial cloud inside a shipping container.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
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The Force Awakens: Artificial Intelligence Is Coming – And It Isn’t Going to Put Poor Countries Out of Work
On a scale of polarizing topics in global development, none comes close to artificial intelligence. Everyone seems to have an opinion, and the ongoing war-of-words has drawn in everyone from Bill Gates to Elon Musk. But according to Brinda Sapra, a researcher at the Institute of Financial Management and Research, these arguments tend to gloss over the nuances of AI’s likely economic impact. In particular, she argues that alarmists and “Luddites” have overhyped the valid concerns about AI’s impact on jobs in emerging markets. She makes the case for optimism in this provocative post.
- Categories
- Technology
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