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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.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
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WhatsApp’s Integration of UPI-Based Payments Has Strategic Consequences for India’s Digital Economy
The partnership defies 20th century notions of a public private partnership, and offers a glimpse of the private sector tipping its hat to the sovereign function and prerogative in identifying and authenticating the beneficiaries of a digital service.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Aadhaar barring poor from state benefits: Activists
Citing information from RTI pleas, information activists said on Tuesday the government's claim that technology and Aadhaar had helped weed out corruption "was without any basis".
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital identity
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Start Network tests blockchain technology for foreign aid distribution
Start Network, a global network of 42 international NGOs including Oxfam and Save the Children, has partnered with social enterprise start-up Disberse to test blockchain technology in the distribution of foreign aid.
- Categories
- Technology
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Developing countries urged to act now to prevent technology exacerbating poverty
Increasing automation in industries risks leaving large numbers unemployed and widening inequality gaps, especially in the global South, the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said in a report.
- Categories
- Technology
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Social-good innovators bet on blockchains to solve big problems
Undaunted by humanity’s past failures to resolve some of history’s thorniest problems, numerous blockchain and cryptocurrency projects — some led by large international agencies, others by tiny startups – hope to tackle issues like poverty and environmental degradation and spread democracy.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- blockchain
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Responsible Finance: Moving Money from Mattresses to Mobiles
Technology has made it possible for lower-income people living in developing countries to access financial services that were previously beyond their reach. FINCA Impact Finance CEO Andrée Simon says her firm's new smartphone app, SimSim, which recently emerged from its pilot phase and already has 35,000 users, strikes a balance between the personal touch and modern fintech automation.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Piggy looks to build a simple app for first-time investors in India
The principle is still pretty straightforward: build an app to help users easily manage a diverse portfolio of investments that are attractive to the average human and first-time investor.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
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