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Decentralized, Distributed and Disruptive: The New Diseconomies of Scale
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, economies of scale have ruled the day, with massive investments in power plants, pipelines, factories, and transmission lines to name a few. But increasingly, the technologies of tomorrow will be decentralized, distributed in character and disruptive to incumbent firms and institutions.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
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Mobile Money Payments: Why It’s Time to Move From P2P to Me2Me
Mobile money providers should embrace Me2Me systems, that is, easy-to-use commitment savings platforms that help map how people think about their long-term needs and money. In the customer’s mind, each date would be associated with a purpose, such as paying off school fees, rent, farm equipment or other long-term purchases and expenses.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
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Best Ideas of 2011: Innovating for Life New, Frontiers for Development Communications
The line between advocacy and journalism blurred more in 2011. For example, the Gates Foundation reaffirmed its support for the Guardian’s Global Development web hub to the tune of $2.5 million. The good news for development communications is that many digital media tools are well within the reach of those working on nonprofit budgets.
- Categories
- Technology
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Dispelling the Top Five Mobile Money Myths
I like talking about how to build mobile money networks, how people use it, what additional functionality can be built on it, and how it might give people more opportunities to improve their lives. But I often find myself side-tracked into slaying mobile money myths. Here are five concerns that I wish people didn’t lock into quite so quickly.
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- Technology
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Does ’the Cloud’ Have a Silver Lining for the Poor? New Sources of E-Transaction Data Hold Promise
Financial services firms in wealthy nations depend heavily on data to design their products and tailor products to consumers. A very basic example is using credit scores. This data-driven approach has been largely impossible for banks that would pursuing BoP customers. But that may be changing as several startup firms are gearing for launch.
- Categories
- Technology
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Guest Post: Harnessing Technology for Transformation
Technology is not just being used to organize the Twitter/Facebook fueled uprisings in the Arab world. It is empowering citizens to intervene in risk-laden social issues, while providing a platform to rapidly scale these interventions. It’s time for the social sector to firmly commit to increasing our investments in these kinds of innovations.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Technology
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Building a Business Around Combating Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals
As more businesses enter the BoP, many will need to focus on reducing counterfeiter’s grip on the market. Sproxil is trying to limit that hold on the pharmaceutical market in emerging economies by literally putting the power in the hands of the end consumer through cell phones.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Citizen Media: A Global Innovation Competition Produces a New Class of Media Solutions for Empowered
In the past year, there has been a surge in the number of everyday citizens harnessing innovations in media to amplify their voices and create change around the world. When Ashoka Changemakers launched the Citizen Media competition with support from Google, more than 400 entries poured in from around the globe. There’s still time to vote!
- Categories
- Technology
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