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Maker Spaces vs. COVID-19: How the Pandemic Is Bringing the Small Manufacturing Revolution to the Development Sector
When COVID-19 first struck, it soon became apparent that there wasn’t enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to go around. As Kuldeep Bandhu Aryal and Nishat Tasnim at BRAC point out, this has resulted in price gouging and acute scarcity, in Bangladesh and other developing (and developed) countries. They explore BRAC's innovative solution to this problem: collaborating with maker spaces and other small manufacturers to produce PPE locally and affordably.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- COVID-19, manufacturing, scale
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Six Key Trends Driving Affordable, Low-Carbon Growth in the Rural E-Mobility Sector
In the last five years, a vast array of e-mobility startups have sprung up across sub-Saharan Africa, focused largely on electric bikes, scooters and three-wheelers. As Richa Goyal at Energy Saving Trust points out, these businesses are accelerating Africa's shift toward low-carbon transportation, while also boosting local manufacturing, skill development and job creation. She outlines six key trends and business model features in this emerging sector.
- Categories
- Energy, Transportation
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Manufacturing a COVID-19 Recovery: Why Building Local Manufacturing Capacity Is Key To Africa’s Pandemic Response
COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on sub-Saharan Africa's economies. And as Salma Okonkwo at Blue Power Energy Ltd. points out, the region is particularly vulnerable because it relies on international imports and exports for much of its GDP. She proposes an effective way to help Africa recover from the pandemic and build resilience to future shocks: developing local manufacturing.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy
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Optimizing Incremental Building: Why the Answer To Decent, Affordable Housing for All Is Hidden in Plain Sight
The scale of the global housing challenge is enormous, with an estimated 1.6 billion people worldwide lacking adequate shelter. As a huge percentage of homebuilders around the world build incrementally, analysts at Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter explore how optimizing the incremental building process could present an effective solution.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance
- Tags
- housing, innovation, manufacturing
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Viewpoint: Why Tech Didn’t Save Us From COVID-19
America's paralysis reveals a deep and fundamental flaw in how the nation thinks about innovation.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Health Care, Technology
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Ugandans Melt Plastic Waste into Coronavirus Face Shields
When the Ugandan government ordered all non-essential workplaces shut to contain the coronavirus pandemic in late March, Peter Okwoko and his colleague Paige Balcom began manufacturing makeshift plastic face shields from discarded plastic bottles.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- manufacturing, public health, waste
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How Kerala’s eWe Is Enabling Women To Drive Digital Commerce In Tough Times
The near-global lockdown has affected almost all sectors of the Indian economy and amongst the worst-hit is the textile and apparel (T&A) industry due to the reset in the retail market as well as the bar on manufacturing and ecommerce orders. Not only was the sector expected to suffer massive layoffs but it also saw many factories and shops shut operations as the spread of Covid-19 plagued the nation.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
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