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Ant Financial claims facial recognition first
The company deployed the technology in self-service terminals at a new health-focused restaurant launched by KFC in Hangzhou, China. Named Smile to Pay, the service enables users of Ant Financial’s Alipay mobile wallet service to pay for meals by scanning their facial features.
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- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Smart containers ready to disrupt the seafood industry
The seafood industry must comply with increasingly strict demands from consumers on sustainable seafood production. For that reason, a group of graduates have spent their summer at DNV GL developing smart “robot containers” with cooling systems that can sail to ports without any human interaction.
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- Technology
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Forget the Sexy ‘Innovations’: Build (and Monitor) More Water Pipes
Annie Feighery is CEO of mWater, an M&E and data management platform that is used in 147 countries to track water sources. In this insightful Q&A, she says, "The only way it is feasible to achieve global access to safe water is through systems" such as piped infrastructure and small-scale water treatment and distribution units. "The majority of the water-stressed (people) on the planet live within a kilometer of a piped network. They don’t need wells, they need to be part of the infrastructure."
- Categories
- Health Care, NextBillion Originals, Technology
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The gap between India’s richer and poorer states is widening
East Asia’s growth pattern has for decades been likened to a skein of geese, from Japan at the vanguard to laggards such as Myanmar at the rear. The same pattern can often be seen within big countries. Over the past decade, for example, China’s poorer provinces have grown faster than their wealthier peers. India is different. Far from converging, its states are getting ever more unequal. A recent shake-up in the tax system might even make matters worse.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Kenya’s newest tech hubs are sprouting outside its “Silicon Savannah” in Nairobi
For years, Nairobi has been the cradle of technological innovation in Kenya, and the center of the country’s thriving tech ecosystem, famously known as Silicon Savannah. Most of the innovation spaces, incubation centers, accelerators, and maker labs were also concentrated in the capital—making Nairobi an attractive spot for both technologists and investors.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital revolution, Kenya, startup, technology
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From Smart Meters to ‘Water ATMs’: Innovative Solutions to Bring Water Services to Rural Africa
An estimated 663 million people lack access to clean and safe drinking water in the world today. Innovations such as smart metering services are being tested to enhance access to water. However, these solutions have not been widely adopted across Africa, except at some water vending points. George Muruka at MicroSave explores how these innovations can be scaled up to the household level.
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- Technology
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Fixing Financial Inclusion’s Gender Gap: Fast-Growing ‘Community of Practice’ Seeks Solutions
One billion women living in the poorest 40 percent of developing-country households remain outside the formal financial system. A persistent gender gap in developing countries in account ownership rates suggests that efforts at financial inclusion are not reaching women. In an effort to change that, CGAP recently launched the Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice to bring together practitioners, funders and policymakers.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech
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Can Satellites Solve the Farmer Suicide Crisis in India?
Researchers from the University of California, Berkley, have found a strong correlation between rising temperatures and the rate of suicides, with an increase of 1 Celsius associated with an average of about 70 additional suicides per day. Droughts have ravaged the country’s crop yields, sharply reducing farmers’ income across the sector and disrupting the predictability of revenue.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- agriculture, agtech, climate change, farmers, India, technology
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