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Marketplace of Ideas
Prof. Alex (Sandy ) Pentland
Juan Carlos Barahona
MIT Digital Nations Consortium
Ideas, productivity and technology
• Almost all telecenter projects have great difficulty with sustainability. I believe we have to revisit the basic idea.
• Sustained economic growth is driven by higher productivity
• Sustained increments in productivity are driven by continuous innovation. (Porter 1984, WEF 2002,Mokyr, 2003)
• So shouldn’t our goal be encouraging the flow of innovation rather than simply providing information and communcation services?
Should the basic
concept of the
telecenter be
revised?
Yes.
Our approach
We encourage for-profit services that upgrade the social networks of the community, permitting a better flow of ideas.
The main goal is to build the social capital required to boost entrepreneurial efforts and the pace of innovation.
The new digital services should also reduce the cost of existing transactions, so that they are sustainable.
Digital Weaver: Strengthening the Social Fabric
Original LINCOS was a telecenter. The new LINCOS is an incubator to start local `connector’ businesses
LINCOS provides training and support of ICT for entrepreneurs and community organizations
Example LINCOS businesses: PakNet: eBay + DHLVoIPBanking and remittances
MIT Digital Nations Ventures
http://www.dimagi.com/ http://www.firstmilesolutions.com/
http://www.wayinc.com/
blueEnergyhttp://www.blueEnergy.org
These companies
are spin-offs of
MIT Digital Nations
and are some of
the `connector’
businesses that
the Digital Weaver
can deploy
First Mile Solutions’ PakNet: Picking Up and Delivering Bits and Atoms
Provides
asynchronous
broadband
services: VoIP
Browsing
eBay + DHL
X10 cheaper
than other
technologies
http://www.firstmilesolutions.com
Reaching Out Into The Community
Handheld service
delivery provides
x10 community
penetration, x10
cost reduction
Like Grameen
Phone, but
asynchronous and
so cheaper
http://www.dimagi.com
Way Systems: Banking for the Village
Provides x10
cheaper point-of-
sale and banking
services, plus
greater
transparency
and security
http://www.waysystems.com
blueEnergy
•blueEnergy produces and installs micro wind turbines in local economies in Central America and Mexico.
•A enterprise for village entrepreneurs
http://www.blueEnergy.org Contact: Mathias Craig -- [email protected]
Power to the People
Conclusion
Our goal is to enable communities to build social and financial capital needed to for sustained innovation
ICT is critical for weaving together community, surrounding communities, and diaspora..our role is that of a weaver, rather than a communications service provider
ICT also helps by enabling more efficient supply chains, thus lowering costs of existing interactions, providing new financial possibilies.