Information and Communication Technologies

A friend recently consulted me about streaming media and video-on-demand solutions available to satisfy the requirements of a distant learning initiative to be implemented by one of his customers. While explaining to him the many options available I realized that not many people are aware of how much the streaming media ecosystem has changed in the last few years and that there are several open source platforms and solutions available for streaming audio and video over the Internet, lowering the cost of such endeavors and making the implementation of pilot and fully functional initiatives much more affordable and accessible to all kind of organizations.

TAVOS Media Network is a trail-blazing venture based in Palo Alto, California, that empowers people in underserved communities around the world through local media services. Our vision is to build a global network of local media microfranchises to give voice and promote the life and prosperity of every community.

I recently watched Muhammad Yunus full of joy, sharing his story and advocating for his ideas during his Nobel Lecture of December 10, 2006, at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. I was deeply inspired and connected to his values and believe. I would like to contribute my 2 cents in promoting his lecture in this post.

It cannot have passed anyone that the Grameen Bank got awarded the Nobel Peace Prize some time ago, and the scientific community thinks about the social entrepreneurship more seriously than ever before. Yet many both inside the social entrepreneur community as well as outside tend not to see what social entrepreneurship is and more importantly why we so desperately need it.

Why business models are critical to innovation in emerging economies – From social entrepreneurship to building an idea or a business – Part 1

Emerging economies represent new challenges for ideas and businesses, which is why new social entrepreneurship opportunities are now the Petri-dish for what is emerging. Some examples exist of great reference;

From a recent Fortune magazine that I read that most companies in S&P have been rated as risky. This represents a huge challenge for companies as new emerging economies such as India, China or other countries mean new business models which have to be sustainable and scalable and I do not think that there are in most text books or case studies of today.

As part of my research as Google sponsored fellow at the Reuters Digital Vision Program, I developed a series of visual representations of processes, frameworks and ecosystems supporting the Knowledge Society and Human Development through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT4Dev).

I attended the Where 2.0 conference earlier this week. The topic as to address the new GeoWeb, which in short is simply mashup of content based on location. The conference highlighted strategies and different applications in this very interesting field. My thoughts and reflections on the conference are:

Penetration of ICT in Rural Communities

If we build cool and cheap devices would rural communities use them? Would US$100 laptop make a difference in their lives? Can we increase the usage of computers in rural societies from nearly zero to over 50% in the coming 10 years? These are some of the questions being pondered by the world leaders and technologists.

Last week I attended a TIE event titled “Next Generation Outsourcing And Coming Wave in India”. The panelists included Pramod Haque of Norwest Venture Partners, John Hagel, author and “business guru” and S. Ramadorai, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services – India’s highest valued and largest services Company.