We are now accepting applications for the 2005-06. For this academic year the Digital Vision Program will focus on applicants whose work is in the following broad categories:

• Micro-finance, remittance, and alternative currency software
• Low cost Internet connectivity networks, devices and interfaces
• Rural telemedicine networks, equipment, and health services
• Community-building “social” software and learning tools

The application deadline is Tuesday, March 15, 2005. Please visit the Become a Fellow section for additional details.

Digital Vision Scholarships

We are pleased to offer six Digital Vision Scholarships for 2005-06, courtesy of the Reuters Foundation, the Google Corporation and the Advanced Micro Devices Corporation.  Digital Vision Scholarships help defray the living expenses for the duration of the 9-month program. They are awarded in addition to the Stanford University Fellowship funded by the Reuters Foundation. Recipients are from developing world countries. For eligibility requirements see the Become a Fellow section.

Twenty-Five Global Innovators Recognized for Work to Use Technology for the Benefit of Humanity

SAN JOSE, California, USA, November 16, 2004 – NetHope, an information technology consortium of fifteen of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations, was one of several organizations honored by The Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity on November 10, 2004. NetHope received the Agilent Equality Award for their use of technology to benefit mankind.

“This award recognizes the impact computers and communications can have in making a significant difference on relief, development and environmental efforts of humanitarian organizations,” said Dipak Basu, Executive Director of NetHope and a Cisco Systems Leadership Fellow. “Our passion is to accelerate and scale the adoption of information technology for humanity, which in turn helps tens of thousands of aid workers in the developing world, and to serve hundreds of thousands if not millions of their beneficiaries.”

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Arriving at Stanford in the fall of 2003, Joe McCannon took on a daunting challenge: devising a way to connect the care providers treating millions of HIV/AIDS patients in sub-Saharan Africa.

Undeterred by the region’s limited infrastructure, he started out with an ambitious idea driven by cutting-edge technology. When this proved impractical, however, he stepped back and realized that a relatively low-tech approach might actually address the problem more effectively after all.

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Heather Ford came to the Digital Vision Program with a bold vision of how information technology tools might be employed to help end the recurring conflicts in Africa’s Great Lakes region.

However, not long after beginning the program, she changed tack dramatically and began working on issues of intellectual property and copyright law. Though these fields may seem quite different, Heather maintains that her final project was simply a more effective way of working towards fulfilling her original goal.

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As one of Paypal’s founding employees, Sanjay Bhargava knows how much people appreciate fair, secure transactions. During his 2002-2003 fellowship year with Stanford’s Digital Vision Program, Sanjay tackled trade again. But this time, instead of streamlining payments for online retailers, Sanjay wanted to create a Community Friendly Movement (CFM) that would be as profitable for the developing world’s artisans and their communities as it was for entrepreneurs.

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By Kendall Madden
The Stanford Daily

A patient walks into a clinic in a rural town in India, talks to a doctor, receives a diagnosis and a prescription, and leaves the office. Sounds like a normal visit to the doctor, doesn’t it? Except in this case, the doctor is thousands of miles away and conversed with the patient via video camera.

Impossible? Don’t tell that to Stanford doctors.

Rather than traveling around the world to visit patients, American and Indian doctors are hoping to revolutionize medicine in rural areas with a package of technologies known as telemedicine, through which patients correspond with a doctor through videoconferencing, audio communication technology and e-mail.

Doctors are in desperate need in rural areas around the world. In many developing countries, the idea of an accessible general practice doctor is dream — a specialist is even less likely. In rural India, for example, there is one doctor on average for every 15,500 people. Specialists are only found in the metropolitan areas that are not accessible for the majority of the rural population.

Many enterprises are springing up on the basis of new telemedicine technology to alleviate the scarcity of doctors and specialists in these other areas of the world.

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Shuji Yamaguchi came to the Digital Vision Program with an innovative plan to lower the language barriers dividing humanitarian workers around the globe. He soon changed focus, however, as he discovered that a lack of access to news reports was a far more pressing need for his constituents. But rather than derail his vision, this realization actually served to expand his notion of how he might help aid workers overcome linguistic hurdles in the future.

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9/29/04: Syed Shariq, the Co-chair of the Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory at Stanford, spoke to the fellows about using narratives to understand the mission of a social entrepreneur.

We will start accepting applications for the 2005-06 academic year in
December 2004. You can be kept informed about the application process by
subscribing to the
RDVP-UPDATES Mailing List.

Pingali Rajeswari’s 2001-2002 project, the Digital Dirtbike (or “Computers-on-Wheels for People-Centered Development”), designed and executed by Whipsaw, Inc., was awarded bronze in the 2004 IDEA competition. According to Kristina Goodrich, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Industrial Designers Society of America, “the Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is the world’s most prestigious and coveted design accolade.”

Njideka Ugwuegbu Harry knows a simple, timeless truth. No matter how much success Nigerians have when leaving rural homes for cities or even for other countries, they’ll still long to stay connected to family and friends back home. Her SpokesYouth project will make it easier to establish these connections –along the way empowering youth in rural Nigeria to gain valuable technology skills.

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After 15 years programming applications for Palo Alto-based Reuters Innovation Studios, Steve Wilhelm happened to visit a Stanford graduate course that broadened his horizons all the way to Cape Town, South Africa. The course, taught by Stanford Communications Professor Clifford Naas, charged students with creating culturally appropriate products for developing countries. Inspired, Steve applied to the Digital Vision Program and was soon dreaming up a project of his own.

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9/14-15/04: Fellows spent two days with the innovation gurus at IDEO in Palo Alto, exercising their fieldwork, brainstorming, and prototyping skills.

The 2004-2005 class of fellows has arrived at Stanford. Learn more about the new fellows and their projects.

Khalid Quadir’s computer programming skills and understanding of building dynamic databases are minimal, but that didn’t stop him from using those concepts to solve the problem of public access to documents in developing countries.

“Government documents and business documents are difficult to access even for urban dwellers. In the developing world, people have to wait in a long line for a simple application,” said the Bangladesh native.

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By G. Pascal Zachary
Business 2.0

Let’s say a Kenyan immigrant living in the United States wants to surprise his folks 8,000 miles away in Nairobi with something special for the holidays. Cash? That’s easy, but a pretty cold way to say “I miss you.” Store-bought gifts? No surprise there. Hey, how about a 150-lb. sacrificial mbuzi — a live goat? After all, a goat is the ultimate symbol of respect in the Kenyan culture. Just one can feed an extended family, even a small village. His parents can be proud — and enjoy a feast.

But where does a smart shopper go to find just the right goat? Neiman Marcus? The local Piggly Wiggly? Nope, no U.S. company — not even eBay — is set up to ship live goats from one continent to another. No, for quality goats and no shipping costs, go to Mamamikes.com, the website of a three-year-old Nairobi-based service. Place your order, pay by credit card, and the folks back home receive a phone message that their voucher is ready to be picked up at Mama Mikes’s office and redeemed at a local Nairobi farm. The delighted recipient can have a prime mbuzi home the next day.

Economists and entrepreneurs aren’t really in the market for goats — what intrigues them is Mama Mikes’s clever voucher system. The company markets vouchers for everything from groceries and roses to gasoline and doctor’s appointments.

These seemingly unremarkable purchases could soon make remarkable inroads in a giant global market: One in nine U.S. residents were born outside the country, and according to the World Bank, they send home more than $31 billion annually in cash and products. Banks and transfer agents such as Western Union and MoneyGram charge commissions of 10 to 20 percent on cash transactions. But Mama Mikes charges simple flat fees — $4.99 or $9.99 — on purchases of any size. That creates plenty of incentive for emigres to buy goods and services rather than send home cash.

American companies have so far left this emerging field to foreigners. A service similar to Mama Mikes caters to Nepalese living in the United States. Another concentrates on Ethiopians. But Americans are bound to pick up on the trend. “Won’t Western Union have to deliver goods to Africa someday?” asks Kuria Githiora, a teacher in Michigan who hails from Kenya and spends about $500 a year with Mama Mikes. Western Union — with 188,000 outlets aound the world — says it’s watching this new market evolve. But at $99 per mbuzi, maybe not for long.

By Jessica Wang
The Stanford Daily

Mexico’s Institute for Telecommunications (INTTELMEX) will sponsor two scholarships for the next school year. These scholarships will allow two technological professionals from a Latin American country to take part in Stanford’s Digital Vision Fellowships.

Stuart Gannes, director of the Digital Vision Fellowship Program, said that the new scholarships will provide the financial resources necessary for applicants from Latin America to participate in the program.

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2/26/04: Dan Schwartz of the Stanford University School of Education.

2/24/04: Paul Rankin, Researcher Fellow of Philips Research Laboratories and 2002-2003 Digital Vision Fellow.

2/17/04: Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of Global Fund for Women.