1. 0 Extendability in Design Legatum Fellows Seminar Series Jhonatan Rotberg Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division Founder, Director, MIT NextLab Program September 21, 2010

2. 1 The Millenary Problem of World Poverty Extreme poverty across the developing world –the lack of products and services that people need to survive on a daily basis –crippling friction in all daily life: commerce, health, government, education Societies have attempted to solve this problem in very diverse ways, albeit unsuccessfully

3. 2 Humanitys Attempts to Solve It Problem is so intractable, that societies have tried to solve it in great strides, mostly by creating top down socio-economic systems –those were all the tools we had historically; ideas, laws, enforcement Small, bottom up innovations went largely unnoticed –highly localized (not applicable to other environments) –out the radar screen from the rest of humanity –not scalable in a massive way beyond immediate vicinity Recently, weve seen evidence that the new ubiquity of telecommunications has helped reduce this friction, thus denting the problem –by accident, organically, as part of normal capitalist business practices

4. 3 A Substantiated Hope The scalability of ICTs, especially cellphones is helping usher the socio- economic development long sought through other, more grandiose means, according to the World Bank

5. 4 The Promise of Mobile Unparalleled adoption of mobile phones in the last 10 years –the fastest growth of a new technology in history Effect of Moores Law on handsets –lower costs, increased processing Growing footprint of mobile operators –areas of non-coverage are now scarce Behavioral acceptance of these devices –our phone is now our most prized personal item Ease of mobile app development –tools for easier app development, deployment

6. 5 Unprecedented Growth Worldwide Mobile phone adoption has surpassed 4.5 bn cellular connections in the world By year end 2011: 5 bn connections out of 6.8 bn de people on earth. About ¾ of all world population Source: International Telecommunications Union

7. 6 Greatest Growth in the Developing World Demand to hear and be heard in the developing world the single greatest pent- up market force to come into the industry during the last ten years Source: The Economist

8. 7 World Mobile GSM Coverage (Jan 2005) Source: http://www.coveragemaps.com/gsmposter.htm

9. 8 World Mobile GSM Coverage (Jan 2006) Source: http://www.coveragemaps.com/gsmposter.htm

10. 9 World Mobile GSM Coverage (Jan 2007) Source: http://www.coveragemaps.com/gsmposter.htm

11. 10 World Mobile GSM Coverage (Jan 2008) Source: http://www.coveragemaps.com/gsmposter.htm

12. 11 World Mobile GSM Coverage (Jan 2009) Source: http://www.coveragemaps.com/gsmposter.htm

13. 12 Historys Trojan Horse And it scales!

14. 13 Projects of the Next Billion Network Does NOT scale!

15. 14 The Chasm Between Promise and Delivery No funding to get this revolution jump started –governments –NGOs –foundations Commercial companies –few invest LT in innovation for new markets –dont see why they should fund stuff that they pay taxes for the government to do Crossing the chasm between prototypes and implemented technologies –much more is needed than a prototype and boundless energy –real-world infrastructure and corporate goodwill, at a minimum –most projects never have the chance to scale and have real impact Chicken and egg problem –no market/deployments no funds/risk-takers

16. 15 The Need for a New Strategy Conclusion: our only chance is tapping self-interest of commercial companies –universal language: increasing revenues; decreasing costs –understand power of the technology –act faster, more effectively than governments, NGOs, foundations Problem: how to persuade them to fund projects that can jump start the cycle –not a one time shot –not only CSR or PR –see the value for the longer term –realize new BOP markets Design technologies that are as commercially useful to sponsors as they are to humanitarian causes in the developing world

17. 16 Technologies that are Extendable Extendable is a technology provides value to a for-profit company, which can then be used for humanitarian ends without significant additional development –its commercial value proposition is sufficient for funding its design and development by a for profit company –addresses needs for a humanitarian cause, as stated by a specialized organization on-site, working with stakeholders on the ground –architecture is essentially the same for both ends –most changes are in UI, and others can be done without major effort –ideally, its extendable through configuration, not coding

18. 17 Our First Approach Where can mobile tech add significant value given its intrinsic characteristics of portability? –sales force –distribution networks –supply chain What humanitarian problems it could address? –lack of affordable products and services for daily sustenance due to high costs, including promotion and distribution –medicine delivery in rural areas in Africa and elsewhere –coordination of humanitarian relief efforts in disaster areas Pitched the Extendability story to Estafeta –large logistics company in a large emerging market –value proposition is: reduce your costs of distribution with smartphones that are cheaper and do more than your current devices Logistics

19. 18 Questions for Extendability in Design Do we have a Business Case for the technology commercially, in sponsors own operations? How can it be extended to one or more humanitarian scenarios? Do we have a road map of how to get to the commercial technology, and then to the humanitarian technology? Why do this with MIT and not with a software development firm? Who exactly are our humanitarian partners and are they really receptive to this? What is the value for sponsors involvement in humanitarian causes? –PR, branding –CSR –connections in the government –greater good will in its existing markets

20. 19 Three Way Collaboration Academia Industry Humanitarian Organization

21. 20 Delivered: Extendable Commercial App We now have the prototype of a mobile app that is extendable in any of our three humanitarian scenarios a)Quick source of information Availability and cost of goods and services b)Transactional platform For peer to peer exchange of value, data or presence of package c)Logistics, distribution and promotion Coordination of stakeholders taking package from one point to another Bar CodeGPS TrackingCapture of PODCapture of Images Unidirectional 128 Bidirectional PDF RFID Signature Photo Voice Image Audio Video Custom Interactive At No Cost

22. 21 Sync with Cloud based Platform Individual (voice + data) Market/Private (data) System Enabling (data + process) Source: E. Blanco

23. 22 Alliances with Local Institutions for Humanitarian Weve made alliances to learn the details of humanitarian relief operations to launch this for disaster management in Mexico Weve offered sponsors branding in: –PR Campaign –Promotional Materials –Website of the project –In the mobile app

24. 23 The Challenge Identify commercial candidates that may benefit from an innovative mobile application –a company you know or want to contact –an industry you understand –a part of the operation you know can be improved with mobile innovation Identify which humanitarian partner that commercial company would be interested in extending their technology to –similarity in the functioning of the technology –interest from top management in a given cause or organization –a potential vale, tangible (sales) or intangible (PR), in a current or future market or government agency Ensure that the technology is indeed extendable, both functionally and technically, from one environment to another Ensure that your humanitarian partner will prove to be a reliable receiver and user of the technology

25. 24 Well Help You Succeed We will work closely with you to finalize your value proposition and proposal materials are solid enough to approach commercial enterprises We will structure and enable official MIT Research Consortia based on viable cases of mobile technologies that are Extendable We will structure a year-long NextLab program and will make this a case study at a NextLab class, in order to have a team working on your idea We will help you approach commercial companies to get your idea funded Youll have full access to the NextLab Platform: a Development and Execution Environment for mobile apps We will leverage other NextLab assets We will give you a budget to get this started

26. 25 A Dedicated Academic Program at MIT NextLabs objective is to address global challenges through the development of mobile platforms designed to scale through: a) academia-corporate partnerships b) the creation of new open source initiatives c) the launch of for-profit ventures

27. 26 Program Facts Number of students taught in 3 years: 143 Students from: MIT, Harvard, Tufts (US), ITESM (Mex), UWI (Trinidad) Number of projects engaged: 29 Areas of human need that projects are focused in: –m-health, m-payments, m-jobs, m-education, m-commerce, m- activism, m-logistics, and m-banking Listed/validated in 5 MIT departments: EECS, Sloan, MAS, HST, ESD 3 spinoffs in 3 years: Moca/SANA, IA4CP, Celedu, EmpleoListo & Dinube (with Dev Ventures) – more to come! NextLab is a featured course in MITs Open Courseware

28. 27 Geographical Reach of our Projects Countries in which projects deployed: 12 – Americas: Mexico, Colombia, USA, Brazil/Nicaragua, Ecuador – Asia: India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Philippines – Africa: Zambia, Malawi, Kenya

29. 28 MIT NextLab Program and Deployment Cycle