The case for technology for developing regions
Eric A. Brewer · 2005
Moore's Law and the wave of technologies it enabled have led to tremendous improvements in productivity and the quality of life in the industrialized world. Yet, technology has had almost no effect on the four billion people that make less US$2000/day. In this talk I argue that the decreasing costs of computing and wireless networking make this the right time to spread the benefits of technology, and that the biggest missing piece is a lack of focus on the problems that matter, including health, education, and government. After covering some example applications that have shown very high impact, I take an early look at the research agenda for developing regions. Finally, I examine some of the pragmatic issues required to make progress on these very challenging problems. My goal is to convince high-tech researchers that technology for developing regions is an important and viable research topic.