BY JENNIFER L. SCHENKER Davos
Last year executives from media, computer and communications companies took time out from their usual deliberations about the global economy to talk about reducing the digital divide between rich and poor. This year, action plans are being put into place. A group of World Economic Forum-designated "Technology Pioneers" are launching an aid program for projects that use technology to improve health, education and economic development in remote or neglected areas. Rather than money, the project — called the Technology Empowerment Network (TEN) — will offer the time, counsel and influence of the tech pioneers — whose members are drawn from some of the most innovative new tech companies.
The Tech Pioneers' TEN project (www.techempower.net) has already gained the support of Internet guru Esther Dyson; Kathy Bushkin, President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation; Yossi Vardi, the original backer of ICQ instant messaging technology and Carlos A. Primo Braga, head of the World Bank's Information for Development program.
During the World Economic Forum TEN will announce that it has designated Greenstar and Schools Online as its first two major projects, according to Ulla Skiden, director of TEN. These two organizations will be "adopted" by TEN and receive intense guidance and support for a full year.
Greenstar (www.greenstar.org) works in isolated rural villages in the developing world, providing basic services such as solar power, health, education, wireless communications and water purification. It also promotes cultural preservation by recording distinctive music, artwork, photography and video for worldwide distribution. Income earned from the sale of this "digital culture" is passed back to the people of the village.
Schools Online (www.schoolsonline.org) provides Internet technology solutions and education resources to underserved communities and works with over 5,000 disadvantaged schools both in the United States — from Native American reservations to inner cities — and internationally in 17 countries in the Middle East,Africa, Europe and South America. To support effective access to Internet resources, Schools Online cooperates with telecom businesses to provide affordable high-speed connections. Students use the latest, easily maintainable technology to work with their peers on real-world collaborative projects, while teachers share their most effective Internet practices. TEN's financial backers include Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Cor Therapeutics, iGate Capital, Sapiens International, Tata Infotech, Abacus Software, Trustworks Systems, Tomorrow Ltd., UTOK and BigButtons. Its advisory board includes Dyson, Vardi and Braga as well as Larry Kirkman, Executive Director of the Benton Foundation; Don Tapscott, chairman of Digital 4Sight; Dr. Hisham EL Sherif, Commissioner of the Steering Committee of Egypt's Global Information Infrastructure Commission and Iqbal Z. Qadir, founder of Grameenphone in Bangladesh.
The World Economic Forum is not involved in the execution of policies or specific projects such as TEN although it encourages them. One of Monday's sessions at the World Economic Forum will look at other concrete measures that can be taken to reduce the digital divide. Participants in the panel discussion include John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems; Toshiba Chairman Taizo Nishimuro; Carly Fiorina, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard; Aboulaye Wage, President of Senegal and Jorge Quiroga, vice-president of Bolivia.
Davos participant Paul Saffo, Director of the Institute for the Future, cautions though that the focus should not be on technology to the exclusion of other, crucial changes that need to be made in the developing world. Otherwise, he said there could be backlash, with the developing world viewing well intentioned efforts by the tech sector as a cynical way for Silicon Valley to enlarge its market.
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