Technology for Developing Regions: Moore's Law is not Enough
The historic focus of development has rightfully been on macroeconomics and good governance, but technology has an increasingly large role to play. In this talk, I review several novel technologies that we have deployed in India and Africa, and discuss the challenges and opportunities of this new subfield of EECS research. Working with the Aravind Eye Hospital, we are currently supporting doctor / patient video-conferencing in 30+ rural villages; more than 25,000 people have had their blindness cured due to these exams. Although Moore's Law has led to great cost reductions and thus enabled new technologies, we have reached essentially the low point for cost: the computing is essentially free compared to the rest of the system. The premium is thus on a combination of 1) deeper integration (fewer components), 2) shared usage models (even phones are shared), and 3) lower operating costs in terms of power and connectivity.
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