Inspiring Amputees ~ MSF Action in Jordan...

MSF works in Jordan on seriously injured Syrian refugees. Here's a snippet of their work... Now the key additional thing is to ensure affordable quality prostheses are, in fact, accessible to those Syrian amputees, otherwise this was not inspiration but cruelty.

Punchcard Chemistry ~ Prakash's Cheap Fluidikit

Media Lab alum, now Stanford bioengineer Manu Prakash (of FoldScope fame) and team win the Science Play and Research Kit Competition (SPARK) for their ultra-affordable punchcard-programmable chemistry fluidic kits! Thanks to Medgadget for spotting!

FoldScope ~ Ultra-Affordable Bio-Diagnostic Tool!

Wired's Greg Miller spots Manu Prakash's paper FoldScopes! Plus here's Manu's TED talk...

Vision Quest ~ Al Jaz on India's Aravind Eyecare

Al Jazeera's 101 East spotlights Vision Quest, a documentary on India's Aravind Eye Care System...

"Founded in 1976, surgeons working for Aravind are among the most productive in the world, with fewer complications than British doctors. But what is truly astonishing about Aravind is that nearly half of the 300,000 procedures it conducts every year are free. Aravind treats everyone from presidents to paupers, regardless of what they can pay."

Frugal Innovation ~ Emerging Market Leadership

The Economist's Schumpeter reviews two new books on frugal innovation...

"Reverse Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, and Jugaad Innovation by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja [...] show that frugal innovation is flourishing across the emerging world. [...] Entrepreneurs everywhere are seizing on the idea of radical cost-cutting. [...] Globalisation is forcing Western firms to provide more value for money. [...] standing still is not an option. Whether or not Western firms sell frugal products in the West, Asian firms will. [...] Some Western companies are turning to emerging markets first to develop their products."

Exactly why we run our D-Lab Development Ventures class at MIT.

The Mobile Web ~ Affordable Text+Voice Internet

White African spotlights very nice piece by Dunia Media on the mobile web revolution...

"...this video showcases iCow and M-Farm, both providing agricultural data to farmers, not in a browser, but as text or voice messages. One could think the title to be a tad misleading, as the “mobile web” term is largely applied to web interaction on a browser on a phone. What I like about this take though is this; the internet allows for a paradigm that doesn’t care what device you have, whether PC or phone, as long as you have a database and a channel you’re in the game. [These] challenge Western conceptions of what the internet is."

Micro-Units ~ Small Places in Boston Inno District

Casey Ross writes in the Globe that Boston Mayor Menino pushes micro-units to lure young to Waterfront...

"...tiny apartments that are a staple of New York City may soon be more available in Boston. Mayor Thomas M. Menino is pushing developers to build units as small as 375 square feet -- barely enough to squeeze in a bed, bathroom, and galley kitchen. The administration is promoting the idea in the Innovation District on the South Boston Waterfront, where construction is expected to begin in coming months on scores of micro-apartments. Beyond convenience, the chief attraction will be price [...] small units are meant to cater to a distinctly urban lifestyle, with the apartments used for little more than sleeping. Residents could entertain in lounges and work areas incorporated into the buildings, or at the many restaurants and bars expected to open along nearby streets. For transportation, residents can rent Zipcars, use public transit, or ride bicycles. [...] The apartments’ layouts and sizes would vary, but the unifying trait would be extreme efficiency with space. Many would employ fold-out couches or Murphy beds and kitchen countertops that double as tables or desks. Draft plans for 400- to 550-square-foot units designed by the architecture firm ADD Inc. show compact bathrooms and kitchens around an open room that could double as a living room and bedroom, or be divided with a sliding door. ADD is working on several projects on the waterfront that will include dozens of similar-size units."

Hiware Bazar ~ Village with Savvy Waterworks...

Thanks to Rupreet Soni for spotting the story of Hiware Bazar...

"Lying in one of the worst drought-prone regions of India, the village of Hiware Bazar battled many decades of sparse rain and failed crops. However, 20 years ago, the entire village came together to script a silent revolution by designing a rainwater-harvesting model that saved every drop of the scanty rain they received. Today, the village is literally an oasis in the middle of the desert, boasting of bumper harvests, dairy co-operatives, millionaire families and visionary farmers. Hiware Bazar still receives the scanty amount of rainfall it used to in the heart of its most trying years, but what has changed is the way it has managed its water and created a miracle with this most precious liquid resource!"

Printennas ~ Cheap Wireless Energy Scavengers

Thanks to Vitor Pamplona for spotting Rebecca Boyle's PopSci article on New Printable Antenna Can Harvest Ambient Energy To Power Small Electronics w/ photos by Gary Meek...

"A new ultra-wideband antenna printed on paper or plastic can harvest ambient energy, enabling wireless sensors to tap into electromagnetic currents in the air around them. The device captures energy from a wide spectrum of frequencies, converts it to direct current, and stores it in capacitors or batteries. Researchers at Georgia Tech scavenged sufficient microwatts to power a temperature sensor, using the ambient energy produced by a television station signal that was a third of a mile away. More powerful systems that tap into multiple wireless bands could generate one milliwatt or more -- enough to power small wireless sensors and microprocessors. Researchers hope that when it’s combined with advanced capacitor technology, the device could provide up to 50 milliwatts. [Here] Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris displays an inkjet-printed rectifying antenna used to convert microwave energy to DC power. This grid was printed on flexible Kapton material and is expected to operate with frequencies as high as 10 gigahertz when complete..."

Robo Sushi ~ Japan's Kura Restaurant Chain...

Hiroko Tabuchi writes in the NYTimes about Kura restaurants, For Sushi Chain, Conveyor Belts Carry Profit...

"Efficiency is paramount at Kura: absent are the traditional sushi chefs and their painstaking attention to detail. In their place are sushi-making robots and an emphasis on efficiency. Absent, too, are flocks of waiters. They have been largely replaced by conveyors belts that carry sushi to diners and remote managers who monitor Kura’s 262 restaurants from three control centers across Japan. [...] Instead of placing supervisors at each restaurant, Kura set up central control centers with video links to the stores. At these centers, a small group of managers watch for everything from wayward tuna slices to outdated posters on restaurant walls. [...] Each Kura store is also highly automated. Diners use a touch panel to order soup and other side dishes, which are delivered to tables on special express conveyor belts. In the kitchen, a robot busily makes the rice morsels for a server to top with cuts of fish that have been shipped from a central processing plant, where workers are trained to slice tuna and mackerel accurately down to the gram. Diners are asked to slide finished plates into a tableside bay, where they are automatically counted to calculate the bill, doused in cleaning fluid and flushed back to the kitchen on a stream of water. Matrix codes on the backs of plates keep track of how long a sushi portion has been circulating on conveyor belts; a small robotic arm disposes of any that have been out too long. Kura spends 10 million yen to fit each new restaurant with the latest automation systems, an investment it says pays off in labor cost savings. In all, just six servers and a minimal kitchen staff can service a restaurant seating 196 people, said a company spokesman, Takeshi Hattori. “Its not just about efficiency,” Mr. Hattori said. “Diners love it too. For example, women say they like clearing finished plates right away, so others can’t see how much they’ve eaten.”

P.S. Here's latest update with tablet to order and on-demand robo-delivery of custom dishes...

Off-Grid Africa ~ Sustainable Energy Solutions...

Elisabeth Rosenthal's piece African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power, in the NYTimes Beyond Fossil Fuels series, spotlights the emergence of sustainable solar and other energy solutions to bring first light to those previously living without electricity...

"As small-scale renewable energy becomes cheaper, more reliable and more efficient, it is providing the first drops of modern power to people who live far from slow-growing electricity grids and fuel pipelines in developing countries. Although dwarfed by the big renewable energy projects that many industrialized countries are embracing to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, these tiny systems are playing an epic, transformative role. Since Ms. Ruto [in Kiptusuri, Kenya] hooked up the system, her teenagers’ grades have improved because they have light for studying. The toddlers no longer risk burns from the smoky kerosene lamp. And each month, she saves $15 in kerosene and battery costs -- and the $20 she used to spend on travel. In fact, neighbors now pay her 20 cents to charge their phones, although that business may soon evaporate: 63 families in Kiptusuri have recently installed their own solar power systems."

And more solutions are emerging. Be sure to check out our MIT alumco's addressing this opportunity, including Global Cycle Solutions, EGG Energy, STG International, Sanergy, and SULICO. And see the accompanying NYTimes Power off the Grid videoreport...

Wildlife Conservation ~ Vital Viable Role Models

The Economist concentrates in the latest issue on Horns, claws and the bottom line...

"Governments have mostly failed to protect Africa’s wildlife. But other models -- involving hunters, rich conservationists and local farmers -- are showing promise."

This is a fascinating domain where public-private partnerships matter, independent NGO's have big influence, and economic and entrepreneurial thinking can really make a difference.

Making Do ~ Kenya's "Informal" Innovators!

Interesting to read posts about Making Do, a new book by Steve Daniels on innovation in Kenya's informal sector...

"In Kenya, engineers in the informal economy are known as jua kali, Swahili for “hot sun,” because they toil each day under intense heat and with limited resources. But despite these conditions, or in fact because of them, the jua kali continuously demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness in solving problems. [...] Daniels illuminates the dynamics of the sector to enhance our understanding of African systems of innovation. The result of years of research and months of fieldwork, this study examines how the jua kali design, build, and manage through theoretical discussions, visualizations of data, and stories of successful and struggling entrepreneurs."

Book release is at MakerFaireAfrica later this month, appropriately enough;-)

Growing Income ~ Polak Spots Veronica & IDE

IDE and D-Rev founder Paul Polak points out the power of growing incomes and spotlights Zambian farmer Veronica Sianchenga and her experience. Watch here as she...

"...reviews her 2009 growing season from her farm in Kabuyu Village, 50 kilometers north of Livingstone, Zambia. She grows several types of high value vegetable crops using IDE's "Mosi-o-Tunya" Pressure Pump and furrowing to irrigate her fields. Veronica is a member of the Mukamba Cooperative, and is looking forward to new market links facilitated by IDE in 2010 to supply hotels and catering firms in Lusaka and Livingstone."

Click Botswana ~ Telederm Mobile Diagnostics

MIT Development Ventures alumco Click Diagnostics co-founder Ting Shih is preparing for the AIDS 2010 Conference in Vienna Austria and forwards this video about their Botswana efforts...

ProInfo ~ Brazil's School PC+Projector Combo

Thanks to new MIT Sloan Fellow Ricardo Teixeira for pointing out the Brazilian CERTI-designed ProInfo video projector with built-in Linux PC, Ethernet and WiFi connectivity. Here's a translated version of the Gizmodo article about it. The challenge was to create an easy-to-use, practical, and affordable projector for schools. Check this video of it in-use in Brazil...