- Nelson Mandela

The Next Billion Network is an open initiative that seeks the involvement of a wide array of people and organizations.

Students and developers are a key part of this initiative, as they design and deploy the projects and technologies aimed at the next billion. They participate through the n-Labs Series, or within a team competing in the Next Billion Challenge.

Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are the part of the network enables us to understand grasroots needs and concerns. They bring forth the insights, guidance, and most importantly, the real-world project ideas that we put forth to the students in our lab course series, and that we develop into working prototypes under their on-going feedback. We consider NGOs a prime necessity for succeeding in making our work relevant to the target communities.

Both multinational as well as local corporations in a variety of industries support our efforts, whether it is through direct sponsorship of one or more of the Network's activities, the temporary use of part of their local infrastructure, or with samples of their products or services. We are actively working with various corporate entities to develop tailor-made projects and collaborations that enable them to find opportunities in the next billion market and address their concerns as corporate social responsibility.