ICT4D @ MIT

ICT4D @ MIT

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Spring 2009 top
Zaca - Mobile rural market prices platform for empowering farmers

Mobile Rural Market Prices
For farmers among the rural poor, the difference between a little food on the table or none at all can depend on the the mercies of weather, the whims of a middleman, and the uncertainties of the market. zaca is a mobile-based technology that seeks to improve rural livelihoods by providing a platform for resource-strapped farmers to 1) aggregate produce information and 2) query current and historical market price of produce. By making this information accessible via widely available SMS technology, data transparency is imposed on the market, curtailing the opportunities for farmers to be exploited. The project has been baptised 'zaca' in tribute to the locale of our first deployment, the state of Zacatecas, in northern Mexico.


Zaca Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
Moca - Internationally recognized open-source mobile care platform

Mobile Diagnostics (Moca)
One of the most significant problems facing developing nations today is a lack of expert medical care. Moca puts expert medical care just a touch away. Moca is a non-profit organization that offers a simple-to-use intelligent agent for rural health workers that enables integration with any portable medical device, and seamlessly connects health workers to remote medical professionals. When strong connectivity is not available, Moca solves the problem of queuing, and provides an on-phone intelligent decision support and training system for the isolated health care worker. Moca has partnered with six universities across Southeast Asia to implement our system, and GE and McKesson are actively interested in using our technology. A pilot study is scheduled for June 2009 in Capiz, Philippines. The Filipino government is considering legislation to finance Moca deployment across the Philippines as their primary telemedicine solution. Moca will enter Africa after penetrating Southeast Asia as the champion telemedicine system.

 


Moca Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
CiviRep - Mobile citizen crime reporting through mapped crowdsourcing

Mobile Citizen Reporting (CiviRep)
CiviRep will allow citizens to report crimes via SMS and maps this information to provide customized reports for the government and client organizations. This enables faster and smarter feedback mechanisms for more informed decision-making in rapid response situations. This technology allows for the development of risk mitigation and management strategies, as well as message broadcasting to citizens and agents. 'Civirep' intends to provide a 'voice' to citizens and empower them with the freedom to speak out against violence.


CiviRep Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
Hammock - Mobile logistics management for reducing supply chain friction in developing countries

Mobile Logistics Management (Hammock)
MIT$100K BPC Semifinalist
Hammock provides mobile logistics management solutions to support users allowing them to relax in the comfort provided by our form fitting product solutions. The Hammock mobile service optimizes the dispatch and delivery process of goods particularly in developing countries through improved efficiency in planning, delivery to shipper pairing, and shipment tracking using low cost, cell phone-based solutions.

Hammock Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
Celedu - Mobile gaming for literacy in Indian rural villages

Mobile Literacy (Celedu: Cellular+Education)
Celedu aims to help the next billion people at the bottom of the pyramid by increasing their living standards through education and literacy. Our mission is to provide a mobile platform for literacy and language education through a game interface to distribute our project partner's, ReadingWise/DevAlt, language-learning content while scalable platform to other educational applications. Celedu is deploying its service to rural villages in the developing world starting in India, leveraging a community-learning model to maximize learning potential.

Celedu Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
Dinube - Mobile cloud banking for the unbanked

Mobile cloud banking for the unbanked
MIT$100K BPC Runner Up, Mobile Track
Mobile payments have been identified by many as the way to bring services to the unbanked in emerging economies. In addition to the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced projects to bring mobile payments and banking to poorer regions across the globe. Most recently, the Inter-American Development Bank also said it will support the development and implementation of mobile-banking systems for unbanked people in Latin America.
DINUBE is a mobile-enabled, cloud-based payment and transaction platform targeted at the under-banked population that is fully interoperable with network carriers and financial institutions.
DINUBE will make money - and an impact.

Dinube Team Video Spring 2009 from nextlab on Vimeo.
n3eight@MIT - Building a next generation mobile technologies incubator for bottom up development

n3eight@MIT
The goal of n3eight team is to establish a world-class mobile technology incubator at MIT, that would enable students to create self-sustaining ventures that would address real-world problems in the developing world. The n3eight solution will provide a user-friendly web-based platform that would address the needs of our key stakeholders, project partners, students, academia and the nextlab staff by 1- Enabling the project management process for all nextlab projects, starting from submission by partners to their respective completion, 2- Establishing a self-sustaining business model that would bring project partners and other industry leaders together to contribute towards successful deployment and venture creation of viable technologies.

 
Fall 2008 top
Giving Farmers a Fighting Chance

Giving Farmers a Fighting Chance (ITESM Zacatecas, Mexico)
The Farmers team uses peer-to-peer mobile technologies (cell phones) - easily adopted, understood, replicated, and maintained - in a rural area in Zacatecas, Mexico. The project will enable farmers to communicate and collaborate so that farmers, instead of middlemen, can determine fair prices for their crops and ensure a marginally better economic.

 

 

 

Fighting Farmers final video Fall 2008 from nextlab on Vimeo

 
Multilevel Marketing for Microfinance

Multilevel Marketing for Microfinance (COBIS, Ecuador)
The project team introduces a multi-level-marketing scheme linked to a network of mobile phones in Ecuador. Basically, in MLM, a borrower can act as a "micro-agent" and search for other potential clients. Each micro-agent receives commission based on the loans that are materialized through them, as well as for those that happen through any other micro-agent they recruited. Together with a new streamlined loan application process, inviting commission scheme and solid infrastructure, the project is expected to revolutionize the microfinance service in Ecuador.

 

 
M-commerce Interface

M-commerce (United Villages, India)
M-commerce is a self-sustaining mobile commerce system in India. The system empowers the poor and illiterate to make informed decisions about purchasing daily necessities, and also enables "Bandhus" and villagers to browse and order goods using mobile phones.

 


M-commerce Website
Mobile Diagnostics for Cervical Cancer

Mobile Diagnostics for Cervical Cancer (CIDRZ, Zambia)
The Mobile Diagnostics team collaborates with Centers for E-Health and Tele-Medicine in Southeast Asia and develops a mobile-linked web application that will allow doctors to diagnose and recommend treatment for remote patients remotely via images. The MoCa Dispatch Server, a plugin of OpenMRS, is developed to handle the communication between mobile phone and OpenMRS server.

 

 




Mobile Diagnostics for Cervical Cancer Website

 
Mobile Social Network for Students in Low-income Communities

Mobile Social Network for Students in Low-income Communities (Telmex, Mexico)
The Fellows Forum is a project that, partnered with the Telmex Foundation, will connect fellows in Mexico to allow them to share their ideas and become influenced by one another.

 

 



Mobile Social Network for Students in Low-income Communities Website

 
Disaster Management

Disaster Management (CRS, India)
Disaster Management is a mobile communication platform that supports bi-directional broadcasting and data collection. The platform will be used in India for disaster monitoring and in Vietnam for environment sensing. Unlike existing mobile systems that are proprietary or custom-developed, Disaster Management creates a general, open toolset that can be leveraged across various scenarios from disaster management to environmental conservation in remote locations.

 

 

 

Disaster Management Overview from Disaster Management on Vimeo.

 

 
Thrive in Five - Baby Blog

Thrive in Five - Baby Blog (Mayor’s Office, Boston)
The Boston Baby Blog is a joint venture with the Boston's Mayor's office aimed at supporting school readiness in children between the ages of 0 to 5. The Boston Baby Blog will communicate with parents via SMS messaging to keep them informed and involved in their child's health and development.

 

 

 

Baby Blog Final from Javier Smith on Vimeo.


Thrive in Five - Baby Blog Website

 
Spring 2008 top
Assured Labor - Making labor markets more efficient

Making labor markets more efficient (with Assured Labor, Brazil)
Final Presentation Streaming Video
Assured Labor seeks to improve the lives of workers in developing countries by using mobile phones to match dependable workers with honest employers in Brazil. Assured Labor released its first beta on July 2008. Learn more.

 

 
Mosoko - Buying and selling on your handset
 

Mosoko: Buying and selling on your handset (with Nokia, Kenya)

Final Presentation Streaming Video
Mosoko is trying to develop a Craigslist for the bottom billion using mobile phones in Kenya. In collaboration with Nokia. Learn more.
Smart Microloans - Making microloans smarter
 

Making microloans smarter (with India School Fund, India)

Final Presentation Streaming Video
Smart Microloans is a project to provide an ICT solution for consumers of micro loans in the village of Rajugela, India. Learn more.

 
CIDRZ - Mobile cervical cancer detection

 

Mobile cervical cancer detection (with Dimagi and CIDRZ, Zambia)
Final Presentation Streaming Video
Cell phone-based tool to help nurses with cervical cancer screening in Zambia. In collaboration with Dimagi in Cambridge and the Center for Infectious Diseases in Zambia. Learn more.
IRD/Path - Fighting pneumonia with smart bracelets

Fighting pneumonia with smart bracelets (with IRD, Pakistan)

Final Presentation Streaming Video
IRD/Path is an RFID-based tool that uses mobile phones to track pneumonia patients in Pakistan. Learn more.
BeeHive School - Knowledge in a box for remote areas

K-Box: Knowledge in a box for remote areas (with Beehive School, Malawi)
Final Presentation Streaming Video
KBox at Beehive gives offline access to valuable educational web resources to a school in Malawi with no Internet connectivity by storing educational content on an Edubuntu machine. Learn more.
CRS - Mobile Disaster Management

Mobile disaster management technologies (with Catholic Relief Services, India)

Final Presentation Streaming Video
Disaster management is a tool that helps relief workers in India. In partnership with CRS India, a local NGO. Learn more.
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FreePress - Using mobiles for citizen journalism

Using mobiles for citizen journalism (with HananTek, Bolivia)

Final Presentation Streaming Video
FreePress in collaboration with HannaTek, seeks to provide a method for citizens with oppressive governments involved in media censorship to provide breaking news. Learn more.