Thought Leadership and Innovation

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Our Thought Leadership & Innovation program produces studies that give governments, civil society groups, and the private sector research and recommendations on how to use technology—especially wireless technology—to effectively address some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Our latest report -- New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks -- looks at innovation in the use of technology along the timeline of crisis response, from emergency preparedness and alerts to recovery and rebuilding. It profiles organizations whose work is advancing the frontlines of innovation, offers an overview of international efforts to increase sophistication in the use of IT and social networks during emergencies, and provides recommendations for how governments, aid groups, and international organizations can leverage this innovation to improve community resilience.

Download the New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks publication

Our fourth report—mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World—examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heathcare initiatives.

Download the mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World publication

The third publication in our series—mHealth for Development: Mobile Communications for Health—outlines the opportunity presented by the growing field of mobile health (mHealth). The 12-page brochure provides a landscape analysis of the rapid adoption of mobile technologies by developing countries to improve health data collection - ultimately precipitating improvements in general health and patient care in some of the most remote and resource-poor regions of the world.

Download the mHealth for Development: Mobile Communications for Health publication

The second publication in our series—Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use—examines innovative uses of mobile technology by groups working to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The report identifies emerging trends in "mobile activism" through 11 case studies in the fields of mobile heathcare, environmental construction, and disaster response. The report also highlights the results of a global survey of NGO usage of mobile technology.

Download the Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use publication

In our first publication, the UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Partnership collaborated with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and South Africa’s Finmark Trust to examine the role of mobile phones in delivering banking services to the poor. The study aims to improve the ability of governments, NGOs and service providers to give poor people access to banking and other financial services needed to relieve poverty, raise standards of living and create economic development.

Download the Mobile Phone Banking and Low-Income Customers study

The UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership periodically hosts events that broaden and deepen the public dialogue about the use of technology to promote social good. Examples include:

mHealth Summit

The United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership and the mHealth Alliance are partnering with the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in organizing their annual mHealth Summit. The inaugural Summit was held October 27-30, 2009, and included a day-long event 'mHealth: From Policy to Implementation' at the World Bank prior to the public two days of discussions. The next Summit, which will continue to advance the dialogue about the use of mHealth to deliver healthcare to underserved populations, will be held November 9-10, 2010. Learn more about this event.

The Technology Salon

The Technology Salon is a monthly, invitation-only event that is designed to facilitate informal, in-person conversations between information and communication technology experts and international development professionals. Technology Salon topics focus on the ability of technology to facilitate international development. Attendance is capped at 15 participants to encourage frank dialogue. The sharing of ideas, opinions, and predictions is actively encouraged through the Chatham House Rule. For more information about past events, click here.

Making the eHealth Connection

With the Rockefeller Foundation, we co-hosted a weeklong discussion of mHealth challenges and opportunities at the conference “Making the eHealth Connection: Global Partners, Local Solutions.” It was designed to develop a roadmap and global partnerships to support emerging digital technologies to improve public health. Twenty-five private sector and public health leaders explored the challenges, opportunities, and way forward in building mHealth systems to improve the access, efficiency, and quality of health services in the developing world. A direct outcome was the formation of the mHealth Alliance. Click here for more information.

STORIES OF IMPACT