Intel, Grameen Announce Joint Business Venture to Fuel Social and Economic Development Opportunities Empowered by Technology
Citing Public-Private Collaborations as Crucial to Achieving
Scalable Impact in Developing Countries, Intel Chairman Unveils
Collaboration with NetHope during WCIT 2008 Keynote
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--(Business Wire)--
Addressing the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT)
2008, Intel Corporation Chairman Craig Barrett announced that Intel
Capital and Grameen Trust will form a business venture dedicated to
social and economic development. Also during his opening-day keynote,
Barrett announced collaboration with NetHope and demonstrated a new
Aid Station device designed to support non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) in their health care, disaster relief and economic growth
efforts.
The joint venture aims to bring about self-sustaining solutions
based on information and communications technology (ICT) to help
empower the world's impoverished citizens. The initiative, which will
be launched in Bangladesh, is based on the "social business" model
created by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who founded
Grameen Bank in 1976 to promote microfinancing and community
development.
"Technology offers the means for scaling up our efforts toward
global change and progress," said Barrett, who also chairs the United
Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID). "By
creating new business models based on ICT, as Intel is doing today
with Grameen, we can bring people the tools they need to improve their
future."
"I am very happy to collaborate with Intel in this new direction
and create opportunities for poor people to rise above social and
economic barriers," said Yunus, author of the best-selling book,
"Creating a World Without Poverty." "I believe technology-based
services will provide the 'hand up' that people need to discover their
full potential. Once we show that this business model works in
Bangladesh, we hope the successes we achieve there can be applied to
the rest of the developing world."
The Grameen-Intel joint venture combines Intel's technology
innovation and Grameen's extensive experience in creating economic
development and income-generation opportunities at the village level.
The new company will use a private sector-based approach to address
social and economic problems such as poverty, health care and
education in developing countries.
Intel and Grameen foresee a number of ICT-based services and
entrepreneurship opportunities growing out of such a business model.
Examples include remote villagers receiving medical attention through
Internet connectivity, rural communities being able to order medicine
locally instead of having to walk 10 miles to a hospital, and families
being notified of monies received from relatives abroad.
New Collaborations with NGOs
Barrett, in chairing a meeting of the Steering Committee and
Strategy Council for UN GAID in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, stressed that
public-private collaborations are pivotal in achieving the world's
goals for developing countries in the coming decade. He cited the
global reach and resources of NGOs as a key way to make inroads on
social and economic problems.
Intel has teamed up with NetHope, a new-generation collaborative
consortium made up of chief information officers, senior program
managers and technical experts from 22 of the largest international
NGOs, to develop ICT solutions in support of the member NGOs' health
care, economic development, and disaster relief programs. The ICT
solutions deployed will include the Intel-powered Aid Station PC
demonstrated for the first time during today's keynote. The Aid
Station is a rugged, purpose-built, low-cost technology platform
suitable for use in harsh, remote locations.
"Our members all face similar challenges in developing and
delivering ICT solutions that will work in the toughest environments
around the world," said Bill Brindley CEO of NetHope. "The Aid Station
PC offers the potential to deliver huge benefits to the people in the
developing world, including frontline aid workers. We're pleased to be
collaborating with Intel on the design and the development of
solutions that can stand up to the often extreme conditions our
members face."
Intel also signed an agreement with Racing the Planet, an
organizer of sports events in extreme conditions, to test the Aid
Station device during athletic contests in some of the driest,
hottest, coldest and windiest locations on Earth.
Earlier in his Southeast Asia trip, Barrett visited Indonesia and
Penang, Malaysia, for a firsthand look at how digital inclusion
programs are taking root and creating life-changing opportunities.
Barrett is visiting the region in his role as chairman of UN GAID and
to experience up close the progress made by the Intel World Ahead
Program, Intel's global initiatives to improve education, health care,
entrepreneurship and government services by accelerating access to
computers, connectivity and localized Internet content. Additional
information about the Intel World Ahead Program, a US$1 billion,
5-year initiative, is available at www.intel.com/changingtheworld and
www.intel.com/intel/worldahead/index.htm.
About Intel
Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops
technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how
people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available
at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in
the United States and other countries.
-- Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of
others.
Intel Corporation
Nick Jacobs, +65 6213 1294
nick.jacobs@intel.com
Agnes Kwan, +1-408-765-5714
agnes.ck.kwan@intel.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
