Over the past decade, numerous technological advancements have shaped our world transforming how citizens interact with their government, consumers interact with businesses, and youth chart a pathway towards economic success. At the very ethos of technology is Moore’s law, which holds that data capacity doubles every 18 months. This is certainly true for the microchips that enable mobile phones to be ‘smarter,’ cheaper and more widely available than ever before. With global population hitting over seven billion people, our interconnectedness makes the world much smaller place, yet makes global problems can appear more intractable.
This week leaders from around the globe representing businesses, civil society, scientific and academic institutions and more than 40 governments will meet at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting to talk about how we, as a world community, can work together to tackle major global challenges in job creation, globalization and power shifts (per the WEF website).
The meeting’s theme is “The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models.” NetHope knows the impact possible through implementing unique funding models and harnessing technology’s power in the developing world. NetHope works as a catalyst for collaboration among 34 of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam, CARE, the Red Cross, Plan, World Vision, Habitat for Humanity, Mercy Corps and The Nature Conservancy. Through public-private partnerships and harnessing the human, social and financial capital of today’s technology leaders, NetHope helps make donor dollars and in-kind product donations reach more beneficiaries - creating a bigger impact than possible with a stand-alone donation.
From my position as NetHope’s CEO I’ve seen first hand how technology’s role has grown in the private and public sectors and I expect that transformation to continue intensifying in 2012. With that trend in mind, I see mobile money, developing the next generation of IT professionals and increasing access to cloud-based services as the driving forces and what will shape NetHope’s model for this year.
Over the next three days, I'll be sharing the three technology trends that I believe will help to shape a bright global future. Share your thoughts and predictions on Twitter by @NetHope_Org and adding the #WEF hashtag.
