ICT for Sustainable
Development
Carnegie Mellon University
The Bangalore Workshop
January 14-16, 2004
The Imperative




Developing countries are starved of resources
for human development
Developing nations are poor; around 2.5 billion
people earn less than $2 a day
The infrastructure is inadequate or unavailable
Technologies to overcome these deprivations are
often unknown, untested or not deployed in the
developing world
Source: Millennium Development Goals, UN Human
Development Indicators
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
2
ICT as an Enabling Technology

Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) is an all-purpose technology

The growth of ICT technology – bandwidth,
computational speed and storage – is spectacular

Leap-frogging technologies do not demand a
large or preexisting resource base

Successful applications have emerged but
remain largely untapped for sustainable
development
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
3
The Vision

ICT is not the cure-all to the world’s problems

But it can be a powerful tool to facilitate and
enable affordable solutions for


Infrastructure Development

Basic Human Needs and Development

Economic Development

Empowerment
However, appropriate ICT is not yet available for
many Sustainable Development needs
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
4
The Goals of the Bangalore Workshop


A compendium of the R&D agenda—engineering,
economic and social—in ICT for SD
Identification of ICT enabled pilot projects for
demonstration and diffusion by the WB, UN and
the governments



Case exemplars for RD&D (Research, development and
deployment)
Recommendation of the organizational
structures, collaboration options and linkages
between various stakeholders for executing the
R&D agenda
Wide dissemination of the proceedings and
recommendations of the workshop
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
5
The Bangalore Workshop:
ICT and Sustainable Development

To be held in Bangalore, India – January 14-16, 2004

Organized by CMU, IISc and NIAS (India) with NSF,
UN, and World Bank support

Participation by invitation only: Expected to be around
90. Approximately 25 experts from the US (ICT and
ICT/Development), 30 from developing countries, and
35 from multilateral organizations, government
agencies and India
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
6
The Bangalore Workshop
Provisional Agenda (highlights)

January 14th, 2004

0930 – 1045: Inaugural session
• The President of India has been invited to
inaugurate the workshop



1100 – 1230: Keynote lectures by Dr. Nitin
Desai (on WSIS) and Prof. Richard Newton
(on ICT)
1230 – 1400: Lunch
1400 – 1700: Four parallel working groups on
4 major themes (details follow below)
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
7
Provisional Agenda (cont.)

15th January




0930 – 1015: Keynote Address by Prof. Joseph Stiglitz (on
Economics and Development)
1030 – 1230: Working group meetings
1230 – 1400: Lunch – Intervention by Dr. Ronald Lehman
(on Development and Security)
1400 – 1700: Presentations by the 4 Working Groups and
Discussions
• Infrastructure development
• Basic human needs and development
• Economic development
• Alienation, Empowerment, and eGovernance
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
8
Provisional Agenda (cont.)

16th January



930 – 1045: Research Agenda Prioritization and
Discussions
1045 – 1200: Linkages, Partnerships, and Mechanisms
for Implementation

1200 – 1230: Where do we go from here?

1230 – 1240: Closing Remarks
17th January (optional)

Industry and laboratory visits in and around Bangalore

Follow-up meetings on specific action items
There are several additional addresses during the workshop on
select themes and topics, by Prof. Raj Reddy, Prof. V. S.
Arunachalam, Prof. Susana Finquelievich, and others
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
9
4 Themes and Working Groups
• Infrastructure development
• Includes sectors such as water & sanitation, energy and
transportation)*
• Basic human needs and development
• Includes aspects such as healthcare, water, agriculture and basic
education)*
• Economic development
• Includes aspects such as job creation, poverty alleviation, ecommerce, agriculture and higher education)*
• Empowerment
• Includes issues such as alienation, peace, transparency,
democracy, e-governance and gender)*
* Each working group will begin with a brief presentation of the
white paper prepared for that topic. Enabling IC technologies
will be discussed in each group. Working group chairs and
rapporteurs will prepare a summary of the conclusions and
recommendations for each theme for presentation in main
workshop plenary.
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
10
White Papers and Pre-Workshop Efforts


Whitepapers for Discussion are under
preparation
These will be based on input from various
experts



Participants
IT professionals
Reports from NSF, UN, WB, other ICT groups
The questionnaires are online:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/itsd.htm
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
11
Themes
Enabling
ICT
ICT and Development (Groups)
Human-Computer Interaction, Sensors, Communication,
Databases/Information Systems, Controllers/Actuators/Effectors
Infrastructure
Development
Energy &
Transportation
Basic Human
Needs and
Development
Healthcare
Water &
Sanitation
Agriculture
Economic
Development
Job Creation
& Poverty
Reduction
Education
Empowerment
Alienation,
Peace, &
Prosperity
Transparency,
Democracy, &
E-Governance
Development Needs Drive ICT Research (examples only, non-exhaustive)
Infrastructure
Development
S
Basic Human Needs
and Development
S Disaster / DB/IS
CTRL Weather
Advanced DB/IS
Urban
Transport
C
CTRL
HCI
CTRL
C
HCI
HCI
Management
C
S
Enabling
ICT
Remote DB/IS
Medical
Detection /
Diagnosis C
DB/IS
Water
Management
CTRL
Health DB/IS
Monitoring
and
Epidemiology C
S
DB/IS
S Electricity
Load
HCI
CTRL
Forecasting
and Warning C
C
S
HCI
HCI
Drip and
Advanced
Irrigation
CTRL
Empowerment
DB/IS
Distance and
e-Learning
HCI
C
DB/IS
S
S Electricity
Theft
Reduction
Economic
Development
Agricultural
Price
Discovery
DB/IS
E-Governance
C
Expanding
DB/IS
Markets for
Rural /
Traditional
Goods C
HCI
C
DB/IS
HCI
National and
Global
Inclusiveness
C
DB/IS
Digital
Libraries
C
HCI
C
Sensors, Communication, Databases/Information Systems (DB/IS),
Controllers/Actuators/Effectors (CTRL), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Incorporates issues of: OS, Protocols, Robustness, Software, Hardware, Power Management,
Regulation, Security, etc.
Recommendations
from UN, WB,
NGOs, and
Developing Country
Govts.
Reports from
Workshop
Breakout Groups
Sustainable
Development
Needs
Identification
of Enabling IT
IT R&D
NO
Bangalore
Workshop
Availability
YES
Application
Customization
NOT
VIABLE
VIABLE
Engineered
YES
NO
Accessibility
Affordability
Acceptability
YES
Deployment
Process Flow Diagram
Enabling IT for Sustainable
Development
© 2003 ES, VSA, & RT
Diffusion
FEEDBACK
Re-evaluation
of Policies, Institutions,
and Incentives
NO
Research,
Development,
and Diffusion
Process
Template for
ICT
Identification of
Case Exemplars
Issues of Appropriateness,
Affordability, and Impact are
central to ICT research and
design, instead of merely
affecting penetration and
deployment
R&D Areas in IC Technologies

Human-Computer Interaction
• Managing and Interfacing with ICT
• Includes Devices for ICT (like computers/hardware with
compelling price/performance)

Sensors
• Acquire and Convert observations into digital formats

Communication
• Reach & Richness of networks

Databases/Information Systems
• Creating knowledge and contextual bases and algorithms
for decision-making

Controllers/Actuators/Effectors
• Effecting change (feedback) in nature and the operating
domain
Many ICT R&D areas are inter-disciplinary
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
15
ICT Availability and Applicability
The Research Questions
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
What ICT are immediately available?
What development needs do they satisfy?
How are technologies currently used for
development?
What is required to modify and re-engineer
existing technologies for development objectives?
What needs require the development of new
technologies and infrastructure to be satisfied?
What are the impediments to wide-scale
deployment of technology (Technological, Social
and Financial)?
What modifications and other development
oriented factors such as accessibility, affordability,
and acceptability affect the development, selection
and deployment of technology?
Carnegie Mellon University
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The Research Questions (cont.)
Cross-Cutting Issues
f)
g)
h)
i)
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
What are the issues in disseminating useful
information; how could it be localized and made
user-friendly?
What should be the policies that govern the
availability of such information; how could
transactions between producer and consumer be
made pareto-optimal?
What should be the role of the Government and
multilateral organizations (WB, UN, etc.) in
ensuring ICT innovations are sustainable in the
developing world?
Can ICT minimize the divide between the haves
and have nots? Can it address concerns regarding
the inclusivity of youth and the disempowered into
the global mainstream?
Carnegie Mellon University
17
Deliverables

ICT for SD: Research Agenda

Will incorporate
• Short-term agenda – IC Technologies exist and need to be
applied
• Medium-term agenda – ICT needs modification to be
applicable
• Long-term agenda – Appropriate ICT to be developed



Balancing technology-push and demand-pull
Each Group will create 3-4 exemplars for Research
Actual research as per the process flow diagrams is
a longer-term initiative (e.g., building sensors for
pathogen detection)

This workshop’s output will enable researchers to followup with funding agencies for such projects
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
18
NSF-CMU-IISc-NIAS-MultiLateral
Agency Synergies

This effort will



Allow greater feedback for basic ICT research to make
it relevant
Help address issues of global importance, such as the
environment, epidemics like SARS, etc.
Create international partnerships amongst scholars and
researchers, as well as governments, industry, and
NGOs
• This includes implementing projects and research plans
• International environments also offer low-cost test-beds
for new and leapfrogging technologies, designs, and
paradigms

Sensitize industry to global commercial opportunities in
SD and social needs
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
19
Arunachalam, Reddy,
Subrahmanium & Tongia
Carnegie Mellon University
20