Ever wonder if the US is still capable of technological innovation? Follow me here, and you might be surprised at what's happening behind the scenes of something as non-technological as philanthropy.
Can a company as wildly successful as Google leverage their tech wizardry to do good by doing well? In this Jan '08 article by Julie Fagnani for the onPhilanthropy blog, the question is addressed:
In 2004, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made a commitment to address some of the world's most significant challenges. The commitment included a considerable contribution of both capital and man power.
There's a definite tech slant to Google's mission:
Like a traditional nonprofit, Google.org operates by supporting partners with targeted grants. But its unique structure also allows for Google.org to make for-profit investments and to lobby for policies that support its philanthropic goals.
Google.org is separate from the Google Foundation. Established in 2005, the Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation that is managed by Google.org and supports its mission and core initiatives through grants. Thus far, Google.org and the Google Foundation have committed more than $75 million in grants and investments.
Two aspects worth commenting on are energy and public health. On the energy side, Darksyde wrote this yesterday: Google to Invest 10 Million in Alternative Geothermal Energy and on the public health side (also from Jan '08), Larry Brilliant, of Google.org: Internet 'is pandemic early warning system'.
So what has the internet got to do with pandemics (beyond this, anyway: Pandemic Flu Preparation and the Role of Internet Communities)and who's this Larry Brilliant guy?
Here's a nice description from Bruno Giussani, the European Director of the TED Conferences (Al Gore is a TED speaker, and Bill Clinton won a TED prize in 2007):
I had never heard of GPHIN until Larry Brilliant made it a key part of his "wish speech" at the TED conference [TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design] in February [2006], where he received the TEDprize and was therefore entitled to express a "wish" asking the attendees (a very high-powered and tech-oriented crowd) to help him realize it. Here is what Larry wished for:
To build a powerful new early warning system to protect our world from some of its worst nightmares.
(Read: from deadly pandemics).
The system should be transparent, with basic information freely available to everyone, preferably in their own language, and will be housed in a neutral country, independent of any single government, any single company, any single UN agency, but will offer its alerts, data, access to all.
Brilliant pointed to an existing Canadian system, GPHIN, as the nucleus that could form the basis for what he dubbed INSTEDD, for International System for Total Early Disease Detection (of course, the TED in the word is a hat-tip to the prize).
Here's Larry, giving a TEDtalk, if you have 26 minutes to spare:
Having met both Larry and Peter Carpenter (of InSTEDD) at various times, I wrote Peter and asked him what they're up to these days. Peter wrote back:
InSTEDD is dedicated to harnessing the power of information and communications technology (ICT) to address the challenge of improving collaboration and information flow for early detection and response to emergencies, emerging infectious diseases, and natural disasters. We are developing a software platform designed to enable communication and virtual teaming among worker in the field, interoperable information sharing between users of different databases and software applications, and collaborative decision-making among health and disaster experts. We are currently testing and evolving these technologies at our first Field Innovation Laboratory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and we are working closely with the Cambodian Ministry of Health to develop custom ICT solutions for event reporting in remote rural locations, early and accurate outbreak detection, and coordination of rapid response teams. InSTEDD plans to expand field operations throughout Southeast Asia and into Africa in the near future.
So, all those guys out in the field tracking ill patients and sick birds would actually have a better way to communicate with each other, whetehr it's using simple and durable hand-held communication/recording devices, or allowing database and software communication to easily take place. InSTEDD, btw, also was the driving force for written pandemic flu preparation instructions for this Citizen's Guide .pdf designed to help anyone figure out what's going on and what to do, including this English version for American citizens.
Note the emphasis on natural disasters; the techniques could prove useful whether it's a tsunami or a pandemic. That's what we call the all-hazards approach.
So, in the end, Google and InSTEDD have been involved with collecting data, collating it and making it easy to use for both professionals and ordinary citizens. That sounds like something Google should be good at. And doing what you do best to help others? It doesn't require a tech degree to figure out that that just might turn out to be a good thing.