$100 Laptop Designers
Nominated by: OneWorld editors
The explosive spread of mobile phones has already made long-distance communications possible for over a billion people who never could have dreamed of such a reality even five years ago. The next big advance would seem to be integrating computing technology into the villages and towns that could benefit from the business, educational, and communication advances it brings. A major step down that road may have occurred in 2007, as the first major production run of $100 laptops (which actually cost closer to $200) came off the assembly line in Taiwan, destined for children in developing countries. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit group also sold 162,000 laptops in the United States and Canada at the end of the year through its Give One Get One program, raising $35 million to help speed the deployment of the computers to poorer countries. And the project's director expects to ship 2-3 million laptops to about 20 countries in 2008. Surely, the OLPC program has been dogged by political controversies -- from a high-profile squabble with the computer chip maker Intel to allegations that the laptops could undermine established education systems in developing countries like India and Nigeria. But all controversy aside, there is no doubt that the project has pushed today's most useful modern technologies to be cheaper and more relevant to more people who previously lacked access to them. The OLPC computers need just a small fraction of the power required to run a traditional laptop, and that can be generated by a 'yo-yo' pull string device (one minute of pulling produces about 10 minutes of charge) or a $12 solar panel. The computers automatically link up with any other OLPC computers in the area to allow users to share files and work together, and if any one of the laptops is connected to the Internet, they all are. It has a built-in camera and is tough enough to stand up to hot, humid, and dusty locales. A new kind of screen lighting can be seen more easily in bright sunlight and requires less energy to run. Those screen technologies may soon be showing up in digital cameras and mobile phones, too, demonstrating how an advance in technology for one purpose can impact countless more people than originally intended. Will every child worldwide have access to a laptop anytime soon? It's impossible to say. But whatever the "commercial" success of the OLPC project is, there is no doubt that its designers have pushed the envelope and opened many doors to technology -- and development -- in the developing world. Click here for OneWorld's Full Coverage on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), where you can also subscribe to our RSS feed on ICT. You might also be interested in OneWorld's Mobile for Good project, which is using mobile phone technology to help alleviate poverty and improve lives in the developing world.  VOTE NOW!
THE OTHER FINALISTS... Vicky Tauli-Corpuz & the world's indigenous rights campaigners
Betty Makoni
Rajendra Pachauri & the scientific community and governments contributing to the IPCC
Justine Masika Bihamba & Eve Ensler
Burma's Monks
Molly Melching & the women of Senegal and West Africa
Vandana Shiva
$100 Laptop Designers
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