Technology for Good at the Social Good Summit
These are exciting times. From September 19th-22nd, weʼre proudly supporting the 2nd annual Social Good Summit in NYC. Bringing together some of the worldʼs most influential leaders, the discussion will help solve some of the biggest challenges facing our world today.
At Ericsson, we believe using Technology for Good is the foundation to building a Networked Society. We understand the value of collaboration and that our contribution to global challenges is through technology and innovation.
The Social Good Summit has one clear goal: to unlock the potential of new media and technology for the good of the world. And with the summit fast approaching weʼre starting a conversation.
Weʼre looking for people like you, to contribute questions about solving global challenges with innovative technology. If youʼve ever considered how technology can be used for good and have ideas to share - weʼd like to interview you during the Social Good Summit. All interviews will be made available and promoted as part of a larger initiative on our YouTube and other digital channels.
Below are four examples of Ericsson initiatives we hope will spark ideas to share with us at the summit. All of the questions are being solved today through innovation and technology.
Refugees United
How come it takes two brothers separated during wartime 6 years to reconnect?
Worldwide, some 43 million people have been forcibly displaced according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). As a result, separated families undergo considerable difficulties reconnecting with each other.
In 2008, two Danish brothers and social entrepreneurs David and Christopher Mikkelsen formed Refugees United. Beginning as an anonymous online search engine, the importance of a mobile option was soon realized.
Millennium Villages
How can the Millennium Development Goals be met by 2015?
The Millennium Villages Project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
The Millennium Villages are proving that by fighting poverty at the village level through community-led development, rural Africa can achieve the Millennium Development Goals - global targets for reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half and improving education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability - by 2015, and escape the extreme poverty that traps hundreds of millions of people throughout the continent.
Maternal and Child Health
How come so many children under five continue to die from preventable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa?
Though child mortality rates have declined worldwide in the past decade many parts of sub-Saharan Africa remain unacceptably high averaging 130 deaths per 1,000 births of children under five.
ChildCount+ is an mHealth platform developed by the Millennium Villages Project. It is specifically aimed at empowering communities to improve child survival and maternal health. With more than 2000 mobile phones supplied by Sony Ericsson to the villages’ community health care providers - children under five, pregnant women and newborns can be monitored and patient records generated.
Ericsson Application Awards
In just a minute’s time, all around the globe: 12 million SMS are sent, 48 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, 20 million apps are downloaded and 700 smartphones are activated.
At the same time, a child in Africa dies of preventable diseases like malaria every 45 seconds.
At Ericsson, we believe using technology and innovation for good is the fundamental building block of a Networked Society. Technology can play an instrumental role in global challenges such as poverty, education, health care and disaster relief.
Connect To Learn
How come only 25% of children attend secondary school in sub-Saharan Africa?
Achieving universal education and gender equality are key development challenges and two key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Research consistently shows that investing in girls’ education makes good economic sense. Ericsson believes that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can be a transformative force in realizing these two MDGs.
In September 2010 we launched Connect To Learn as a public-private partnership promoting access to and quality of secondary school education. Our on-the-ground work focuses on providing school scholarships targeting girls and by implement ICT solutions in schools. Ericsson is providing expertise and technical solutions in this partnership with Millennium Promise and the Earth Institute at Columbia University
