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ICT and African Development: Challenges and Opportunities

ICT and African Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Hosted by NYU Africa House, NYU POLY, AFEA, CATER and
the Development Research Institute at NYU

April 30th 2010, 9am-6pm

Room 905-907, Kimmel Center, NYU
60 Washington Square South, New York

*****Post Comments on the Talks Using the Wiki Links Below*****

The workshop will feature a set of general talks by social and computer scientists on ICT and African Development as platforms for discussing the opportunities and challenges that ICT presents for African Development.  

The goal of the workshop is to bring together a wide range of researchers and practitioners broadly interested in the topic of development and encourage future collaborations.

Each of the six sessions will feature two to three short presentations, followed by a longer discussion on the research possibilities and challenges of the area.

9:00 - 9:10 Introduction: Yaw Nyarko, Africa House Director, NYU [mp3]
9:10 - 10:20: Session 1: Connectivity
  • WiRE Architecture: A New Rural Cellular Network Architecture - Matt Tierney, Courant Institute, NYU [mp3]
  • Data over GSM: Changing the Mobile Voice into Data - Aditya Dhananjay, Courant Institute, NYU [mp3]
  • Economics of Connectivity - Bharat Rao, Technology Management, NYU Poly [mp3]
10:20 - 10:35 Break

10:35 - 11:30 Session 2: Microfinance Strategies and Solutions

  • Mobile Money: The MPESA Revolution in Kenya - Isaac Mbiti, Economics, Southern Methodist University [mp3]
  • Technologies for New Microfinance Models - Ashlesh Sharma, Courant Institute, NYU [mp3]

11:30 - 12:15 Session 3: Invited talk on a recent book

  • Portfolios of the Poor - Jonathan Morduch, Wagner School of Public Policy, NYU [mp3]

1:15 - 2:25 Session 4: Applications of ICT

  • ICT and Education - Christopher Hoadley, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, NYU [mp3]
  • Using ICT in Agriculture - William Amponsah, Economics, Georgia Southern University [mp3]
  • Sustainable Rural Power Solutions - Nahanaeli Schelling, ITP, NYU [mp3]
2:25 - 2:30 Short Break

2:30 - 3:30  Session 5: ICT Adoption and Business Models

  • The Diffusion of Technology - Mina Baliamoune, Economics, University of North Florida [mp3]
  • Challenges in Implementing ICT innovations - Edward Kutsoati, Economics, Tufts University [mp3]
3:30 - 3:50 Break

3:50 - 5:00 PM Session 6: ICT and Sustainable Healthcare

  • Low-Cost Diagnostics Solutions: Daniel Malamud, NYU School of Medicine [mp3]
  • On Field Experiences with Rural Healthcare: Prabhjot Dhadialla, Earth Institute, Columbia [mp3]
  • Towards Sustainable mHealth: Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, Courant Institute, NYU [mp3]

5:00 - 5:20 Concluding Remarks: Mwangi Githingi, Economics, University of Massachusetts: Amherst [mp3]

5:45 - 7:00 Reception (Apple Restaurant)