Hi,
we are Paul Braund and Anke Schwittay; the co-founders of the RiOS Institute, which is the co-presenter of the Silicon Valley Challenge Summit. We have started this blog in order to get the debate about the role of Silicon Valley in the area of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) going even before the actual summit.

To answer the two questions that you probably have at this point ... Who is RiOS and why do we need this event?

RiOS (www.riosinstitute.org) stands for the development of human-centered 'Research and Innovation for Organizations and Societies.' We co-founded the institute, which is dedicated to the application of social science research and design innovation to the fulfillment of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in 2005. RiOS is a vehicle for us to continue our long-standing research into development projects that use technologies. This research, carried out in the context of Paul's many years as a designer, educator, tech consultant for Silicon Valley Fortune 500 corporations as well as start up companies, and for the World Bank Institute, as well as my Ph.D. studies in anthropology at UC Berkeley and work with the World Bank Institute and the Institute for the Future, brought us to Latin America, India and into our very own backyard in East Palo Alto. What we learned from our travails is that many projects, especially the ones involving ICTs, don't actually focus on the people they are supposed to serve, and therefore often fail. From our perspectives as an anthropologist and a designer, we realized the importance of human-centered research and design, as well as of the collaboration among people from different institutional backgrounds. And that is why we are co-organizing the Silicon Valley Challenge Summit, together with STS.

We believe that with Silicon Valley's great technological, corporate, entrepreneurial and financial success comes great responsibility. In the same way in which the region has exported its models of innovative research, entrepreneurial drive and cross-institutional collaboration, it now has the opportunity to play an exemplary role in exploring new ways to create a more equitable and sustainable future for all inhabitants of the world. The Summit will therefore bring together the valley's unique pool of talent, creativity and ambitions, to further transform it into a hub of the international network around the use of ICT for global development.
The Summit is also tied to this year's Technology Benefiting Humanity Awards, which will be hosted by San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation on November 15, 2006. The Award's “laureates” will be present at the Summit and showcase their work to its speakers and attendants.

We see this Summit as a call to action, and want you to help us make this happen. Post your thoughts on the topic (and we know there is much debate around what we are proposing), tell others about the Summit and this blog and start the buzz.

thanks for now,
paul and anke