Sustainable Technology and Services for Rural Renaissance

Professor Mikko Ruohonen

University of Tampere, FINLAND

mikko.j.ruohonen@uta.fi

Can we afford this?

Challenge of

bioeconomy

from the food value

chain perspective

What to do then?

Emerging markets can tap the potential of digital

in the food chain through innovations such as

precision agriculture,

supply-chain efficiencies, and

agriculture-focused payment systems.

Look ICT for impact and localization

Evolution of ICT4D focus over time (modified from Heeks, 2009)

Issue / Phase ICT4D 0.0 (1960s – mid-1990s)

ICT4D 1.0 (mid-1990s – mid-/late-2000s)

ICT4D 2.0 (mid-/late-2000s onwards)

Iconic Technology PC Database Telecentre Mobile Phone

Key Application Data Processing Content (& Interaction) Services & Production

The Poor Who? Consumers Innovators & Producers

Key Goal Organisational Efficiency MDGs ?Growth & Development?

Key Issue Technology's Potential Readiness & Availability Uptake & Impact

Key Actor Government Donors & NGOs All Sectors

Attitude Ignore --> Isolate Idolise --> Integrate Integrate --> Innovate

Innovation Model Northern Pro-Poor --> Para-Poor Para-Poor --> Per-Poor

Dominant Discipline Information Systems Informatics / Development Studies Tribrid of Computer , Information and Development Sciences

Development Paradigm Modernisation Human Development ?Development 2.0?

Table 1: Summary of ICT4D Phases (modified from Heeks, 2009)

Next phase for us…

Next development phase: giving the poor the tools to produce digital content and services, offering them incentives that create new incomes and jobs through ICT, and convincing established interests to recognize the scale and value of the ICT-based innovations the poor produce.

Richard Heeks (2008) ICT4D 2.0: The Next Phase of Applying ICT for International Development. Computer, IEEE Society, pp. 26-33.

From consumer to producer views

Poor people spend over 80% of their income on food, clothing, and fuel —products not benefited from dramatic technological changes in a long time (Karnani 2007)

So, either make lower prices of goods or increase the earnings

Best way to alleviate poverty is economic growth with a focus on buying from the poor producing, such as small farmers

Grounding facts for ICT4D and India

India’s population is ~1,3 billion

Share of people living in ~ 600 000 villages is staggering ~ 70%

The literacy rate among these villagers is around 58%, the remaining 42% is illiterate

Mobile phone penetration: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India: plus 900 million wireless subscribers(growing to plus 1 B), of them plus 300 million are from rural areas

In rural areas voice (spoken communication) is considered as very effective means of communication

Mobile platforms can provide sustainable and effective services for agriculture, education, healthcare, banking and microfinance, entertainment

Previous studies: IBM Research Lab India, spoken web tech proved very effective (such as Avaaj Otalo, Gujarat), Graam Vaani has been successful in northern India

Partners of Rural Voice Programme

University of Tampere (UTA) in joint collaboration with IBM Research Lab, India and University of Agricultural Sciences(UAS), Dharwad, and International Management Institute, Delhi together conducted pre-studies 2010-2011.

The empirical field study amongst farmers was conducted in surrounding villages of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka.

This project was funded 2012-2013 by Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation (TEKES) and backed by Team Finland internationalization experts Finpro and CIMO. Research continued 2013-2016 in Assam and suburbs of Delhi

Now discussing possible continuation with Government of Karnataka on joint work at UAS and with the support of Tekes.

Service opportunities

• Price information • Towards market pricing

• Weather reports • Protection of losses

• Seeds info and development • Potential for productivity

• Fertilizers use and supply - info on ecological issues • Pesticides research and use

• Food security

• Equipment supply • Markets info and new sharing

models

• Primary healthcare

• HealthVoice initiative (UTA)

• Education

• SusTech initiative (UTA)

• Banking and microfinance

• Access and small transaction amounts

• Entertainment

• Use of media services

Agriculture and food chains Other service areas

Service Delivery Models

Spoken Web

Technology Provider

(IBM Research Labs)

Interactive Voice

Based Services

Application

Developers (Finnish

Companies)

Services

Primary Healthcare

Banking and MF

Entertainment

Education

Agricultural Services

Banking

Microfinance

Agri commodity prices and weather

Seed Info

Pesticide Usage Info

Fertilizer Usage Info

Agri Equipment Info

Service Providers (Deliver Services)

Pharma Companies

Banks

MF Institutions

Food Processing

Companies

Seed Companies

Pesticide Companies

Fertilizer Companies

Agri Equipment Companies

Music Content Companies

Recruitment Agencies

Furt

he

r S

ha

re o

f R

eve

nu

es

Sp

oke

n W

eb A

PIs

Share of Revenue earned by Operators

Opportunities for a joint work in India

TEKES The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation started mobile, voice-based services development in Rural India and is now proceeding with Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs a special programme Business with Impact (BEAM) http://www.tekes.fi/en/beam

BEAM provides opportunities for Finnish companies and research institutes for a joint collaboration with Indian companies and NGO’s

Creating ecosystems for service providers and collaboration of technology and service firms with partnership of local Indian companies

Plenty of opportunities to provide mobile value added services including agriculture, health, education in rural India

Sustainable Technology in Education

How to develop

sustainable

education technology

innovations

in India?

Inspired by Werbach A. (2009): Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto.

Using the assets of the

technology provider

efficiently in the local

business environment to

achieve functioning

profitability over time

Understanding the social

setting, meeting local

community needs and

helping in the healthy

community development

Furthering cultural diversity,

participatory democracy and

intercultural dialogue

Understanding national and

local political frameworks in

education and education

technology

Pilot Locations DELHI Capital of India, population 11 million (urban area 25 million), 2.3 million primary and middle school students, 5000 Schools, Hindi and English are the primary languages in teaching.

MUMBAI “Movie capital of India,” population 12 million (urban area 20 million), 2.5 million primary and middle school students, 5000 schools, Marathi and English are primary languages in teaching.

GUWAHATI “North-Eastern capital of India,” population 1 million, 0.2 million primary and middle school students, 400 schools, Assamese and English are the primary languages in teaching.

BENGALURU “IT-capital of India,” population 9 million, 1.9 million primary and middle school students, 4000 schools, Kannada and English are the primary languages in teaching.

Project Partners

Finnish companies who are interested in the business opportunities that India has in the field of educational technology

Funding organizations Tekes, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, University of Tampere, participating companies

Research organizations University of Tampere (project lead), Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi, Mumbai and Guwahati, Xerox Research Center India, IBM Research Labs India

NGO’s Deepalaya, Tamana

Thanks for efforts in India We developed/piloted educational, voice-

based mobile services for the rural population

of Karnataka. The key motivation was to increase

information accessibility for low literacy users. By

University of Tampere, IBM India and the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad.

We developed and piloted gesture-based

interaction games for differently abled

children and teenagers in Delhi.

The aim was to encourage and develop life

skills in a safe and stimulating environment.

By University of Tampere, IBM India and Tamana.

More on our work in India We developed and piloted gesture-based

interaction information services for maternal

health care in Assam. The motivation was to

increase the accessibility of the services

hindered by social and cultural constraints.

By University of Tampere, IBM India and IIT Guwahati.

We have engaged in numerous political and social

events in India during the recent years. Professor

Markku Turunen focusing on conversation at Krishi Mela

in Dharwad (an agrifair with plus one million visitors)

with professor Mikko Ruohonen.

Indo-Finnish academic collaboration

• http://www.springer.com/us/book/9788132236504

• eBook ISBN 978-81-322-3652-8

• Hardcover ISBN 978-81-322-3650-4

• Proposes a framework for business model innovation to help entrepreneurs undertake such endeavors

Thank you! http://www.ruralvoice.fi/ Some selected references

Ruohonen, M., Turunen, M., Hakulinen, J., Mahajan, G., Linna, J., Kumar, V., Das, H., Nanavati, A. & Rajput, N. (2012) Puhepohjaisten matkapuhelinpalvelujen kehittäminen Intian maaseudulla. Futura 2/2012 http://doria17-kk.lib.helsinki.fi/handle/10024/89294. (In Finnish).

Shrivastava, S., Rajput, N. & Mahajan, G. (2012) SWAicons: Spoken Web Audio icons – Design, Implications and Evaluation. Presented and published in Computer Supported Collaborative Work conference, 11–15.2, 2012, Seattle, Washington, USA. ACM 978-1-4503-0556-3/12/02

Ruohonen, M., Turunen, M. & Nykänen, P. (2013) Voice-based Mobile Service Innovations for Primary Healthcare in Rural India; Research in Progress. FIIB Business Review (FBR) 2(3), July – August.

Ruohonen, M., Turunen, M., Kumar, V., Linna, J. & Das, H. (2013) Mobile Voice-based Educational Services for Rural India: Project RuralVoice. In Ley, T.et al. IFIP AICT 395, IFIP, Springer. pp. 3-11.

Ruohonen, M., Turunen, M., Hakulinen, J., Linna, J., Nanavati, A. & Rajput, N. (2013) E-Inclusion Innovation for Rural India: Mobile Voice and Tablet Based Educational Services. Presented in Torun, Poland and published in Reynolds, N. & Webb, M. (eds) (2013) WCCE 2013 10th IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education, Torun, Poland July 1-7, 2013, Vol. 2, Nicolaus Copernicus University Press, ISBN 978-83-231-3093-2, pp. 218-227.

Das, H., Ruohonen, M. & Mahajan, G. (2015) Ecosystem Modeling for Mobile Voice Based Services; Rural India’s Bottom of the Pyramid View. In Macedo, M., Gauzente, C., Nunes, M. B. & Peng, G.C. (eds) Proceedings of the International Conferences on E-Health, E-Commerce and Digital Marketing and Information Systems Post-Implementation and Change Management (ISPCM) 2015, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, July 21 - 23, International Association for Development of the Information Society, IADIS Press. ISBN: 978-989-8533-42-5. pp. 161-168.