30 Cutting-Edge Tech Projects From Around the World
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Below we've highlighted some of the best and most interesting projects. To read more about them, click through to get the full story, and follow the series to learn about even more global efforts for change.
1. How Crowdsourcing Is Improving Global Communities
You can crowdsource almost anything these days — news, music videos, fashion advice, your love life or even your entire life.
While these examples are all very useful (or just plain amusing), there
are a plethora of examples of how innovative entrepreneurs and eager
philanthropists are using crowdsourcing techniques to improve local and
global communities in real, substantive ways.Read the full story here.
2. Why Governments Will Benefit From Embracing Technology
Governments have been harnessing consumer-facing technology to reach out to their citizens in some very interesting ways.In the spaces between location-aware technology, web services, mobile apps and social media tools, there is a ton of opportunity for governments — from small cities to entire nations — to do their jobs with more efficiency and transparency.
Read the full story here.
3. 5 Ambitious Social Good Startups Created In a Single Weekend
Can a startup go from concept to launch in 54 hours? Startup Weekend is an organization that answers this question with a resounding affirmative, and it does so many times each year in cities around the world.
At a typical Startup Weekend, ambitious entrepreneurs, developers, designers and marketers meet up for around-the-clock hacking, beginning on Friday afternoon and ending on Sunday.
Read the full story here.
4. How One Impressive Mobile App Plans to Overcome Language Barriers
The iOS application Word Lens,
as its creator Otavio Good describes it, is just a dictionary with a
good interface. "What's new is the good interface," he says — the
interface being your mobile device. But when the "interface" in question includes sophisticated vector and graphics processing (as on newer versions of the iPhone), Word Lens is more like a personal translator than a dictionary.
Read the full story here.
5. How Mobile Phones Are Saving Lives in the Developing World
You
text your friends, you call your mom, you use your smartphone to upload
pictures of your day-to-day life. But did you know your phone has a
higher purpose? Even if it's just a Nokia "candy bar" phone or a
flip-phone, that handheld piece of machinery can save lives. And there
are startups all over the world that are innovating and creating new
technologies that will change the global health landscape in dramatic
ways. Read on for two promising startups that are equipping health care
workers in developing nations with souped-up cellphones, and helping
them treat more patients, faster.Read the full story here.
6. 5 Innovative Ways to Teach Your Skills Online
Through projects like Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare and University of the People, the Internet has made it easier for anyone to be a student. Now it's also making it easier for anyone to become a teacher.Several platforms have launched within the last two years that democratize teaching. It's now possible for anyone to teach anything — whether it's how to play the Irish whistle or master investing basics — without a teaching contract, special software or a brick-and-mortar classroom. .
Read the full story here.
7. How New York City Is Going Digital in 2011
As
New York City's first chief digital officer, Rachel Sterne's primary
task is to assess city government's digital strategy. She and her team
spent the first 90 days compiling a report, and the result is the Road Map for the Digital City, a 60-page dossier on the city’s digital reach, what the team plans to achieve and how to get there. Read the full story here.
8. 3 Simple Ways Tech Can Grow Greener Cities
In the annals of urban design, Peter Calthorpe
is a living legend. He is the man who made Portland, Oregon the
bustling eco-friendly metropolis it is today by insisting on light rail
links rather than the prior plans for a pointless (but symmetrical) ring
road around the city. Here is a man who is helping to build China,
three cities at a time (literally — that's his current roster) while
still advising the state of California on its future urban growth. He is
a thought-leader and author, most recently, of Urbanism In the Age of Climate Change.Read the full story here.
9. How the Private Space Race Has Taken Off
Those famous words, uttered by President John F. Kennedy at Rice University in 1962, kicked off a decade of innovation and scientific progress that culminated with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, a moment that has since defined humanity's tenacity for science and exploration."We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
Read the full story here.
10. How 4 Cities Are Deploying High-Tech Bike Sharing Programs
Cities
around the world are at various stages of bike sharing initiatives,
offering membership-based systems for short-term rentals of bikes to get
around urban areas. From San Francisco to Toronto and London to
Melbourne, these programs incorporate high-tech features to manage and
monitor thousands of bikes.Read the full story here.
11. How 3 Cities Are Crowdsourcing for Community Revitalization
Cities
are beginning to benefit from crowdsourcing methods to gather input
from residents and apply the information they receive to make tangible
improvements to communities and neighborhoods. Some cities participate
cooperatively in initiatives led by the private sector through web-based
platforms such as SeeClickFix and Revitaliz.
Others are taking the initiative to license tools and apps that bring
local residents into the ideation and decision-making processes that
lead to developments and actions to improve communities.Read the full story here.
12. Why the Future of Transportation Is All About Real-Time Data
In
order to tackle urban transportation challenges in cities around the
world, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National
Research Foundation of Singapore launched a five-year cooperative
project in 2009 — Future Urban Mobility (FM) — to look at new models and technology tools aimed at sustainability.Read the full story here.
13. 4 Ways the Department of Energy Is Tapping Tech for a Greener Future
This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will re-launch its website, Energy.gov,
to provide tools to help individuals and businesses better understand
how to save energy and money. You can type your zip code into the site
and get hyper-local information about your city, county and state,
including information on tax credits, rebates and energy saving tips. Read the full story here.
14. How Mobile Apps Are Helping Urban Explorers Discover Their Cities
Cities
around the world are exploring mobile apps as a way to aggregate and
disseminate information to the public. Mobile apps are proving to be a
more accessible and portable way for residents and tourists alike to
access information, or in some cases, provide information in a more
timely fashion. Here are some other examples of how cities are using mobile apps.
Read the full story here.
15. How Musicians Are Engaging Fans With Location Tech
Location: It's not just for Foursquare
fiends anymore. As bands become more and more adventurous when it comes
to integrating tech into their artform, we're seeing mobile- and
location-based technology making an entree into the music world,
enhancing the experience for both bands and fans alike.Read the full story here.
16. Why the EPA Wants You to Design America's Next Top Environmental App
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to transform the way
they develop applications that serve wide and diverse audiences. They
are currently running Apps for the Environment, an app development
challenge — with a deadline of September 16 — that is meant to encourage
the public to come up with new ways of leveraging EPA data.Read the full story here.
17. How Law Enforcement Agencies Are Using Social Media to Better Serve the Public
Social
media monitoring and analytics can help city, state and national
government agencies make faster and more informed decisions. Some of the
decisions can be predictive, such as gauging public sentiment during
the planning of a major public event like a parade, sporting event or
even a royal wedding.
With the right process and tools in place, some decisions can be made
on the fly, such as during a natural disaster where responsive action is
needed — think earthquakes, tornadoes, shootings or bombings.Read the full story here.
18. Beyond BAC: How the Breathalyzer Is Poised to Revolutionize Medical Diagnostics
We
all know about the Breathalyzer, a handheld device used by police
officers to determine one's blood alcohol level on the spot. But recent
research has discovered some other interesting applications for the
digital tool.Breath alcohol testing devices were first developed in the 1940s, and in 1954, Dr. Robert Borkenstein of the Indiana State Police invented the patented Breathalyzer.
Read the full story here.
19. How Tech Is Changing the Museum Experience
Museums
are exploring digital and mobile technologies to enhance visitor
experience. Initiatives go beyond technology within exhibits and
installations, but also include more pervasive uses of tech to create
interactive experiences for visitors throughout a museum, as well as
remote experiences for those who cannot get there.Here, we highlight what three museums are doing to make the experience interactive, educational and engaging.
Read the full story here.
20. 4 Apps That Can Help During a Natural Disaster
With
the latest incidents of natural and unanticipated disasters, there
seems to be a greater need than ever to explore faster and more
effective methods of activating relief efforts. Communications
technologies — including the use of social and mobile tools — continue
to play increasing roles in emergency and rescue efforts as well as for
overall personal and family safety. Read the full story here.
21. 4 High-Tech Projects Making Cities More Energy Efficient
Cities
around the world are exploring ways to save money and reduce carbon
emissions on everything from streetlights to power facilities.Technology is smarter, too, with wireless and manual controls in place that can adjust green tech systems to suit varying conditions like weather and pedestrian traffic.
Read the full story here.
22. 7 Tech Breakthroughs That Empower People With Disabilities
Adaptive
technology is a fairly new term, but the basic idea is not. Some
adaptive devices are simple, like the cane, which has a history as old
as mankind itself. Others seem to come more from the realm of science
fiction.However mundane or complicated, all are a testament to human determination, creativity and ambition. Here, we look at seven high-tech assistive devices and how they're helping those with disabilities lead full and fulfilling lives.
Read the full story here.
23. 5 Tech Innovations That Could Change the Developing World
Across
the developing world, new technologies are helping to distribute
resources for education, connectivity and health far and wide.
Innovators are finding ways to make technology cheaper and therefore
accessible to millions previously excluded by high costs. Affordability is often the greatest hurdle to overcome in products from sanitation devices to tablet computers, mobile phones to solar panels.
Read the full story here.
24. How Twitter Tracks the Spread of Disease in Real Time
When the first cases of swine flu were detected in the spring of 2009, Twitter
helped to inflame the panic that spread well ahead of the disease. The
idea that anything useful could be mined from the flood of tweets
reacting to the nascent threat was widely dismissed.Researchers from Google and Yahoo had already found that certain search terms were good indicators of flu activity. Google had even launched Google Flu Trends, which provides public estimations for flu activity. But Twitter, it seemed, was only distracting us from reality — not helping us understand it.
Read the full story here.
25. 5 Tech Breakthroughs Bringing Clean Water to the Developing World
In
the West we take clean water for granted, but for 1.1 billion people
across the developing world, the idea of easy access to treated water
goes beyond a luxury concept.Technology can help. There are various companies and charitable organizations working on easy-to-use, low cost solutions to benefit those across the globe for whom obtaining potable water is a daily struggle. And clean water doesn't just mean less disease and death — it has economic and social implications, too.
Read the full story here.
26. The Future of Trash: 4 Ways Tech Is Improving Recycling Rates
The world is now inhabited by 7 billion individuals, and as you can imagine, we produce a lot of trash. In the U.S., each person produces 4.6 pounds of trash each day, and 132 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were discarded in landfills in 2009. Just over 35% of that was recycled.There are several ways to go about this improving recycling rates and reducing waste.
Read the full story here.
27. 4 Innovative Projects Making Water More Accessible in the Developing World
Water,
one of the earth's most important natural resources, is abundant for
most of the developed world: We have taps with clean drinking water,
showers with warm water and stores stocked with bottles.But for a large percentage of people, these simple, over-looked luxuries are not available. The U.N. has collected stats showing that one in six people in the world — approximately 894 million people — don't have access to the recommended amount of fresh water for daily living.
Read the full story here.
28. 4 Cities Using Tech to Alleviate Traffic
There are one billion cars on the road, and that number could reach 2.5 billion
by 2020. That auto congestion not only wreaks havoc on the environment,
but also frustrates the commuters sitting in traffic on their way to
work.Read the full story here.
29. 5 Cities Harnessing Breakthrough Geothermal Technology
The demand for sustainable energy is higher than ever. According to a study by BP,
global energy consumption has seen a 5.3% increase within the last
year, the largest jump since 1973. Our digital lifestyles have
contributed to the rise in energy consumption — it takes 35 times more energy
to produce a pound of smartphone than to make a pound of book. While
strides have been made to increase the output of solar panels and
biofuels, some cities are turning to the energy found beneath their
feet. Read the full story here.
30. Behind the Scenes of Olympic Cities' High-Tech Transit Systems
When
the Olympics come to town, it's not just a worldwide spectacle of
athleticism — it's also a feat of infrastructure development.Cities large and small, from Los Angeles to Torino to Nagano, have braced for the millions of athletes, spectators and press that descend upon the city for a few short weeks. For future host cities London, Sochi and Rio de Janeiro, the rush to develop is on. Mashable spoke with reps from all three cities about how they're working technology and digital tools into the cities' transportation systems to prepare for the influx of Olympic visitors.
Read the full story here.
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