Information Week reports on “the latest cutting-edge tools generated from an ongoing series of high-tech competitions sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Humanity United. These technologies and an array of other applications are products of USAID’s Tech Challenge for Atrocity Prevention, a program designed to support the Obama Administration’s strategy for preventing mass atrocities such as genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
AFP reports on National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s call “for more ‘eureka moments’ and ‘unorthodox partnerships'” in a speech that closed out the third Saving Lives at Birth grand challenge event. And during the same event, The Atlantic got Administrator Shah’s take on why USAID is working towards ending infant deaths: “Fragile countries need to start this demographic transition …. You cannot have a successful society if women are dying of childbirth and if children go off to live with relatives or in orphanages.”
The Nation (in Pakistan) reported that USAID installed “smart meters” on “incoming and outgoing feeders” at nine state-owned electric utility facilities, which allow distribution companies around Pakistan to “anticipate and manage energy loads” so they can reliably serve the public’s energy needs. This has allowed 100 megawatts of electricity to be saved.
