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Social Innovation Conversations


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The Stanford Social Innovation Review editorial team led by correspondant Sheela Sethuraman interviews the winners of the Tech Museum Awards: outstanding individuals recognized for their commitment to developing technology that benefits humanity and initiates global change.

The Tech Museum Awards, now in its ninth year, is presented by The Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif. Every year individuals are selected out of hundreds of nominations sent from all over the world. Laureates are divided into five categories: Education, Equality, Environment, Economic Development and Health. In 2008, winners in each category received a $50,000 cash prize.

This podcast series is made possible by the sponsorship of Microsoft.

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Laurie Marker - Sustainable Resource Management

Despite being the fastest land animal, cheetahs can't run from the threat of habitat loss. Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund has used a multi-pronged effort including habitat restoration, resource management education, and job creation to address that threat. In this interview by Sheela Sethuraman for the Tech Museum Awards, Marker describes the creative measures she has taken to save cheetahs and improve the lives of the people who live near them.
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Randy Wang - Spreading Education Thru Community Participation

Imagine your confusion if you had to design a system to improve the quality of education in distant underprivileged schools. What if you stepped away from the problem and asked, "What is the simplest 'system' that could work in the real world?" In host Sheela Sethuraman's interview, Randy Wang describes his motivation to create Digital StudyHall, a collection of mundane technologies that have dramatically improved long distance education. His progress and goals are also discussed.
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Marc Koska - Preserving the Right to Safe Injections

Marc Koska talks about his involvement with Star Syringe, the 2008 Tech Awards Health Award winner. Star Syringe designed and licensed the K1 auto-disable syringe, which prevents syringe reuse. In this interview with host Sheela Sethuraman, Koska explains how focusing on the needs of the syringe manufacturers, instead of the end users, was an important success factor. He discusses how single-use syringe adoption is progressing in India as well as the activities and aims of his charity SafePoint Trust.
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Dr. Elizabeth Hausler - Making Homes Safe From Earthquakes

Just imagine being awakened by the crash of falling furniture, and a rocking, heaving house. Then it hits you, "It's an earthquake!" What should I do? Should I get out of the house? The answer, according to Dr. Elizabeth Hausler, founder of Build Change, depends upon where you live. In this interview with host Sheela Sethuraman, Dr. Hausler describes how the strategies of Build Change are helping villages in Indonesia and China to build earthquake resistant housing.
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Mathias Craig - Bringing Electricity to the Marginalized

In parts of Nicaragua, nearly 80 percent of the population goes without electricity, leaving them cut off from critical opportunities for betterment and development. Kriss Deiglmeier, the Center for Social Innovation executive director, interviews Mathias Craig who created blueEnergy to bring electricity to marginalized communities in this region of the world.
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D.R. Mehta - Bringing Mobility to the Disabled

In remote rural areas in India, 18 million people suffer isolation and poverty due to their inability to work. Jennifer Roberts, associate editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, interviews D.R. Mehta, whose NGO gives mobility to 20,000 people a year through the fitting of a high-tech prosthetic limb known as the Jaipur Foot. Mehta discusses the genesis of his organization, which makes the prosthesis freely available to the poor.
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Dr. Helen Lee - Disease Tests for the Developing World

In developing countries, many tests for infectious diseases never reach the market because there is little financial incentive to pharmaceutical companies to get them there. Alana Conner, senior editor at the Stanford Social Innovation Review, interviews Helen Lee, whose research department at the University of Cambridge has developed tests that allow for the rapid detection--and thus treatment--of diseases in rural settings around the world.
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Rodrigo Pizarro - Sustainable Salmon Farming

In Chile, the farming of salmon seemed the ideal solution to the depletion of world fish populations--until it became clear that acquiculture causes its own environmental problems. Interviewed by Eric Nee, managing editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Rodrigo Pizarro explores the challenges of acquiculture and the foundation's project to reduce the impact of salmon farming through a sustainable system of seaweed cultivation.
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Nick Yeo - Inspiring Youth Through Global Communications

TakingITGlobal is an online social network that enables socially conscious youth worldwide to learn about and take action on global issues. Kriss Deiglmeier, the Center for Social Innovation Center executive director, interviews Nick Yeo about how the endeavor leverages its online platform to partner with other organizations and inspire youth to make a difference.
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