Demo Alley: Showcasing Examples of Technology Helping to Solve Sustainability Challenges

Demo Alley, also known as “speed geeking,” is a participation-fueled experience used to quickly view a number of presentations in a short timeframe, employing an approach similar to speed-dating. For the Rio+2.0 Demo Alley, the perimeter of the event auditorium will be lined by presentation tables, each hosted by a different tech company. The audience will divide into groups of 8-10, where they will then gather around their designated starting tables. Each tech company will make quick presentations about what their organization does and how their technology works. Every five minutes, a facilitator will ring a bell, and groups will rotate to the next table for another demonstration. The designated timeframe of the Demo Alley should allow 8-12 presentations. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity to network and ask further questions.

Tech Groups Presenting

• ArcGIS is a software program from Esri that allows you to publish your maps and data to the cloud, so that your end users can then access maps, data, and applications from a variety of devices without having to install their own software or worry about data management.

• Development Gateway hosts global information platforms that provide access to development knowledge, data, and resources. They implement aid information management systems that allow governments to make more informed decisions, and they geocode aid projects to create virtual feedback loops between donors and other stakeholders. They also provide training, workshops, and process analysis to strengthen their partners’ capacity to manage their own information.

• Global Forest Watch 2.0 unites technology, transparency, and human networks to mobilize faster, more effective forest conservation and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Data is sourced from a novel near-real-time deforestation alert system, complementary satellite data and systems, mobile technology, World Resource Institute’s maps, and the networked world. GFW 2.0 makes information about forest destruction anywhere in the tropics available within 16 days of the clearing taking place and in a form that directly supports corrective action.

• Kiva.org empowers people around the world with $25 loans.

• NextDrop provides households with accurate and timely information about local piped water delivery, over cell phones already widely in use in India. This information comes from water utility employees who call NextDrop’s interactive voice response system when they open valves to distribute water. They also use crowd-sourcing to verify the accuracy of utility reports and create a feedback loop, introducing much needed visibility for engineers in the water utility.

• Nexleaf Analytics collects data on environment, climate change, and public health. By combining the ubiquity of mobile networks with sophisticated server-side analytics, they are transforming regular mobile phones into leading-edge data collection instruments.

• The Panguipulli Public Library equipped a mobile laboratory with information and communication technology (ICT) and travelled to the peaks and valleys of the Andes Mountains to reach remote farming communities. The library trained 201 farmers, mostly women, in online research and social networking skills. They also connected farmers to an online market, increased the library’s stocks of books and journals on agriculture, and hosted lectures on farming methods.

• Solar Sister eradicates energy poverty by empowering women with economic opportunity. They combine the breakthrough potential of solar technology with a deliberately woman-centered direct sales network to bring light, hope, and opportunity to remote communities in rural Africa.