In 2012, I was working in some of the most remote areas of Pakistan, aiming to empower local farmers’ waste energy projects and advance sustainability in the region. I was traveling hundreds of kilometers to carry out face-to-face negotiations, racking my brain thinking about ways to guarantee transparency in an environment where cash payments weren’t just the norm, but often the only option.

Just a few years later, I found myself leading a software development process – something I knew little about at that time. With a mostly policy-focused background, I was now making decisions in spheres brimming with new technical concepts and distinct challenges in order to deliver a solution that would strengthen our business. Fast forward to today, and our company is thriving as we use software with unlimited potential, allowing us to promote climate-conscious energy solutions on a global scale.

How did a software initially built to give a competitive edge to our business eventually become a key part of our value proposition? This is how I founded a non-tech startup only to discover that technology was exactly what was needed to disrupt the whole industry.

We needed a powerful solution – but there was none available

There’s an entire industry within the renewable energy sector that’s focused on using waste as an energy source – be it agricultural, wood, or plastic waste. I was looking to support the continued development of projects in this sector by optimizing the procurement and supply chains.

Originally, I focused on developing countries, where the legal and regulatory structures can be difficult to navigate. There was often little infrastructure, both physically and in terms of processes, meaning that all our project assumptions and operations were based around economic concepts to keep everyone operating fairly. But it wasn’t enough: we needed a software system that could equalize prices, provide tracking, and connect all the dots together.

Over time, this idea became even more pressing. We were quickly getting new clients and equipment suppliers, but realized that we couldn’t get individual projects financed without a supply chain management tool in place to guarantee fair standards and transparency. We started scanning the market to look for an external solution, but there was simply none available.

It was becoming clear that were we to ever get the projects off the ground, we were going to have to build the tool ourselves. Innovation really has no limits. When you need a solution for your business, even if it’s not on the market, you shouldn’t restrict yourself or your imagination in any way. To really support an industry, and especially one that’s very niche, you need to take a big step.

The moment when technology reshaped our business proposition

Looking back at it now, the development process would have been admittedly quicker if I had a technical background. Learning how to translate very theoretical concepts and project functionalities into feature-rich software that could be implemented in diverse contexts was challenging. However, despite my lack of technical knowledge – or maybe because of it – I was able to see what an immense umbrella technology creates.

That is, when you build a system, you are advancing a formalization of conditions. For example, our initial focus was on developing countries; we stayed away from the US because we assumed it had a more sophisticated infrastructure. But we later saw that even developed markets were deploying outdated approaches. This was a big surprise for us: we assumed that a lot of the big actors had this figured out already, but it wasn’t the case. We didn’t think that the problems we were solving in rural areas of Pakistan could exist in the US as well.

Working towards a uniform solution that would encompass many different variables from different countries made our software stronger. With this lens, we saw that we could aspire to become the industry’s standard for supply chain management, not only in specific countries, but also globally.

We spent all our time and money to build a tech tool to gain a competitive advantage in building our own projects. But what we ended up realizing was much bigger – that there was already value in this tool itself , as opposed to only holding it as an in-house solution. At that point, it took us a while to stop seeing what we’d built as an internal tool and start seeing it as a product we could market to other companies.

If you’ve ever come up with a business idea and followed through with it, you must have realized that it can take on a different form than the one you first imagined. I decided to reshape our business proposition after taking note of the enormous potential the software had in the waste to energy equation.

Our tool could not only optimize the collection and transportation process, it could also process payments and create a whole new kind of marketplace for waste to energy fuels. From our roots as a very down-to-earth, small startup, we were suddenly turning into a tech company with the potential to scale and offer solutions globally.

The key lessons I still use today

Without substantial technological knowledge, I put faith in building a tech startup — and it was the best decision I could have made. Why? In the 21st century having some sort of tech involved in any industry is integral to raising money and differentiating value. We approached a very ad hoc industry and digitized it, bringing data into play and making the process more efficient.

Even if you’re not doing something that’s specifically dependent on technology, incorporating a software element can help you shift the perspective and find a new approach to a very prominent problem. There are still many industries awaiting this shift: companies that choose to be open-minded, come up with a clear vision, and deploy tech to execute it, will score big.

We started by focusing solely on social impact and wanting to multiply it. By reinforcing the startup with technology – undoubtedly the biggest differentiator out there – we found we could do more and make even more of an impact.  To everyone looking to set off on a similar journey, I would say one thing: ideas should constantly be challenged and confronted with the needs of the market or the industry – because it just might take you on a path you never expected to follow.

Robots, apps, and ventilators: How Indian startups are fighting coronavirus

Entrepreneurs and innovators across India have responded quickly to the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A host of new innovations, some emerging from start-ups that have been incubated by universities, have appeared in recent weeks.

There are a number of reasons for the quick response, including the urgency of the humanitarian situation and a proactive approach to crowdsourcing ideas from the government. India also has a wealth of trained engineering talent and helps foster what’s called jugaad – a frugal innovation mindset to find hacks to problems with limited resources.

Robots, apps, and ventilators

Around the world, social distancing and contact tracing have been the buzzwords of the response to COVID-19. A particular problem as lockdowns begin to ease will be how to stop the virus spreading in public spaces such as airports or bus stations. Asimov Robotics, a start-up based in Kerala, has deployed robots at entrances to office buildings and other public places to dispense hand sanitizer and deliver public health messages about the virus.

Robots developed by Asimov Robotics are also being deployed in hospital isolation wards to carry food and medicines, which eases the pressure on medical staff.

In early April, the Indian government launched a COVID-19 tracking app called Aarogya Setu which uses GPS and Bluetooth to inform people when they are at risk of exposure to COVID-19. The app was launched before a similar initiative from tech giants Google and Apple got off the ground.

Start-ups including KlinicApp and Practo, are providing COVID-19 tests at home and online consultation with doctors through their platform.

In response to the shortage of ventilators for critical care, start-ups such as Nocca Robotics (incubated at Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)-Kanpur), Aerobiosys Innovations (incubated at IIT Hyderabad) and AgVa Healthcare are developing low-cost, easy-to-use, and portable ventilators that can be deployed even in rural areas of India. These ventilators would need medical regulatory approval before they could be deployed.

Start-ups are also supporting the government’s public information campaign on coronavirus by developing technology platforms to disseminate government notifications. The Kerala state government launched an app called GoK-Kerala Direct using a platform developed by QKopy. It sends COVID-19 updates and travel information via phone notifications, and via SMS to older phones for the less than half of India’s population without smartphones . These messages are delivered both in English and in Malayalam, the local language.

The hygiene of public spaces is another area of notable innovation. Start-ups such as Aqoza technologies and PerSapien claim they have developed chemical formulations that disinfect public spaces. Aqoza’s approach, developed during an outbreak of Nipah virus in Kerala in 2018, is a water-based sanitizer disinfectant, while Airlens minus Corona from PerSapien is a machine which the company claims dispenses ionized water droplets to oxidize the viral protein.

Another startup, Droom, claims it has come up with a special anti-microbial coating called Corono Shield, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, yeast, moulds, and mildew on the surfaces of vehicles. It is being tested by police in Gurugram in Haryana state.

Start-ups such as Marut Dronetech have partnered with state governments to test the use of drones to monitor adherence to social distancing rules. Drones are also being used to deliver medical supplies and even check people’s temperature using thermal imaging .

Connecting people

My conversations with some of these entrepreneurs and innovators from India have highlighted a good example of the triple helix model of innovation , integrating efforts between universities, industries (start-ups) and the government, in response to COVID-19. Although the active involvement of engineering volunteers from universities and industry is the lifeblood of these innovations, two other enabling factors are also particularly crucial.

First, the intermediary organizations helping to bring the three groups together. For instance, the national government’s Department of Science and Technology has set up a task force to map technologies developed by start-ups related to COVID-19. It is also funding start-ups to develop relevant innovations such as rapid testing for the virus .

Another example is that of the Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM), a government-supported entrepreneurship development agency. It launched initiatives such as “ Breath of Hope ” which brings together an interdisciplinary volunteer team of IT professionals, biomedical engineers and doctors to develop innovative medical devices. Start-ups such as Asimov Robotics and QKopy are part of KSUM.

Crowdsourcing ideas

Second, crowdsourced platforms have also proved to be an important channel for bringing together the wisdom from universities, industry and government. The national government launched the COVID-19 solution challenge on March 16 that invites innovators to offer ideas and solutions for tackling the pandemic. Industry associations such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry collaborated in an online hackathon to develop non-medical solutions for COVID-19.

Similar crowdsourced platforms from start-up incubators such as BreakCorona received 1,300 ideas and 180 product solutions within two days of launch. In another effort, volunteers have set up an online crowdsourced portal called Coronasafe-Network , a real-time open-source public platform containing details on COVID-19 precautions, tools and responses which serves as a useful starter-kit for innovators.

India needs to sustain and enhance this entrepreneurial mindset to create the next wave of innovation to continue the fight against COVID-19 and for the socio-economic recovery once lock-down restrictions begin to ease.

This article is republished from The Conversation by Sreevas Sahasranamam , Chancellor’s Fellow (Lecturer) in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership, University of Strathclyde under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

How tech firms can drive growth — without making inequality worse

For many cities, tech hubs have been a key to jump starting economic growth in the wake of the global financial crisis. In an era of uncertainty, tech-sector growth is proving to be a driving force for nations attempting to reach into the “ next economy ”. In the UK, for instance, the sector is – optimistically – predicted to grow four times faster than GDP, while tech job growth is expected to outperform all other occupation categories by 2020.

By traditional measures of a successful economy – jobs and wages – this is a welcome development. But there is a growing body of evidence which suggests that the growth of the tech sector in cities is associated with increased economic segregation . And while it’s true that, in general, large, successful, high-growth cities tend to have high rates of economic segregation, areas with tech hubs seem to experience this effect more markedly.

Broadening the benefits

Studies have found that the share of tech jobs a city has is positively associated with income inequality: so, the higher the proportion of tech employment in a city, the more unequal it is. In short, pessimistic analyses suggest that a technology-driven economy greatly favors a small group of talented and lucky individuals, while bringing little benefit to others.

This trend is being borne out in international tech hubs. Tech growth in San Francisco’s Bay Area has driven property prices to levels far out of kilter with the average local salary, and is pricing out smaller firms. Meanwhile, in London, tech growth has increased the cost of living in parts of the city. Coupled with a shortage of housing options and office space, this has led to both smaller firms and households being displaced from central areas.

The gentrification of formerly industrial areas has been a particular issue in recent years. The introduction of permitted development rights has placed the need for new homes in direct competition with the demand for business space. But now, a new report from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) argues that this need not be the case.

The impact that tech enterprises have on a city is grounded in the choices we make as a society. The question is: as the tech industry grows, how can we increase the opportunities on offer, for the greatest number of people?

Wider opportunities

The marked growth of the tech sector and its resources – and the profitability of many tech firms – means that there is more that these businesses can to do address the challenges facing local economies where they are based. Local and national governments have an important role to play in all this. Pursuing a tech growth agenda may well lead to overall gains. But policy makers must combine this agenda with efforts to ensure that these gains are shared, if they are to address longer-term city challenges.

The RTPI report argues that cities experiencing tech sector growth, and the infrastructure challenges that go with it, cannot simply rely on existing planning and tax obligations. Instead, authorities should put together a clear city technology plan, which takes the potential for wider benefits of tech sector growth into account.

Such a plan could clearly lay out the longer-term challenges faced by the city and possible alignments that exist between tech firms’ resources and public policy challenges. Not all tech growth involves new development, and many of the potential benefits are social rather than financial in nature. And measures can be taken to secure these benefits, rather than simply hoping tech growth will naturally spillover to the local economy.

One obvious solution is to up-skill the local community. One of the biggest problems facing the tech sector is a shortage of coders and software developers. Many tech firms’ city centre locations place them close to relatively deprived communities, so why not make the local community tech literate, in order to deliver the skills tech firms need? For instance, Hackney Community College in London has started an apprenticeship scheme with local tech firms, to both grow the local skills base, and help meet the demands of the sector.

Another option is to collaborate with tech firms in urban regeneration projects. Tech firms and employees display a preference for easily accessible, walkable, multi-use districts. This provides a clear opportunity to reconfigure urban areas. In some cities, previously industrial districts are undergoing physical transformations, alongside economic ones. Well planned regeneration projects will make use of consultations to involve the views of the local community. This is a crucial part of the process, in order to avoid displacing local residents and businesses.

Finally, local governments can employ a team to engage with the sector. In order to attract and harness the growth of the tech sector, it is crucial to get a sense of what these firms want from the city. Dublin’s commissioner for startups and Amsterdam’s chief technology officer are two newly devised roles that provide interesting models in this context.

The tech sector is likely to continue growing well into the future. Yet the benefits are not always shared. But there’s huge potential for mutual economic and social support between a city and its tech sector. This potential should be nurtured into a collaborative relationship, which achieves economic growth that everyone can benefit from.

This article is republished from The Conversation by Neil Lee , Assistant Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics and Political Science under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .