Center for Social Innovation (CSI): Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.

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

The Tech Awards presented by Applied Materials is a signature program of The Tech Museum in association with the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University. Every year individuals are selected out of over 1,000 nominations sent from all over the world. Laureates are divided into six categories: Environment, Education, Young Innovator, Health, Economic Development, and Sustainable Energy. There are 2 Laureates selected for each category. At the annual gala, all 12 Laureates are honored and in each category one will be awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $75,000 and one awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $25,000

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Mobile and Branchless Banking

[photo - Abhishek Sinha]

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

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Solar Power in a Suitcase

[photo - Photo: Aronson and Stachel]

What good is new energy technology if it can't be transported to the regions where it is most needed? In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman talks with Laura Stachel and Hal Aronson, co-founders of WE CARE Solar, about the international journey that led them to create one of the world's most portable solar energy systems. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Nokia Health Award, these two innovators work to bring reliable power to health care facilities all over the world.

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Sustainable Water Treatment

[photo - Picture: Daniel Smith]

How can a young nonprofit organization make a tangible improvement in people's health through clean water using only the power of gravity? This was the challenge for Daniel Smith and the AguaClara team when they began work to introduce community-level drinking water treatment plants in Honduras. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman learns from the 2011 Intel Environment Award winners about the importance of using local resources and experts to encourage horizontal learning.

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Leveraging Online Collaboration

[photo - Dean Jansen]

How can nonprofit and crowdsourcing experts collaborate to make media more accessible? In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman talks to Dean Jansen, co-Founder of Universal Subtitles, a volunteer platform for doing collaborative subtitling and translation of videos. As the winner of The Tech Awards 2011 Katherine M. Swanson Equality Award, Jansen discussed Universal Subtitles' current challenges and future potential in leveraging internet volunteerism.

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Teaching with Interactive Simulations

[photo - Katherine Perkins]

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The Peer Water Exchange: A Platform for Change

The Peer Water Exchange (PWX) demonstrates how new media and peer interaction can help solve the global water and sanitation crisis by empowering communities. A platform that relies on peer review and collaboration, the PWX has managed tens of thousands of grassroots water projects in over 23 countries. Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with Rajesh Shah, 2010 Intel Environmental category Tech Award winner, who conceived this social innovation.

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Local Clean Energy for All

[photo - Picture: Belonio]

As half of the world struggles to meet energy needs at a reasonable price and the other half strives to develop cleaner energy solutions, Alexis Belonio does both. In this interview by Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, we hear from Alexis Belonio, of the Center for Rice and Husk Technology, as he joins the Prize Laureates from the 2010 Tech Museum Awards. He discusses how he is changing the world by providing a clean burning and accessible source of energy for all.

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Safe Water in Communities

[photo - Picture: Lee]

Though the resources may be adequate in the Philippines, 13 million people do not have access to clean and safe water due to issues of infrastructure. In this audio interview, Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with A Single Drop for Safe Water (ASDSW) Executive Director Kevin Lee, the 2010 Tech Award winner in the Equality category. He shares their social entrepreneurship model prioritizing effective water and sanitation systems in communities.

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Developing Through Mobile Phones

[photo - Sara Chamberlain]

"People can learn from mobile phones," says Sara Chamberlain, Head of Interactive for BBC World Trust and developer. She launched BBC Janala to "raise the language skills of 25 million people in Bangladesh by 2017". She speaks with host Sheela Sethuraman about how 3 million people already started learning English with in some cases the most basic handsets. According to Chamberlain, making English accessible affordably could be "a ticket out of poverty" for the people of Bangladesh.

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Innovations in Global Health

[photo - Picture: Mannar]

A breakthrough for global health: double fortified salt has been recognized as a social innovation that delivers small but crucial daily amounts of iodine and iron to individuals at a very low cost. In this audio interview, Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with Venkatesh Mannar, 2010 Tech Award winner in Health, as he shares his process of bringing this innovation from lab to market, with the potential to reach billions of people worldwide.

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Providing Environmental Sustainability Solutions

[photo - Rolf Papsdorf]

The unique advantages of zinc air fuel cells have been harnessed as an environmental sustainability measure to deliver reliable, renewable, and affordable electricity to rural communities off the grid. In this audio interview, Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with 2009 Tech Award winner Rolf Papsdorf to find out how his company, Alternative Energy Development Corporation, combines sound economics, customer service, and social responsibility to tangibly improve the lives of people around the world.

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A Social Enterprise to Reduce Hunger in India

[photo - Madhu Sridhar]

Akshaya Patra USA is an innovative social enterprise, a food program that is changing the face of education in India. In this audio interview with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, President and CEO Madhu Sridhar talks about how the enterprise grew from a small organization to a massive, well-run entity. She discusses its noble goals and its strategically oriented approaches to meeting high-volume demand at low cost.

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Social Enterprise to Solve Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a prime target for social enterprise efforts. In this audio interview with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, Dipika Matthias talks about Ultra Rice, a technology developed by PATH in Seattle, which is being introduced to millions of families around the world with great health and productivity benefits. The project director talks about the genesis of the project, its progress so far, and where it is headed.

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Fair Wage Guide Software and Social Enterprise

Audrey Seagraves has a passion for international development and social enterprise. In this audio interview with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, the director of programs at World of Good talks about the creation of Fair Wage Guide software, a free tool that tells the viewer how wages being paid to any artisan worldwide compare to international wage standards.

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Environmental Sustainability for the Cheetah

[photo - Photo: Laurie Marker]

The threat of animal habitat loss is one of the major issues in the environmental sustainability arena. In this audio interview by Sheela Sethuraman, Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund talks about a multi-pronged effort including habitat restoration, resource management education, and job creation to address that threat to cheetas, in particular. She 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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about this podcast

Presented to you by Kriss Deiglmeier and Eric Nee, Social Innovation Conversations shares the voices of the people at the forefront of creating social and environmental change in the world. This podcast is the labor of love of a dedicated team of talented volunteers.

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