Preparing developing countries to face the new age of technology innovation

During the last few years the world has experienced a boom in technological innovation. Although the media mostly focus its attention on electronics (smartphones, wearable devices, among others), we have breakthroughs in different fields that can be sometimes unnoticed by the majority of people, are shaping and will continue changing our lives substantially.

McKinsey’s report Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, presented twelve technologies as potentially economically disruptive, indicating its possible impact on two categories: groups, products and resources; and pools of economic value. Four of them caught my particular attention, as I consider they should raise some concerns related to how they can increase the gap between people with access to certain resources and the ones without them. I will separate them in two categories: the mobile internet; and the automation of knowledge work, advanced robotics and 3D printing.

The mobile internet – or the empowered vantage

Access to internet and web presence can make a significant difference: more income, more resources for education, and more opportunities. A clear example of that is that it has been proven that being online; furthermore, having a good online reputation increases the demand on mostly every business [1], and by that generates more revenue for its owners.

Although access to this resource can potentially bring a variety of benefits, without a proper training and guidance, people will never realize its full potential.

The automation of knowledge work, advanced robotics and 3D printing – or replacing the manufacturing workers

This is an undeniable trend: many tasks formerly performed by humans are being automated and people are being replaced. While this fact might mean a cost reduction for a company, it is tied to a social impact, as people will potentially lose their jobs. In a perfect world, the employees would not be fired, but reassigned to positions that bring more value to the company, and require human skills that automation cannot replace. However, this would also imply further training and a more developed skillset of the mentioned workers.

Painting the current picture: a Latin American perspective

The changes I presented earlier converge on this: technology can have a significantly negative impact in societies without a democratized access to resources. I would like to create awareness around a specific one: the inequality gap widens when the resource in question is a proper education.

If we look how Latin America is doing on higher education, what we can find is very concerning numbers: less than one third of the population between 17 and 24 years is enrolled in post-secondary education [2]. This ciphers are even worse in Brazil, where it is below 20% [3].

Allying forces to empower people

It is true that governments are accountable for its people’s access to quality education, but this does not mean that they are the only agent that could take an active role in education. We also have to consider the fact that the scope of the changes they are able to execute take some time to produce an actual impact. On the other side we have private universities. They play an important role, but are almost exclusively for the ones that can afford the tuition. Who else could generate a tangible impact when it comes to education?

There is an interesting combination that has not yet been exploded: allying non-profits and businesses. How could this work? Many big companies have citizenship policies that shape their contribution with local communities. This efforts exist individually, and although they do generate impact for the people they work with, its scope is very narrow compared to what they could potentially achieve in a joint effort. Acting together, they can open the possibility of empowering people by training them in the use of leading, cutting edge technologies. And here is where NGOs could play their part. They could act as the bridge that connects those isolated efforts and put them together to reach more and more people. They can achieve a multiplying effort by making separate agents work together for a common goal.

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[1] Anderson and Magruder, Does Yelp Affect Restaurant Demand?. Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, University of California.

[2] Only 32.8% of Mexico’s population between 19 and 23 years are enrolled in higher education (Secretaría de Educación Pública: Sistema Educativo de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Principales Cifras Ciclo Escolar 2011 – 2012). In the case of Peru, 31.3% of women and 28% of men (INEI: PERÚ: Tasa de matrícula a educación superior de mujeres y hombres de 17 a 24 años de edad, según ámbito geográfico, 2013).  

[3] In Brazil, only 14% of women and 18% of men between 18 and 24 years do (IBGE: Uma análise das condições de vida da população brasileira 2014).