The initiative will work by grants from the company to small businesses, schools and entrepreneurs to help in the development of their community and enhance education levels.
Microsoft is focusing on the fact that 57 percent of the world doesn’t have Internet access on a day-to-day basis, with the main objective of providing education and bettering the lives of millions living in rural areas.
“Local entrepreneurs stand a better chance of understanding local needs, and have the expertise to create new technologies and business models to meet those needs, taking into account market conditions,” stated Paul Garnett Microsoft’s director of the Affordable Acces Initiative.
The company is hoping this movement will help local communities to innovate in their locations, inspire more civilians to access online education, create new companies in local areas and serve as a resource for medical opinions, between other characteristics.
An innovative solution for growing markets
The Affordable Access Initiative seeks to create new ways to connect the world thanks to Microsoft’s partners in different areas of the world. The company’s help will be provided in four different ways that include commercial partnerships, global impact grants, connecting new leaders and community engagement.
Throughout unused TV spaces or TV ‘White’ spaces the company hopes to provide sustainable and affordable internet along with their commercial partners, helping with relevant solutions in the location.
Watch how this organization is tapping unused TV channels to bring affordable Internet to rural Kenya.https://t.co/FiZOsaKfQT
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 24, 2016
Microsoft designed its Community Engagement plan which will work with services like the company’s “Public cloud for public good” a service that provides an investment of $1 billion in cloud services to different nonprofit organizations, universities, researchers and school for the next three years.
The public cloud for public good services will also be working along with safe internet resources and programs focused on education such as the YouthSpark. Microsoft hopes this project will guarantee technology to more people than ever.
Other help includes the ‘Connecting new leaders’ project that contains summits from peers and mentors from the company to different communities thanks to virtual talks with the Microsoft Research and development team.
The Global Impact Grants plan includes a Microsoft partnership with twelve different companies from different countries in five continents that will develop creative and innovative solutions to connect the world and facilitate different careers and works.
For example, the company has teamed up with an African energy company called ARED which is developing different connectivity markets throughout solar energy. Cities such as Kigali, Nyabugogo in Rwanda and others will be provided with solar kiosks that could work for phone charging, mobile money, data connection, between many other uses.
Microsoft cloud services will be used by a partner company called Vista Botswana that will help to create medical records and health information on the cloud for mobile devices and doesn’t need a constant internet connection.
Other technology giants such as Facebook and Google are currently working on projects to provide Internet connection to the world, yet these projects are ambitious and work in bigger ways, mostly throughout satellite technology.
Microsoft hopes this innovation will help in the Internet globalization to rural and small communities and supports education.
Source: Microsoft