The Technology Solution

I should be a technology skeptic. The first time I met my
father-in-law, a former engineer in the Apollo space program, he told me that
satellites would soon eliminate illiteracy by beaming daily lessons to
villagers around the world. As a business reporter, I wrote countless stories
on how the internet would make all of our lives better.

Today, were having trouble educating kids in Seattle, let
alone in villages in India. And while the internet has made companies more
profitable by enabling them to do more with fewer people, it has also
contributed to our high level of unemployment.

Still, I remain a hopeless optimist. I was thrilled when
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Everett-based Intermec, told me about new mobile devices
that were turning blue-collar delivery people into white-collar workers by
enabling them to take inventory, market products and even complete financial
transactions.

Brigit Helms, who was CEO of Unitus until the microfinance
company closed its doors in July, told me of a company in Kenya working on
technology that allows city workers to send money to their families in rural
villages by transferring prepaid minutes from one phone to another. Those
prepaid minutes can then be cashed in at a village general store. Helms sees
the potential for an entire mobile phone-based financial infrastructure that
encourages savings and responsible borrowing in the developing world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of course, is
teeming with cool ideas. It offers $100,000 grants on the basis of simple,
two-page proposals. Ideas that produce results after one year may receive a
follow-on grant of $1 million.

Critics say we should focus on making clean water more
available in the developing world. Thats one good idea. But the world needs
many approaches to solving problems.

The Gates Foundation is part of a growing ecosystem of
global health companies in our region that is coming up with new approaches to
fighting disease. PATH, a Seattle-based organization, has helped develop a new
vaccine to fight meningitis A, a disease that has a devastating impact on the
people and economies of southern Africa. PATH, working with the World Health
Organization, has a plan to vaccinate millions of people across southern Africa
starting in December, with hopes of eliminating the disease entirely.

Chances are not all of these approaches will live up to
their promise. But if even some of them work, the impact could be significant.

A regions success, its ability to attract talent and capital,
depends in large part on how the world sees it. Seattle, which now has a
reputation for innovations in coffee, software and airplanes, is developing a
reputation as a source for innovations in global health. As a region we are
demonstrating the power of ideas. What a great place to be.

Leslie D. Helm

Editor