How to solve real problems with the use of technology? That is the central question of the ongoing campaign of the Vodafone Foundation in The Netherlands, called the Mobiles for Good-challenge. Waag has been involved as a partner in the four years that the campaign is running.
The first challenges in 2012 and 2013 were aimed specifically at health care solutions. But since 2014, the challenge has been widened to innovation in the broadest sense of the word.
The possibilities of mobile technology
On 28 January 2016, the last edition was closed for the six winning teams of 2015. Each of them presented their project, and the Red Cross and Vodafone also showed what mobile technology can do, in a project where they offers refugees the possibility to contact family member that remained in their country of origin. A practical example, but most participants in the challenge are not so far yet in their implementation.
The newborn social entrepeneurs showed a variety of applications, ranging from an app for the daily care of family members (Fello), educational toys for children with autism to name their surroundings (LINKX) to the support of people with a physical limitation who are looking for the fitting care solution (Mentelity). Mobiles for Good offers them a opportunity to bring their product or service to a higher level and a promising future in the field of social inovation.
