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Search Results
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Research in ActionInformation and Communication Science and Technology
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Investigating the pros and cons of digital technologies
Investigating the pros and cons of digital technologies
“Did you know that people in some countries sacrifice bread and milk to buy mobile phone credit?” asks 2015 IDRC Research Award recipient Katie Clancy. This is one of the insights she gained while investigating whether hackathons could generate long-term technological solutions to development issues.
“There are really critical issues coming to the forefront of our society,” she says. “Digital technologies offer huge possibilities for improving the lives of people around the world.”
Once people get online, she explains, there is potential for innovation, accountability, for connecting across borders and transferring money in ways that would otherwise be impossible. “But,” she says, “there are very real downsides as well, including surveillance and security issues, and the very real possibility that technology is widening inequality between those who have access and those who don’t.”
“My experience at IDRC helped me delve into these critical issues, to learn from people who are leading these issues around the world,” she says. Along the way, she discovered that hackathons are not reliable models for solving development issues. “My work with IDRC has been life changing,” she says, “which is why I stayed at IDRC, continuing to work on open data issues.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Spurring Tanzania’s industrialization
Spurring Tanzania’s industrialization
“For countries to achieve significant levels of economic and human development, there has to be some industrialization,” says 2016 IDRC Research Award recipient Gussai Sheikheldin. “Some institutions within the state help steer the process.”
Public technology intermediaries (PTI), as they are called, have been an important part of Tanzania's national development efforts since the 1970s, he says. But while Tanzania is undergoing significant economic growth, the industrial sector is lagging. How can the country’s PTIs be revamped to spur innovation?
In working to find out, “I really learned a lot in terms of industrial policy and the various paths that countries take toward industrialization,” he says. “The research enhanced my knowledge and understanding of how industrialization takes place, particularly for low-income countries that are pushing to get to the middle-income, semi-industrialized level.”
“The main purpose of the findings is to share them with Tanzanian public technology intermediaries,” says Sheikheldin. “If the research reaches the right people, the people who can actually use it, that will be sufficient for me.”
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Research in ActionInformation and Communication Science and Technology Economics GenderThe future of work
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PerspectivesFood and Agriculture Governance Science and Technology GenderInvest in women to reduce post-harvest losses
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Research in ActionScience and Technology Information and Communication GenderData to change the world
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PerspectivesHealth Development Science and Technology GenderEbola and beyond: How Canada backs African problem-solvers
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PerspectivesDevelopment Governance Health Science and TechnologyA win-win situation: More research in partnership with the developing world
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PerspectivesScience and Technology Development GenderLetting in the light: Science and democracy in the Muslim world
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Research in ActionGovernance Science and Technology GenderOpinion: Using digital tech to improve life for refugees
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Research in ActionScience and TechnologyCanada's cyber steward on digital espionage, democracy and protecting the Internet
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Research in ActionHealth Science and TechnologyLeveraging technology to reduce health inequities in Kenya
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Research in ActionScience and Technology Information and CommunicationDefusing the rumour mill, digitallyDate
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Research in ActionDevelopment Economics Environment Food and Agriculture Governance Health Information and Communication Natural Resources Science and TechnologyInnovative grants program teams up Canadian and Latin American researchersCanadian and Latin American researchers are jointly pursuing knowledge in a variety of disciplines, generating ideas and building international networks.Date
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Research in ActionDevelopment Economics Natural Resources Food and Agriculture Health Science and TechnologyCanada-Africa grants spur novel ideas, networksShort-term collaborations between Canadian and African researchers has generated compelling results on such pressing issues as maternal and child health, climate change impacts, and alternative energy sources. The Canada Africa Research Exchange Grants (CAREG) program fostered collaborations between researchers in seven African countries and counterparts at universities in Ontario, Québec, and Manitoba. Managed by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) with financial support from IDRC, CAREG set out to strengthen international partnerships and emerging networks involving African and Canadian academic researchers.Date
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Research in ActionInformation and Communication Science and TechnologyInfluencing pro-poor telecommunication policies in AsiaDate
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Research in ActionScience and TechnologySmart sustainable citiesThe global urban population is expected to grow by 63 percent between 2014 and 2050 – compared to an overall global population growth of 32 percent during the same period. Megacities with over 20-million inhabitants will see the fastest increase in population – and at least 13 new megacities are expected by 2030, in addition to the 28 existing today. The fastest growing urban centres contain around one-million inhabitants, and are located in lower-middle-income countries in Asia and Africa.Date
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Research in ActionInformation and Communication Science and Technology Development GenderNew books highlight diverse ways ICTs contribute to development
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Research in ActionHealth Science and Technology Social PolicyMathematical modelling informs HIV prevention policy in China
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Research in ActionEconomics Development Governance Social Policy Science and TechnologyBetter urban design a possible solution to reducing crime in Ghana's communities
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BooksInformation and Communication Science and TechnologyLinking Universities and Marginalised Communities: South African Case Studies of Innovation Focused on Livelihoods in Informal SettingsPublication Date
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BooksInformation and Communication Science and Technology Economics DevelopmentDeveloping National Systems of Innovation: University-Industry Interactions in the Global SouthPublication Date