Use Technology to Disrupt Poverty

[Commentary] “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” That catchphrase came to mind recently when the United Nations announced ­­that world leaders have committed to 17 global goals to achieve three important objectives: ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and injustice and fixing climate change. Since the announcement of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, leaders from the public and private sectors (including government officials, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, academicians and business CEOs) have set out an ambitious course of action to solve the world’s toughest problems, ranging from health care to hunger to clean water. Regrettably, Silicon Valley and America’s leading technology companies are not yet full participants in this effort.

So much more can be accomplished once American technology companies truly engage. Yes, a few tech companies such as Facebook and Google, are active and engaged, but far too few. Technology will not provide silver bullets for the world’s problems. But technology can shorten timelines, reduce costs and improve outcomes for almost all of the Global Goals.

[Larry Irving is a co-founder of the Mobile Alliance for Global Good, a non-profit focused on the use of mobile technologies for societal gain. He served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton-Gore Administration and was a principal architect of its Internet and technology policies]