Nominet Tech 100 celebrates digital social innovation on a global scale. The 2015 NT100 has recently been revealed, which I will share with you, in detail, at the end of the article, but please bear with me, as I’d like to highlight some of the amazing achievements of the people and organisations who are using digital technology to change the world for the better.
Each year, the NT100 brings together 100 of the world’s most inspiring examples of social innovation, where digital technologies have been used to tackle a significant social challenge.
The Key stats:
- 100 ventures
- Addressing 8 social challenges
- Founded in 26 countries
- Ventures operating in 70 countries, across every single continent
- Projects are being deployed in both developed and emerging markets.
Leveraging innovative technologies for social good:
- The use of physical computing such as robotics and 3D-printing to solve social problems is a dominant theme this year; 44 ventures cover physical computing in some way – the highest penetration of tech type on the list
- Internet (35 projects) and mobile (42 projects) continue to be vital to solving social issues
- Over a quarter of all ventures (26) involve the use of data, demonstrating its growing importance in solving social issues from corporate transparency to e-democracy
- The growth of wearable technology is supporting solutions for social good projects worldwide, 13 ventures on the 2015 NT100 use wearable technology to drive better health outcomes
- Solar energy is being utilised across Africa and the US to power homes, mobile phone networks and medical devices. There are 5 solar-powered ventures in total
Across the world’s developed and emerging markets
The NT100 highlights how technology is driving social innovation, not just in traditional western hubs, but also in emerging markets. The 2015 NT100 projects are benefitting diverse communities in more than 70 countries, which you can view on a global scale by viewing the NT100 map.
- Technology is being developed for a variety of communities, both large and small, with 9 ventures specifically supporting rural populations and 10 projects solving issues in urban areas
- Mobile continues to be a dominant technology in solving social issues in emerging markets. There are 13 ventures actively using mobile in Africa – up from 9 last year – and 15 in Asia
- The use of geolocation is also continuing to rise in Africa with 11 out of 16 geolocation projects live across the continent; 9 are live in Asia
- Europe and the US continue to be a hotbed for social innovation
- Physical computing – 32 of 42 physical computing ventures were developed in Europe (17) and the US (15)
- Internet – 28 of 35 internet ventures were developed in Europe or the US (14 in each country)
- The UK is playing a pivotal role in driving solutions to social problems with 30 ventures on the list. It is showing particular dominance in mobile and physical computing with UK ventures making up almost a quarter of solutions in both categories
- However, technology is also fostering social entrepreneurs in less developed markets like Africa, Asia and South America; 23 ventures on the 2015 NT100 were developed in these markets
Responding to global pressures
The 2015 NT100 demonstrates the role of technology in solving some of the biggest on-going challenges faced globally, as well as some of the core issues hitting the headlines in the past 12 months.
- Health (31 ventures), civic empowerment (21) and access to knowledge (13) are the most dominant challenges addressed in the 2015 NT100
- Four ventures specifically offer solutions to help deal with the refugee crisis
- Eleven ventures support emergency responses to natural disasters such as the Nepal earthquake
- Two ventures help to protect wildlife following several high profile poaching incidents this year i.e. Cecil the Lion
Techfugees: Harnessing the power of the tech community to help refugees
In brief: The 2015 NT100 is as follows:
| NT100 Venture | Brief description |
| #endFGM | The Guardian’s online campaign to end FGM |
| 7 Cups of Tea | Free, anonymous and confidential online emotional support service that connects users to volunteers |
| Aid Maps | Tracking aid distribution to people living in poverty or affected by disaster |
| Air Quality Egg | Community monitoring network for air quality, collecting data to generate a crowdsourced map showing global air quality. |
| AkiraChix | A training programme to get women from Nairobi slums into tech |
| Andiamo | 3D-printed orthotics for young people |
| Aparito | Wearable tech for health monitoring of rare diseases |
| Azuri PayGo | A new-generation of off-grid solar technology |
| Be My Eyes | An app that allows a blind person to ask a question of a sighted volunteer by video-call |
| Beat the Street | Community game to promote physical activity |
| BehavioSec | Using ‘Behavioural Biometrics’ to track website users, protecting millions of people from financial fraud |
| Beyond 12 | Social software to help students complete college |
| BioSerenity | A smart healthcare solution for the diagnosis and monitoring of epilepsy |
| BioStamp | Biometrics-monitoring stick-on tattoo |
| Braci | The ‘smart ear’ – a suite of apps that turn your phone or tablet into a ‘smart ear’ that listens on your behalf and sends you messages to notify you of particular sounds. |
| Brain Network Activation (BNA™) | Making breakthroughs in the field of neurological mapping, helping the medical world to understand and correctly diagnose brain dysfunction. |
| Buddy | The companion robot accessible to everyone |
| Busuu | The free language-learning community |
| CardioPad | Africa’s first medical tablet – improving the chances of Cameroonians with heart disease |
| ChangeAlert | Improving incontinence care by alerting carers when an incontinence pad needs to be changed |
| CrowdVoice.org | Using crowdfunding to make justice accessible to all |
| CycleEye | Helping lorry drivers identify cyclists |
| DemocracyOS | A collaborative, open source decision-making platform used by governments, individual parliamentarians and political groups to host debate on new laws and bills. |
| Digital Green | Sharing knowledge through video across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa |
| doctHERS | Connecting female doctors to hard-to-reach female patients in Pakistan |
| Ekso GT | The wearable bionic suit that helps with rehabilitation |
| Embrace | A watch that monitors physiological signals in people with autism and epilepsy |
| eSight | Digital eyewear for people with low vision |
| Esoko | An online platform and SMS messaging to empower farmers in Africa with market knowledge |
| EveryLayer | Faster, better, cheaper broadband for everyone, everywhere. |
| Experiment | Crowdfunding platform for scientific research |
| exVive3D™ | Bioprinted human tissue models – technology that builds functional tissue to enable data to be captured safely in controlled environments during trials. |
| Flowy | A smartphone game to combat panic attacks |
| Gene-RADAR | A portable nanotechnology platform |
| GiftedMom | Helping pregnant women and new mothers in Cameroon by receiving important advice by text message |
| GiveVision | Helping the blind and visually impaired with an app installed on a wearer’s device – providing feedback on the space around them. |
| Global Forest Watch | Monitoring the world’s forests in near real time using high-resolution aerial imagery from NASA’s Landsat satellite. |
| GoodSAM | An app that uses smart mapping technology to allow users to see if there is someone nearby who could help in an emergency. |
| Google Ebola-proof tablet | A specialised polycarbonate, wireless Android tablet dipped in chlorine to allow sterilisation. |
| GyroGlove | A gyroscopic glove to help hand tremors, including those living with Parkinson’s disease. |
| Hack the Hood | A USA project tacking unemployment by giving young people of colour the training and opportunities they need to find jobs in tech. |
| HALO | HALO uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote sensing platforms to gather aerial images of disaster zones. |
| Hashtag Charity | A platform that links charities in need of tech with IT professionals who want to volunteer their time and specific skills. |
| Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team | Rapidly delivering accurate maps to field workers |
| iBrailler | A note-taker app for touchscreens for the visually impaired |
| INSPIRE | Portable paediatric vitals- an early-stage company who have developed a portable device that measures a baby’s vital statistics. |
| Instant Detect | A conservation system monitoring wildlife through satellite imagery |
| Kgolagano | Using TV white space to provide remote medical care in Botswana |
| Labor Link | Anonymous factory worker feedback through texting |
| LibraryBox | A small, portable device that acts as a WiFi hub. |
| Lifelites | Magical technology for children in hospices |
| mCARE | Enhancing survival of high-risk neonates in rural south Asia |
| MicroMappers (QCRI) | Digital humanitarians – using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for early assessment of disaster zones. |
| m-Indicator | An app helping 9,000,000 commuters with travel information and collecting transit data from India’s cities. Now helping vulnerable female commuters with safety features. |
| M-KOPA Solar | Delivering pay-as-you-go energy to off-grid homes especially Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda |
| MOM | The inexpensive portable inflatable incubator, helping babies born prematurely in conflict zones. |
| Open Bionics | 3D-printed bionic hands |
| OpenOil | Bringing transparency to the industry by making data on oil companies freely available to all. |
| Pacifico | Helping communities prepare for natural disasters |
| PhilanthropyU | Free higher education online for people working for social good |
| Project Loon | Balloon-powered internet for everyone – increasing online access in developing countries with large air baloons |
| ProSehat | An online marketplace for pharmacies, ensuring patients in Indonesia get the treatment they need, when they need it |
| PulseGuard | Monitoring life-threatening heart rate changes from epileptic seizures |
| Quipu | A transmedia documentary giving a voice to Peru’s indigenous population |
| RAPID | Real-time anti-poaching intelligence device |
| Refugees on Rails | Teaching refugees to code on recycled laptops |
| Refugees Welcome | A German non-profit that matches refugees with people who have spare rooms in their homes |
| REFUNITE | Helping refugees find their friends and family |
| Safecity | Empowering women to share stories of harassment |
| SafeMotos | Making motorcycle taxis safer – a Rwandan initiative developed in response to worrying road death statistics across Africa |
| SafetiPin | An Indian start-up working to make the streets safer for women with an app that allows users to be tracked by their loved ones using GPS and mapping technology. |
| Safety Check | Communicating during disaster- enabling survivors to let their loved ones know they are ok |
| SCiO | A pocket molecular sensor for all – a handheld spectrometer that reads the chemical make-up of almost anything put in front of it, delivering the results straight to your smartphone. |
| Silent Herdsman | Sustainable farms – a device to monitor the health of livestock cattle, taking the form of a wearable collar placed on as many cows as the farmer desires |
| SMS in Somalia | Reaching the unreachable with SMS health messages |
| SnappCar | An online marketplace linking up car owners with their neighbours, tourists, and anybody who needs a rental in a community of collaborative drivers |
| SNIFFPHONE | A phone so smart, it sniffs out disease |
| Solar Suitcase | An economical, easy-to-use portable power unit that provides health workers with highly efficient medical lighting and power for mobile communication, laptops and small medical devices. |
| SolarDx | Enabling early infant diagnosis of HIV through an affordable, portable solar powered device. |
| Squirrel | A service that manages payroll and empowers employees to best use the money they’re earning. |
| Standard Cyborg | Affordable and waterproof prosthetic limbs |
| TalkLife | A peer-to-peer network for youth mental health |
| Tap4Life | Neonatal care and resuscitation support – a smartphone application that allows midwives to accurately measure a newborn’s heart rate |
| Task Squad | Matching young people with no employment background but relevant transferable skills with short term job opportunities. |
| TaskRabbit | Connecting you with help for small tasks – a platform that connects people who need services with freelancers ready to get the job done. |
| Techfugees | Harnessing the power of the tech community to help refugees |
| The Food Assembly | Social software providing direct access to local farmers and foodmakers |
| Thingful | The search engine for the Internet of Things |
| Tomnod | A DigitalGlobe community – a community of online volunteers who lend their eyes to scrutinise satellite imagery in the aftermath of a disaster, tagging potentially important areas so that responders on the ground can be deployed effectively |
| Totohealth | Transforming maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa with an SMS messaging health service |
| Tynker | Working with children aged 7+ in schools across the world to teach them how to code, create apps and build computer programs. |
| U-Report | A UNICEF initiative to give young people a platform to have their opinions heard and engage in political debate. Data is used to improve the work of UNICEF and its partners in the field. |
| Vital Herd | A Texan start-up who have developed an e-pill that monitors cattle health for dairy farming |
| Vodafone Foundation Instant Network Mini | The mobile phone network in a backpack, deploying technology to provide communications support in the aftermath of a natural disaster. |
| Vrse | Storytelling in Virtual Reality to inspire empathy |
| Wayfindr | A smartphone audio-based navigation app for visually impaired people |
| what3words | Addressing the problem of imperfect addresses by introducing an alternative system, seeking to save especially developing countries millions of pounds in wasted shipping costs, and potentially save lives in humanitarian situations. |
| Winsun | Addressing the global low-cost housing problem with 3D-printed housing |
| WREX | Robotic Exoskeleton to help children with neuromuscular disease |
| Zopa | A peer-to-peer lending in an alternative finance system |
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