Microsoft, US Partner To Expand Computer Globally

Group seeks to spur economic growth and better health across continents

Microsoft, U.S. Agencies Partner To Expand Computer Use Globally

The U.S. public and private sectors have joined to promote the use of computer technology in development around the world, especially in such areas as economic growth, governance, education and youth employment.

The five-year, public-private partnership among the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Microsoft Corporation aims to "catalyze the global community to address the diverse social and business challenges faced by those who currently receive few or no benefits from technology," according to an October 22 joint press release.

In addition to disaster response, humanitarian assistance and health, the collaboration's core development objectives include:

• Promoting a clean, sustainable environment by focusing on climate change and other environmental problems

• Enabling access to quality education through dynamic technologies and resources

• Enabling economic development through digital technology, local innovation, access to credit and job opportunities; and

• Promoting enhanced government service delivery, engagement with civil society, transparency, rule of law, human rights, attention to child Internet trafficking and protection issues, and strong intellectual property rights.

"Government assistance alone will not lift countries out of poverty and bring lasting prosperity to the poor," John Danilovich, MCC's chief executive officer, said. "The private sector has a tremendous role to play."

MCC is a U.S. government corporation established on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people that promote economic growth. PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever made by a single nation to address a specific international health issue.

"In this age of increasing interconnectedness, this global collaboration with Microsoft will help to mobilize ideas and resources, skills and technologies to spur innovation and deliver results far more efficiently and effectively than ever before," said Henrietta Fore, acting administrator of USAID, a U.S agency that provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.

The partnership will enable local innovation, improve credit access and job opportunities, and enhance government-service delivery, engagement with civil society, transparency, rule of law and intellectual property protection, according to the release.

The partnership's first project involves an alliance among Microsoft, USAID and the Indonesia Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness Development Activity (or SENADA), a USAID-sponsored project. The partners will sponsor iMULAI, a national business innovation competition and awards program to promote innovation to business entrepreneurs and the general public in Indonesia. The competition also seeks to expand Indonesia's global information technology competitiveness.

"Microsoft believes in enabling new innovative avenues of social and economic empowerment," said Gerri Elliott, a Microsoft vice president of its public-sector arm. To accomplish that goal, Microsoft has committed to strengthen its "Unlimited Potential" program to help people "underserved by technology overcome the barriers to social and economic empowerment," according to the release.

Microsoft is a U.S. multinational computer technology corporation with 79,000 employees in 102 countries and global annual revenue of about $51 billion. Through its Unlimited Potential initiative, the company says it seeks to open new avenues of social and economic opportunity to the estimated 5 billion people who have yet to realize the benefits of technology.

The corporation started its Unlimited Potential program in 2007 to help create opportunities for stable social and economic development for people around the world who have no access to the advanced technologies today.

ENDS

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