The numbers scream hell: Two billion people in the world don't get enough to eat, approximately one billion live on less than a dollar a day and every year 1.4 million children die because they lack sanitary conditions and access to clean water. Nearly 90 percent of the world's population is cut off from goods and services that the well-off 10 percent accept as normal.
Stats like that would make anyone put their head in their hands. For a handful of humanitarians, it was motivation to put their heads to work. Art curator Cynthia E. Smith, inspired by International Development Enterprises founder Paul Polak and his recent book Out of Poverty, organized the exhibition Design for the Other 90%.
The exhibition began at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City last year and is currently at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis through September 7. "What's interesting is how these designers are working. They're not just linked to current technology -- they're sampling technology through time," said Smith.
Many of the exhibit's highlights are also Tech Museum Award laureates, recognized as technology that benefits humanity. Here are ten technological innovations that have been changing lives:
1. Action Pack Block Press
Nonprofit KickStart began in Kenya, promoting sustainable economic growth through affordable innovative tools. The organization's block press, being used throughout Africa, packs a soil and cement mixture into blocks hardy enough to use for construction. With the mechanism, one cement bag makes more than 100 bricks and it works fast enough to crank out 500 bricks daily.
2. MoneyMaker Hip Pump
A fifth of the world's population lacks access to clean drinking water. KickStart's treadle pumps pull water from deep in the earth with minimal effort. This hip pump is a lightweight solution for farmers who need to irrigate acres of crops. Thousands of farmers in Africa and China have used them to climb out of poverty.
3. LifeStraw
Thousands die daily from ingesting contaminated water. Vestergaard Frandsen, a Danish textile company, collected a raft of awards last year for their mega-filtration LifeStraw, which can turn muddy puddles into safe drinking water. The blue straw removes waterborne diseases and miniscule particles, halting the spread of illness in its dirty tracks.
4. PermaNet
Malaria steals millions of lives every single year. PermaNet is a mesh mosquito netting designed by Danish company Vestergaard Frandsen that has insecticide impregnated into its yarn, making it effective even after many washes. The treated nets repel and kill mosquitoes for several years. In addition to PermaNet, the company makes an insecticide-treated plastic sheeting for emergency shelters called ZeroFly.
5. Solar Aid
The vast majority of people with hearing problems live in developing areas but lack the resources to buy expensive replacement batteries for their hearing aids. The Solar Aid recharger, created by Godisa Technologies, recharges the devices using sunlight. Currently more than 7,000 of them are turning up the volume for the hard of hearing in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America.
