The Neutral Development Project

In late July The Economist published an article entitled “A Computer in Every Pot”, which talks about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, an initiative to provide a low-cost laptop to the poorest children in the most austere locations. The effort has been spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Here is a key exerpt describing the project:

…This week sees the realisation of Mr. Negroponte’s five-year dream. After field testing in Nigeria and Brazil, the OLPC project’s first model, a rugged little green laptop called the XO that can run on batteries, solar power, a miniature windmill or hand- or foot-crank, goes into mass production. Schoolchildren in developing countries will start receiving the remarkable computer from October onwards.

The first batch is being supplied to some 30 of the world’s poorest countries for $176 apiece. As production builds up at Quanta, the huge Taiwanese laptop-maker that is producing the machine for OLPC, Mr Negroponte hopes to drive the unit cost down to $100.

It is no secret that the presence of education in a society is one of the most essential elements necessary for basic economic development. Thanks to the OLPC, “economically deprived children will have the chance to feel the exhilaration of computer-based learning”. To say that we at NDP are impressed would be an understatement.

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