Changents Kopernik

Kopernik, an on-line store of technology designed for the developing world, is a brainchild of Ewa Wojkowska and Toshi Nakamura. Both of them have worked in international development for about a decade in various developing coutries, with local communities, government ministries, NGOs and donors. This experience exposed them to a wide range of issues from working, improving access to justice for the poor, public sector reform, elections, to recovery from the devastating earthquake and Tsunami. They have been privileged to work for the UN as well. However, during this journey both of them were often left with a feeling that things were being done the same old way that they’ve been done for years and the environment was not conducive to spur innovation. At the same time, they knew that in order for development to be more effective, new ideas and innovation were necessary. And in spite of all the innovation taking place in the private sector it never got assimilated in the developmental planning for the projects utilised in developing coutries.

Out of this restless feeling and drive to do something about it themselves spurred Kopernik, named after the great Polish scienctist, Copernicus. The story of its birth is probably best told in Ewa's own words from their Changents profile,

[...] then in early 2009, we came up with one model of solving long standing development problems by asking people of various professional backgrounds for bold ideas. The foundation of this model was a clear statement of issues, articulated by the communities in developing countries who are living with those problems.

But based on our own experience, we instinctively knew that it would be difficult to get a clear statement of challenges. We were stuck on this for a while.

One night, after some good food and some more good wine, at our place in Brooklyn, we suddenly came up with the idea of reversing the idea. Why don’t we start with the proven ‘solutions’, and let the communities (represented by local organisations) articulate instead how they want to use the solutions (technology) to solve their existing problems. This was a little ‘Copernican Revolution’ for us, as we are now starting with supply (menu of possible options to solve common development challenges) and then from here our partner organizations can articulate the demand. And given that so many challenges are common to many developing countries (lack of clean drinking water and lack of power supply for example) – we think it makes a lot of sense.

Honouring my Polish background we decided to name our venture ‘Kopernik’, the Polish name of this great Polish scientist.

And that’s how it all began.

I interviewed Ewa about their unique and ambitious venture, which in its early stages is definitely showing signs of being a big success, and I would like to share her answers with my readers below.
 

Q] When you started Kopernik, what was your expectation of response to this unique idea from your potential technological partners? Was the response better or worse than your expectation?

A] We were pretty confident about the idea, but of course we did not know for certain until we actually spoke to the technology providers. The response from them was overwhelmingly positive, as we directly address the two fundamental challenges they face. These challenges are limited distribution channels (Kopernik helps by connecting the technology providers to local organisations in developing countries in need of the technology) and price, which is frequently too high (by crowd funding and subsidising at least part of the cost of products and international shipping we enable more technology to reach those who need it). For them, Kopernik is a means to be able to scale more quickly, and eventually bring the price down to reach even more people.

Q] How has the response from the beneficiaries of these technologies been? The provision of the gadget or technology definitely improves the quality of living for them. However have you had an experience where this boost has encouraged them to lead a better life and take initiative for further improvement?

A] We conducted our pilot activities in Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and the response from the beneficiaries has been very positive. While at this early stage it might be premature to say whether our initiative has encouraged them to lead a better life, they immediately saw the benefit of the technology, and its transformative power on the way they live.

One thing that is very important to us is ensuring that the technology that we feature on Kopernik is effective and appropriate for a developing country context. So we also ask that each organization rates and provides feedback on the products that they have received.

Kopernik will conduct a sustainability review one to two years after completion of selected projects. We want to know what difference the technologies have made to people’s lives, whether they are still functioning and in use, and if not, why not.

Q] In your bio on the Changents website you mention about Kopernik, “The model has evolved almost daily and then in early 2009, we came up with one model of solving long standing development problems by asking people of various professional backgrounds for bold ideas.” This would help incredibly in making the ideological base of Kopernik very broad and hence for it to be able to offer diverse technological solutions. What are the different fields of expertise, backgrounds that these professionals come from? Does their expertise as “professionals” help in the operation of Kopernik?

A] The idea was to really to leverage the un-tapped capacity and competencies of engineers, doctors, business consultants, students, designers, and teachers etc. in solving development problems. While we have not implemented this idea, we are in the process of incorporating it into the current model. This will be mainly in the area of developing new appropriate technology that responds to the needs articulated by partner organizations/communities in developing countries. We would be happy to provide more info on this endeavor, once the idea has taken more shape.

Q] Can you explain a bit about ‘crowd-funded financial subsidies’ that Kopernik helps provide to those in need in the developing countries?

A] New technology, however useful it may be for the society, is often very expensive, and the free market mechanism does not necessarily bring such technology into the world. This is why government often provides subsidies for new technology, such as hybrid and electric cars. This market failure also applies to technology for the poor. Building on the collective power of individuals, Kopernik is providing micro-subsidies to the appropriate technology to scale and reach the people who need them the most.

Q] Given that it is a very new idea and initiative, what are Kopernik’s goal / vision for next 5 years in terms of outreach, both to technological partners and those who need those technologies? And how would you want anyone reading this interview to help Kopernik reach that goal, realise that vision?

A] We want to bring appropriate technology to benefit over one million people within 5 years. We are building networks with key universities such as MIT and organisations like Ashoka to identify and distribute emerging technologies that can change lives. We also work with NGO networks and are establishing relationships with overseas volunteer programs to identify and reach out to reliable and innovative NGOs so that we can reach more people and connect more technology to people who need them.

We are currently working with 'off the shelf' technology but will soon expand into supporting local level production of appropriate technology. Similarly, while we are currently using a donation/subsidy model we will soon introduce new service lines that include loans and lease-to-buy schemes.

As for what readers can do - two things:

1. Donate towards one of the following two proposals:

Provide Access to Clean Water

$6.50 will buy a life-straw for a displaced person in Sri Lanka and provide one person with safe drinking water for a whole year.

http://bit.ly/cFJh9X

Help provide clean light to students in rural Nigeria

$30 will buy a solar lamp for a student in rural Nigeria that will replace dirty, dangerous and expensive kerosene.

http://bit.ly/bGkL4e

2. And ask 5 of their friends to do the same!

http://www.thekopernik.org/