As the technology gap is broadening between wealthy communities and impoverished areas, innovators are finding new ways to bring to life ideas that are not only effective, but also affordable. These five new inventions are changing lives around the world.
###The Moser Light
Alfredo Moser’s simple design captures sunlight and uses a small amount of a water and bleach solution to illuminate water bottles with refracted light, providing a light source without electricity. Since its creation in 2002, it has been used to supply light to more than a million homes in 15 countries.
###The Clean Water Billboard
The University of Engineering and Technology of Peru’s innovative billboard advertises their school’s programs while converting Lima’s humid air into thousands of gallons of drinkable water, which is then made available to locals.
###CA Bikes Ambulances
When Chris Ategeka was a child, his younger brother died while Ategeka was helping carry him to a hospital nearly 10 miles away from their remote village in Uganda. Today, Ategeka is the founder of CA Bikes, a nonprofit that teaches villagers how to use scrap metal to make bicycles and bike ambulances so access to medical assistance can be available even in distant villages.
###Peek
A majority of those who suffer from visual impairments live in low-income countries. The Peek app utilizes a custom extension kit that connects to a smartphone camera and then accesses specially designed software to diagnose eye diseases. Peek then posts the data on a Google Map, using GPS coordinates to find the closest medical provider that can treat the problem.
###Nano Filters
Researchers in Singapore are developing water purification devices that utilize plasma-treated carbon nanotubes to remove toxins from water. It may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the researchers hope their invention will be able to be produced cheaply and distributed to communities around the world.
