TECHNOLOGY — and especially information technology and the Internet — has become a critical force for change in the world. Its impact is felt not only in business and trade, but increasingly in the health, education and welfare of people around the globe. While leaders and innovators in the technology industry have achieved enormous successes these past years, with these successes comes a responsibility to reach out and make a difference with the resources they have generated.

Let’s look, for example, at the potential impact of information technology on education. Consider how education systems worked before the Internet was available — and how it remains today for people in countries without access to the Internet. As a child, when I went to school in Iran, for example, simply by reason that I was born in a third-world country, I was already behind in the opportunities available to me. If I wanted to study science and become an engineer, or a doctor or lawyer, I needed education at par with what was available in the United States or other advanced countries in Europe. At the very least, that meant having an up-to-date textbook and materials. But, by the time such books would make it through our clogged-up distribution channels, or research papers would become available to schools in Iran, they might already be five to 15 years out of date. Just being born in a third-world country meant that you were doomed to a second-rate, irrelevant education.

The Internet can make a difference. Today, if a high school, university or even an elementary school has access to the Internet, students and teachers in the poorest of countries stay abreast of the newest innovations. With the Internet, books, research papers and the latest curricula can be immediately available to them. We’ve seen how, with Internet access, the newest innovations are available to libraries, universities, and research labs worldwide in minutes. This levels the playing — anyone with access to the Internet now has the opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge. The potential is phenomenal. If you believe, as I do, that the intelligence of the human race is divided evenly among all of us, think of what we can achieve by putting these tools in the hands of each learner.

So let’s look at the consequences of bringing information technology to education. During the industrial revolution, natural resources were needed to generate great wealth. You needed steel. You needed oil. You needed rubber. Look at how the oil barons and rubber barons and steel barons made their fortunes. They were able to generate significant wealth by extracting natural resources from the earth and processing them. As a result, they polluted the air and water in our environment. Many times they exploited the natural resources in third-world countries.

Today, you don’t need to destroy the Earth to make your wealth. With the high-tech revolution, a critical natural resource — knowledge — is available to every individual. And, each person's knowledge is supplemented by boundless Internet resources. A high-speed Internet connection leverages a person's own intelligence by allowing them to continually be learning and working together with others. Fundamentally, therefore, to become a successful high-tech entrepreneur today, all you really need is good head on your shoulders and the knowledge of how to move zeros and ones around to create algorithms. Just as gold was the currency necessary to mine natural resources in an earlier age, bandwidth is the currency of our new millennium.

As a philanthropist, if you want to address the issue of poverty and close the enormous gap that exists between rich and poor, you can look at the old-fashioned storybook approach —the Robin Hood way — of taking the money from the rich and distributing it to the poor. That’s a fantasy that can't work. Communism tried it and failed. However, by empowering people with a good education, information technology and a fast Internet connection, your resources enable people to become self-sufficient.

We are on the brink an unprecedented opportunity. India, a country I recently visited, is a very good example. While I was there, I visited a museum where I saw a loom that Mahatma Gandhi used to weave cloth. Gandhi spoke about how important it was to give tools like the loom to people so that they could weave their own cloth, become productive and feel pride in their work. Information technology tools have the same power. People in India have already realized this. They have started to enhance their brain-power, whether in medical or other scientific studies, by enabling access to the Internet and other technologies. Especially in the fields of software, data communication and telecommunication, India has already been amazingly successful. And this is a scenario that can take place in any country — that’s the beauty of it.

But the potential for high technology in development goes deeper. The high-tech culture is more about sharing than the previous culture of the industrial revolution. Knowledge, the key ingredient to developing new technology, is only increased when it is shared. The steel barons kept all the ownership of their resources to themselves. One person or family would own 100% of the company; their employees would own nothing. The high-tech world cannot thrive without sharing knowledge — and thus wealth. As we've seen in the U.S., when a company goes public, all the employees are rewarded — and new millionaires are born.

So technology offers a more humane system for economic development that pulls everyone up. Indeed, if someone has a successful company in India, Iran, Tanzania or anywhere else in the world, what will they do with their new wealth? They’re going to go and buy more stuff around their own village and town. They’ll create more jobs. They’ll start to pull the whole region up with them.

So how does all this work in the real world? In 1996, I started building Schools Online as a way to focus on bringing the Internet to schools. By donating computers and helping with Internet access and teacher training, we have now connected more than 5,700 schools, in 19 countries, helping tens of thousands of students get access to new learning resources that they and their teachers have found online. When we started, we focused our efforts on schools in the U.S. In retrospect, this was simple compared to the challenges faced in implementing this program in 
developing countries.

Recently, we started to consider extending this program to refugee camps. We conducted a five-day investigative trip, visiting refugee camps in the western part of Tanzania, along the border of Burundi, Rwanda and Congo. We were taken to the camps by single engine airplanes and four-wheel drive vehicles operated by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) because there are no roads in this part of the country. It took hours and hours just to get to the first camp.

In rural Africa, the huge challenge for this kind of project is the lack of electricity and connectivity. Refugee camps have no electricity and no phone lines. In the five days we were there, it was fascinating to see how new technologies are making it possible to address these infrastructure issues. The solutions range from bringing in electricity with solar generators to providing Internet access via satellite.

One needs to consider how to ensure that computers will work in such a remote location, and work reliably. We found a hardware vendor who was willing to visit the camp every 60 days to maintain the systems. They committed to a three-year warranty and preventive maintenance every other month. That was a pretty significant commitment, because without proper maintenance, keyboards might stop working and disk drives would crash from the dust. We always try to buy equipment locally rather than attempting to import them. In this way we avoid import taxes and shipping logistics and ensure appropriate localization of the software. This strategy also supports the local industry so that they are behind the project. Then everybody wins.

Some of the challenges are even more basic, such as finding a secure place for a computer lab in a place where school rooms are made of tree branches, dried leaves and mud, with thatched roofs. We achieved a milestone when we found a non-governmental organization (NGO) willing to help build brick-and-mortar rooms. The refugees themselves volunteered to do the labor. The local security team, run by refugees, offered to provide security, so the computers would not disappear. War continues 50 kilometers away in Burundi, and it is not unusual for guerillas come over and steal things from the camps.

Finally, we talked to the local satellite provider, who wanted $3,500 per month for a 64K Internet connection, per school. I said, "You guys are out of your minds. This is unacceptable." Then I found out that in Africa the governments need to give a license before two-way transceiver/transponder communication can be used. I met with the Minister of Telecommunications, and we agreed that if the local monopoly does not object, they would give us a license to establish a non-profit ISP so we can set up our own satellite connection. Being a non-profit set up that would benefit the country they agreed to expedite it. So, I met with Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd., one of the biggest satellite dish providers for distance learning, and they’re preparing a quote for the project. Even more recently, I located a company in India that may be able to come up with an even more competitive bid. Seeing all of this, I believe we can bring the Internet at 2 Mb per second via satellite to about 500 sites, including the refugee camps, other rural schools and many of the NGO groups 
that assist refugees.

But the real question is whether this kind of project is worthwhile. We found the answer as we met with the refugees themselves. When we asked if they really wanted computers and Internet access rather than fulfilling their ongoing needs for food and basic health supplies, their response was a clear yes. "Computers bring learning for our children," said one of the men, "so that they do not have to live their whole life in these camps as we do." Indeed, information technology is a philanthropy of hope.

Of course, all this is a new challenge for me, even with 25 years experience as a high-tech entrepreneur. We'll be continuing to study the whole topology to see what is most feasible. We don’t want to commit to anything until we really know that we understand clearly how this would work. However, if this kind of satellite connectivity solution could be implemented in Africa, then it’s possible in India, Bangladesh and other developing countries. Provided that local governments allow these projects, implementation of similar satellite access projects with a wireless local loop might cost only a few million dollars per region. That is a very, very feasible project.

These projects are not doable, though, without the support of the entire high-tech community. Schools Online is now supported in its work by a volunteer board of renowned high-tech luminaries. Dozens more volunteers help coordinate projects in the field around the world. Individuals, corporations and foundations have provided funding and in-kind support for this work. Schools Online partners with many similar organizations to implement its projects — and each of these non-profit groups needs technical and management expertise, equipment and sufficient funding to do their important work. It is the grassroots work of thousands of volunteers in the tech community that makes these kind of projects happen.

High-tech engineers, entrepreneurs and business leaders have already developed the technology that can revolutionize the world. And, if they are fortunate, they have also reaped a significant personal financial return on their efforts. However, for this revolution to ultimately succeed, it must reach places in the world where there is not yet a market for it. The high-tech community has the vision and skills to make this happen. I call on you to join me in supporting an IT project for economic development in a country that you come from, a place you've visited — or an area that you'd like to visit. Be generous with your time, your skills and your financial support. Together, our resources and vision can really make a difference in the world and build a new philanthropy of hope.