AI & Technology

Arrow takes on the challenge of bringing technology to people with no electricity. Miranda Ingram reports…

Every so often a concept comes along that is so simple and so effective that you can’t believe it didn’t already exist.

MicroEdge + Blackbaud Vice President of Product Management and Business Development, Charlie Vanek, explores how tracking outcomes can help your organization succeed. From enhanced decision making and improved funding to commercial success, the payoff of outcomes measurement is ever expanding and applies to all organizations and corporations.

Bangladesh-based Direct Fresh Ltd. has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a pledge to integrate 2,000 small-scale vegetable farmers into its vegetable supply chain by 2018. The company’s inclusive business model involves training farmers in sustainable agricultural practices and sourcing fresh produce from them for direct sale.

Many people take their eyeglasses for granted. And yet, 2.5 billion people around the world, largely in developing countries, live with poor vision because they lack access to eyeglasses, hindering their ability to succeed in school or be productive at work. While the benefits are clear, providing eyeglasses to 2.5 billion people is a challenge, requiring multi-faceted action from a cross-sector group of organizations including healthcare systems, private sector eyeglass manufacturers and retailers, NGOs and social enterprises, and policymakers.

What do you get when you combine a quarter cup of water with table salt and a zap from a car battery? Enough chlorine to purify 200 liters of drinking water.

GM’s Cruise Automation team is now testing the Chevrolet Bolt EV autonomous vehicle on roads in Scottsdale, Arizona. The state of Arizona supports such research and development, and provides a fitting environment to test in high temperature and desert conditions. Testing is also underway in San Francisco.

New digital services that combine all the data sources connected with buildings are opening the door to enhanced transparency and optimized energy use.

Cutting-edge communications technology will make wind farms more profitable and the transition to a renewable energy economy more economical. That’s why Siemens is taking part in an EU-funded research project called VirtuWind. The project is designed to cut procurement costs for a wind farm’s control network by 25 percent and operating costs by 10 percent annually.

The Summer 2016 issue of Best Practice includes CSR and sustainability case studies from thought leaders across several industries

Water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. have high aspirations for energy reduction goals, or even moving toward energy neutral operations, but barriers are plentiful. Fortunately, approaches are being developed that can help system operators make significant progress in overcoming these obstacles.