Brookings Institution Highlights Benetech as an Innovation Center

How do improvements in information and communications technology affect governance? A particular area of concern in this context is the use of technology in countries where the government is weak or altogether missing. In a story that examines the transformative impact of data and communication on governance, the Brookings Institution’s TechTank blog highlights Benetech’s role as an innovation center.

Filling governance vacuums involves numerous overlapping technologies used by a wide variety of actors to collect, process, and distribute information, says author Steven Livingston. He goes on to emphasize the importance of innovation centers and highlights Benetech along the likes of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG, formerly part of the Benetech Human Rights Program), Inveneo, iHub in Nairobi, and The Barn in Cape Town. “All share a passion to discover solutions to problems found where state institutes are weak or missing,” notes Livingston.

The eminent Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and global economy and development. Its TechTank blog focuses on new developments in science and technology policy and how they affect health care, education, economic development, innovation, and governance.

Read the complete story on the TechTank blog.