Giving Compass' Take:

• Cisco Live is a conference that hosts the GPS (global problem solvers) initiative and featured last year's winners who are all using digital technology to create change around the world. 

• How can tech experts team up with foreign service and global development teams to utilize tech for foreign aid purposes?

• Read about how digital technology is transforming social innovation. 

Cisco Live is about a month in the rear-view mirror, and I’ve had some time to reflect on the event.

The conference is generally filled with tech news and highlights of what Cisco and its partners are doing in the area of technology innovation. One of the more interesting aspects of the show that I felt flew under the radar, though, were the global problem solvers (GPS) winners that were at the event.

If you’re not familiar with Cisco's social responsibility efforts, you’re not alone. Cisco has a very active corporate social responsibility (CSR) group, led by SVP of corporate affairs Tae Yoo. Since changing management,  one thing that has remained is the company’s willingness to do philanthropic work and use its massive resources and innovation to change the world. In fact, one could argue that Cisco has stepped up its efforts in this area in the past three years.

The GPS initiative is a part of that where the company rewards individuals or companies that use technology to make the world a better place.  n June 2018, Cisco brought three past winners of these prize challenges to Cisco Live to give them more exposure and an opportunity to win an additional $25,000, based on attendee voting. The three winners’ include:

  1. Costa Rica-based Liberty Mechatronics' cloud-connected Internet of Things (IoT) device to optimize oil consumption and to better plan oil changes
  2. Neopenda uses the power of IoT and mobile computing to improve the survival rate of infants, especially newborns that are particularly vulnerable in the first days of life.
  3. dot Learn brings online learning to developing nations by creating applications that student can download and watch a five-hour video for about the same costs as sending a text message.

Read the full article about digital transformation by Zeus Kerravala at CIO