Monday, November 24, 2014

Technology investments for Ukraine



What types of technology investments would most benefit Ukrainian society?  Military?  Social media?  Smart energy?  As a man of peace, I will focus on the latter two in this post.



Social, or "new" media could play a big role in reducing corruption.  Websites like www.ratemyprofessors.com expose lazy professors in the United States and Canada.  Perhaps a Ukrainian variant could expose corruption in higher education?  In India, users of the website http://www.ipaidabribe.com have documented millions of rupees worth of bribes.

Ukraine would also benefit from smarter energy infrastructure.  When I lived in Kyiv in 1996, we had no control over our thermostat; we literally had to wait until the central authorities turned on the city's heat.  Sometimes I would see our neighbors leave their window open in the winter, presumably because the apartment was too hot and they couldn't cool it down any other way.  Given this legacy of centralization in energy infrastructure, it would therefore seem that Ukraine's energy tech start-ups could produce large gains for society.  Obviously, Ukraine has good reason to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.




photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/68355661@N00/2951563044/in/photostream/

2 comments:

  1. I definitely believe that before the Ukraine invests in human capital, it should invest in its its overall infrastructure. In order to teach children, a proper school with the proper facilities needs to be made. Children are the future of Ukraine, and if money isn't being spent on them wisely, Ukraine isn't looking at the bigger picture. So an overall improvement in infrastructure is needed. I've seen not just schools, but roads, restrooms, highways, and much more need to be improved. After establishing the basic groundwork, then the Ukraine can go on to to focus on these smart technologies such as social media, online education, and smarter energy infrastructure.

    For example, the United States government definitely has established that basic groundwork. Now it does on to improve our education system. Students have established and mastered social media. Our schools have air conditioning at the bare minimum so thats always a plus. The Ukraine needs to set out and seek this example. This will definitely be the smartest investment choice and lead the Ukraine where it needs to be.

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  2. For the last hundred years, the world has lived by the technologies invented at the turn of the 20th century: railways, internal combustion engines, electricity, radio and new production. Machines, television and radio were improving, but the principles remained. Although, today, I believe those principles have changed. Human civilization is changing with the Internet, renewable energy, electric cars, and many other new things. Unfortunately, Ukraine has an exhausted infrastructure. What we need to do is create a new infrastructure for the 21st century. I think Ukraine should try and create new corporations and new infrastructure that will become suppliers for the new world. I think there is potential in new kinds of transportation, new kinds of chemical and food production.

    Most importantly, i totally agree that Ukraine should invest in infrastructure. It would be a huge boost for GDP growth. If one invests billions of dollars in infrastructure, one can build your own industry, production and then export to other countries. I believe Ukraine has human resources, especially in engineering, needed to develop infrastructure wisely and to make use of technological advantages from more developed countries.

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