What is a Smart Village?
UC Berkeley’s Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation has established a unique proprietary definition for a “Smart Village” where our movement was born.
“A community that is empowered with digital technology and open innovation platforms to access global markets.”
– Prof. Solomon Darwin
Smart Villages are communities in rural areas around the world that use innovative solutions to improve their resilience and standard of living by building on local strengths and opportunities.
Click on the icons to learn about features of Smart Villages
Smart
Village
An Ecosystem
An Economic
Development
Platform
A Community
A Brand
A Business
Model
A Sustainable
Unit
Source: Graphic Representation of Key Indicators of a Smart Village as Referenced by Solomon Darwin of UC Berkeley Center of Growth Markets
This Open Innovation approach integrates technology and indigenous rural practices to generate sustainable revenue for villagers and participating companies thus increasing overall standard of living and quality of life.
For rural development to be comprehensive and all-encompassing, innovative technologies in all 8 verticals – Agriculture, Healthcare, Education, Livelihood, Energy, Sanitation, Connectivity and Water need to be simultaneously addressed.
The 8 Verticals We Work in
Health Care
Connectivity
Education
Energy
Livelihood
Agriculture
Sanitation
Water
Core Values: What Does SVM Stand For?
Open Innovation
We provide a platform for companies to come together and share intellectual properties (Ideas and tools) to address villagers concerns and challenges
Co-Innovation
Using the shared solutions, companies and universities come together and we share the work of co-creating innovative solutions with all stakeholders.
Collaboration
We coordinate and facilitate Government, Corporates, Academia and Communities to come together for the greater good of all.
Empowerment
We work to enable autonomy and self-determination in people and communities and help them to recognize and use their own resources for an enhanced life experience.
Not Simplistic, But Simple
At SVM we believe our process must be simple and scalable. Sustainable development can only occur when thoughtfully chosen technologies and innovation are readily adopted by the community and allowed to flourish organically.
See our Blueprint for building Smart Villages created at Centre of Growth Markets, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.