Over the past few weeks, 16-year-old Esteban Quispe has been making the media rounds. Recently appearing in local newspapers and television programs, he is Bolivia’s latest technological discovery. In the unassuming town of Patacamaya, about 100 kilometres southeast of La Paz, Esteban has spent the last several years building robots, largely out of trash.
From his tinkerer’s workshop adjacent to his parent’s house, Esteban has dreamed up and constructed a family of robots, one with a shocking resemblance to Wall-E, the Pixar robot from the film of the same name. Taking inspiration from the needs around him, he hopes to pioneer artificial intelligence in the future, and to use robotics to help make the work of the farmers and laborers in his community much easier.
The Bolivian altiplano may at first seem an unlikely place for such a tinkerer. In a community whose economy is largely based on potato cultivation, how does one of its own, the child of a bricklayer and a homemaker, find the passion and the talent for robotics? Truth is, Bolivia today is a hotbed of technology. In recent years, the launch of the Tupac Katari satellite and the completion of the first phase of the Mi Teleférico project (with a second phase on the way) are just some of the more high-profile projects in Bolivia. The national government has even announced the creation of a Technological Citadel, a dream to sow the seeds of Bolivia’s very own Silicon Valley, a task for which the State will need to continue improving telecommunications and to move government processes and citizen engagement online.
As these and other initiatives continue to take hold, more and more stories like Esteban’s will certainly come to light. Both Bolivians and expats living in the country are realising what this place is capable of in terms of technological innovation, giving more and more people the drive to dream up the seemingly impossible and push forward to make their visions a reality.
Technology likes to cross borders, and this is very apparent in Bolivia. Much of the latest technological changes here have been brought from elsewhere. Facebook has come with a plan to provide free (if limited) internet access across the country. US engineers have implemented ways to use one of Bolivia’s most abundant natural resources, llama feces, to filter and clean water (no joke!). And German engineering has introduced new technologies to help mend heart defects among children across the country.
But much of the exciting advances in technology in Bolivia are the result of local inventiveness. There are countless people across the country who, like Esteban, have the drive, initiative and knowhow to offer some pretty impressive technologies. In fact, some homegrown efforts are looking to be exported to nearby countries: Bolivia’s RFID-based tagging and registration system for automobiles seems primed for implementation across the continent. And in certain parts of Bolivia, fine examples of traditional technologies, particularly around agriculture and food production, are being brought back into practice as time reveals their usefulness and effectiveness.
In this issue, BX looks at technology and how it is changing and shaping Bolivia. Whether coming from Bolivians like Esteban or from foreigners bringing ‘the next big idea’, Bolivia is entering an exciting new phase of technological development, and we wanted to capture a snapshot of that process.
With improved telecommunications, more advanced training opportunities and a growing interest in moving Bolivia’s tech sector to the global stage, we should expect to see more stories like Esteban’s in the future. The most important thing we can do is encourage the curiosity, foster the inventiveness and support the ingenuity that drives these efforts. Only then can Bolivia be brought closer to participating meaningfully in global technological transformation.
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Bolivia’s Bet to Bring Bureaucracy into the 21st Century
As computer and internet access becomes more widespread, governments across the world are turning to electronic government (e-government) in a bid to improve bureaucratic processes and connect with their citizens. Bolivia is no exception, and next year the Bolivian Directorate of Electronic Government is expected to unveil its implementation plan, which will provide a much-needed national strategic framework for the future of its e-government.
‘Since 2001, Bolivia has been implementing various e-government projects which have allowed the government to reach an E-Government Development Index (EDGI) of 0.45 in 2014,’ says Noelia Gomez, a researcher for the Social Investigation Centre of the Vice Presidency.
The EDGI, as published in the UN E-Government Survey, is a measure of how advanced a country’s e-government is, based on three things: provision of online services, telecommunications infrastructure and human capital. Placing 103rd out of 193 in the survey, with an EDGI slightly below the world average of 0.47, Bolivia is lagging.
One e-government project that helped raise the EDGI is the digitisation of personal identification cards. Prior to this, identification cards were issued by the police, who kept paper files that were not linked to other cities. It was later discovered that the police had issued over 400,000 duplicate identification numbers, resulting from the lack of centralised information.
In its simplest form, e-government transforms old, paper-based administrative procedures to an electronic form and improves efficiency within government. However, for many Bolivian citizens, the benefits are not immediately obvious.
In La Paz, the municipal government has developed an online portal (www.lapaz.bo) that gives citizens of the city access to various online services. For example, a construction contractor can obtain a building permit by completing several steps from the comfort of his own computer or at a multipurpose service point in the city.
Elsewhere, the availability of such services is almost nonexistent. ‘In Bolivia, many people do not have internet, so these services are only for some people,’ Gomez explains. ‘Most of the internet is in cities, and not in rural areas.’ On a national level, introducing online services for citizens makes little sense unless the telecommunications infrastructure is improved.
Gomez then raises the issue of human capital: ‘Even among the people that can access the internet, many stick to pen and paper as they aren’t comfortable using the technology, or do not trust it.’ South Korea, which tops the UN E-Government Survey, began implementing major programs for training and promoting the use of information and computing technology over 15 years ago, highlighting the long-term nature of any resolution.
An ambitious e-government implementation plan will form the basis of e-government projects over the next five years. Electronic programs for health, education and citizen participation are on the agenda, but is Bolivia ready to embrace the digital age? Only time will tell.
The Feria 16 de Julio, held in El Alto every Thursday and Sunday, is one of the largest markets in Latin America, if not the world. Less than a single destination, it is more a cluster of neighborhoods transformed into a cacophonous jumble of stalls and stores, selling anything shoppers desire.
Some vendors sell new merchandise, from bathroom supplies and home goods to hand-crafted beds and dressers. But much of the market is a flea market that dreams are made of, a heaven for anyone who can’t get enough of charity shops and rummage sales. Shoppers can easily spend the day walking for kilometres, searching through mountains of used clothing, household goods and electronics.
Knowing that this was the place to discover technological gems from bygone days, BX sent the team from 7200.LineaRecta to hit the streets, dig through the piles and unearth what was buried.
These are some of their favorite finds. – ed.
Facebook Provides Free Internet Access in Bolivia – But Is It Enough?
On June 18, 2015, the Bolivian telecommunications company Viva joined with internet.org, a project set up by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2013, to provide all users of Viva’s network access free basic internet services, including Facebook, Bing, Wikipedia, UN Women and a local news channel. Bolivia joins 13 other participating countries, including Tanzania, Bangladesh, India and Senegal. In 2014, only 40 percent of Bolivians had access to the internet, so this program could benefit a majority of the country’s population.
I asked the president of Viva, Graciela Eguez, about the impact this project will have in Bolivia. ‘Viva has one goal: increasing access to telecommunication and improving the lives of people in Bolivia,’ she explained. ‘Internet.org helps people become involved in the digital world. Our aim is to get more and more people connected.’
To access internet.org, customers simply need to have a Viva sim card and a phone that can access a 2G, 3G or 4G network. Then they have to download an app that allows limited internet services completely free. ‘The goal is to eliminate all barriers facing a user who does not use the Internet,’ Eguez explained. ‘They can then discover how useful the internet can be.’
Zuckerberg describes the mission of internet.org as ‘making the world more open and connected.’ To achieve this, Facebook is also developing unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites to bring connectivity to remote areas without cellular coverage.
But some people have argued that this service is not as useful as it first seems. In May of this year, 67 digital organisations around the world sent an open letter to Zuckerberg describing the project as ‘a violation of neutrality, freedom of expression and equality of opportunity.’ They argue that only a few companies, Facebook included, stand to benefit from the service, and therefore it does not show people the real benefits the internet has to offer because it is so limited.
But others say that some internet is better than no internet. Eguez also told me that in Bolivia, things will be done differently than in other countries. ‘It is important to clarify that it is not a closed list [of accessible websites] here,’ Eguez said. ‘We want it to expand. The idea is to include more content from Bolivian developers, like CómoLlego, which is a site that provides information about public transportation in La Paz and is now part of internet.org. This site was developed by four Bolivian students and is being expanded to provide information on other cities.’
Despite arguments against internet.org, it is still an opportunity for people in Bolivia who have not had access to basic internet services. Eguez’s final thoughts described exactly how big this mission is: ‘Bridging the digital divide is a task for all and an ambitious mission. Everyone needs to be involved.’
