Technology Adoption Benefits

Some technologies don’t just solve problems — they give people their independence back. I rediscovered Liftware, and I was genuinely moved by what it can do. It looks simple: a smart handle connected to everyday utensils. But inside, it’s a powerful piece of engineering designed for people with hand tremors (Parkinson’s, essential tremor, and more). Here’s how it works: 🔹 Sensors detect tiny hand movements in real time 🔹 Micro-motors instantly counteract the tremor 🔹 The spoon or fork stays stable — even if the hand doesn’t The result? Up to 70% less shaking. And for many people, that means eating soup again… without help. This is technology at its best: invisible, intelligent, and deeply human. 💡 My take Most people don’t know this, but Liftware was developed by a small startup before being acquired by Google’s life sciences division (now Verily). What makes it remarkable is the engineering challenge: the device doesn’t try to stop the tremor — it predicts and cancels it. It’s basically a tiny real-time AI system… hidden inside a spoon. This is the future I love: not just smarter devices, but more compassionate ones. If you’ve seen other innovations that genuinely improve people’s lives, I’d love to discover them. What’s one piece of tech-for-good that inspired you recently? #techforgood #innovation #technology #healthtech #accessibility #assistivetechnology #futureofhealth #inclusiveDesign #AI #impact

WHY AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH OFTEN FAILS TO REACH FARMERS — A Consultant’s Perspective Having worked with dozens of cooperatives, farmer groups, and agrifood projects across Kenya, I’ve seen a pattern that’s hard to ignore: Agricultural research is abundant. Impact on the ground? Minimal. Why? Research is often academic, not practical. Brilliant findings end up in journals, not in farmers’ hands. Most farmers I work with have never seen or heard of the latest research that could transform their yields or earnings. Top-down approaches dominate. Solutions are designed in labs or research stations with minimal farmer involvement. Yet, farmers are the experts of their own environments. Poor extension linkages. Even when good innovations exist, there’s a huge gap between research institutions and grassroots extension systems. As consultants, we often end up "translating" research that should have been made farmer-friendly from the start. No market lens. Research tends to focus on production. But farmers ask: “Will it sell? Is it profitable?” Without market integration, innovation is just theory. Feedback is ignored. Farmers are rarely involved in evaluating what works or doesn’t. We need more participatory learning, less top-down training. From a consultant’s view, the solution is not just more research—but more relevant, inclusive, and actionable research. Let’s invest in: Co-creating with farmers, Bridging research with market realities, Translating findings into practical guides, audio-visuals, and demos, Strengthening extension and private sector partnerships. The knowledge exists. The gap is in the approach. Farmers don’t need more data—they need results. #Agriculture #FarmersFirst #ResearchToImpact #KenyaFarming #AgriConsulting #FoodSystems #ValueAddition #DairyDevelopment #ExtensionServices #AgriPolicy #AfricanAgriculture

Many groundbreaking innovations stem from solving specific, sometimes minor, issues but yield profound impacts. What do you think about this one? These "incremental innovations" drive efficiency, safety, cost savings, and user experiences forward. Take a look at some examples: - Post-it Notes: Born from a failed attempt at a strong adhesive, these sticky notes revolutionized quick note-taking and reminders. - Airbags in Cars: Rather than redesigning vehicles entirely, adding airbags significantly boosted passenger safety and reduced accident fatalities. - Gore-Tex Fabric: By solving the simple problem of staying dry and comfortable, this breathable, waterproof fabric transformed outdoor clothing. - QR Codes: Improving on barcodes, QR codes store more data and offer easier scanning, revolutionizing information sharing and transactions. - Zippers: Replacing buttons and hooks, zippers streamlined fastening clothes and bags with speed and security. - Wheels on Luggage: The addition of wheels to suitcases set a new standard, making travel significantly more convenient. - Penicillin: Beyond its initial discovery, incremental enhancements in production and distribution have saved countless lives through antibiotics. - LED Lighting: The shift from incandescent bulbs to LEDs delivers substantial energy savings and longer lifespans, addressing efficiency and environmental concerns. - USB Ports: Standardizing a universal port for data transfer and charging simplified connectivity across a diverse range of devices. These examples showcase how small improvements can lead to significant advancements in various aspects of our lives. #Innovation #Progress #Efficiency #Safety via @shajapur_mandi_bhav #Technology

This isn’t just farming. This is Dyson engineering reimagining how we feed the world. For decades, vertical farming was a futuristic dream—out of reach for most, limited by cost, scale, and complexity. Until now. At Dyson, a team of engineers dared to ask: What if sustainable, high-yield farming wasn’t a privilege, but a global standard? Their answer is a bold innovation—no Big Tech giants required: A vertical strawberry farm powered by ingenuity. Ferris wheel-style rigs rotate 1.2 million strawberry plants toward sunlight and LEDs, maximizing every square meter. Robots pick only the ripest fruit, while UV light keeps mold at bay—no chemicals needed. Anaerobic digesters recycle heat and CO₂, fueling growth and slashing waste. 2.5x more strawberries per square meter than traditional farms. But the real breakthrough isn’t just in the engineering. It’s in the future made possible. → Food security, redefined. Fresh strawberries, grown locally—no matter the season. Fewer food miles. Less waste. → Sustainability, realized. Closed-loop systems. Recycled energy. No chemical pesticides. Farming that heals the planet instead of harming it. → Innovation, democratised. Smart sensors and automation make precision farming accessible, scalable, and resilient for a changing world. Ask yourself: When was the last time you saw a vacuum company change the way we think about food? For millions, this is the taste of what’s possible. This isn’t only about strawberries. It’s about resilience. It’s about abundance. It’s about a future where design meets necessity—and everyone benefits. And for the first time, it’s within reach. When technology meets agriculture, lives change. This is engineering for humanity. Follow me, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld, for more stories of tech that matters. ♻️ Share with your network to see how bold ideas can reshape the world. #TechForGood #Innovation #Sustainability

Everyone is quoting "95% of organizations are getting zero return" on GenAI. That's significant, but few seem to have read the paper for the deeper insights, both in study findings and the outlook needed to get far more than zero return. Here are a few, but read it to find your own... 💬“The dominant barrier to crossing the GenAI Divide is not integration or budget, it is organizational design.” 🔎Got it in one. Tacking GenAI onto old organizational structures doesn't work. You have to fundamentally redesign work and the organization. 💬“The core barrier to scaling is not infrastructure, regulation, or talent. It is learning." 🔎The reference here is primarily to the feedback systems to improve GenAI systems, but it applies just as much to organizational learning. 💬"Real gains come from replacing BPOs and external agencies, not cutting internal staff. Front-office tools get attention, but back-office tools deliver savings... Best-in-class organizations are generating measurable value… BPO elimination: $2–10M annually in customer service and document processing; Agency spend reduction: 30% decrease in external creative and content costs.” 🔎Don't aim to cut staff. Reduce external spend (watch out suppliers!). That gives real wins swiftly. 💬“Organizations that successfully cross the GenAI Divide approach AI procurement differently, they act like BPO clients, not SaaS customers. They demand deep customization, drive adoption from the front lines, and hold vendors accountable to business metrics.” 🔎AI providers need to be professional services firms with similar accountability. 💬"While only 40% of companies say they purchased an official LLM subscription, workers from over 90% of the companies we surveyed reported regular use of personal AI tools for work tasks. In fact, almost every single person used an LLM in some form for their work." 🔎These are not GenAI pilots that are defined and measured, these are people who are finding LLMs useful in their work. 💬"Sales and marketing functions captured approximately 70 percent of AI budget allocation across organizations... but back-office automation often yields better ROI." 🔎Many are choosing the wrong projects. Which is fine, as long as you learn. 💬“Agentic AI… embeds persistent memory and iterative learning by design… Unlike current systems that require full context each time, agentic systems maintain persistent memory, learn from interactions, and can autonomously orchestrate complex workflows.” 🔎This is not a surprising observation since this is the mission of MIT's Project NANDA: Architecting the Internet of AI Agents that produced the report. But it is true that the real value will come from not only new AI architectures, but the new organizational architectures that enable that. Go beyond the headline and read the paper for the real insights.

Spent an hour with the Chief AI Officer at a F500 company yesterday: Very interesting: 1. CEO believes that people-to-people relationships are most important thing in their business. Has mandated a human first approach. 2. That's causing them to spend most of their time on co-pilot products (augmentation) and very little time on agents (in theory, replacement). 3. Mostly in experimentation mode right now. But... "Very few of our experiments will make it into production". Believes these experiments are a false positive for many AI vendors. 4. Huge barriers to adoption around governance, risk, compliance, safety, privacy... Most interesting thing is that assessing these risks is not in Chief AI Officer's purview. It's up to security, legal, etc to figure out. These third party groups that don't have much AI expertise have veto authority over AI decisions. 5. Default option is Microsoft, Google, and to a lesser extent Salesforce because of dynamic number 4. Startups and mid-sized tech vendors are building great products, but aren't worth the effort. 6. Spending a lot of time assessing LLMs and just trying to keep pace with rate of change. Less time on wrappers and products built on top of LLMs (with exception of what MSFT, GOOG offer). 7. Believes LLM vendors could stop development today and it would take company a couple of years just to catch up and adopt what they've already built. It's one conversation, but I do think it's fairly representative of what's happening in the enterprise.

When an unseasonal frost threatened Saraswati Vishwakarma's potato crop, she had hours to decide. Months of work and her family's income were on the line—and her husband was away. The nearest agricultural advisor served thousands of farmers across the region. She turned to FarmerChat. In India, one extension worker often serves more than 5,000 farmers. When disease hits or rains come late, help can take weeks to arrive. That's a wait most smallholder farmers simply can't afford. FarmerChat, an AI-powered tool developed by Digital Green and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, delivers hyperlocal agricultural advice in farmers' own languages—in real time, on their phones. More than 1 million installs. More than 10 million queries answered. Seven in ten users report applying the advice within 30 days. The technology matters. What matters more: farmers like Saraswati now have something closer to a personal advisor—available exactly when it counts. Read more about how FarmerChat is bridging the information gap for India's farmers: https://lnkd.in/eNmMb4hT

New Publication!! 🌍 Overcoming barriers to the adoption of water-saving technologies in Jordan: policy pathways for transforming knowledge, attitudes, and practices💧 Authors: MAHA Al-ZU'BI, Ph.D. Nafn Amdar Youssef Brouziyne Jordan is facing a severe water scarcity crisis, worsened by rapid population growth, climate change, and the overuse of limited groundwater. With per capita water availability at just 61 m³/year—far below the global threshold of 500 m³/year—it’s one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. 🌿 The agricultural sector, which consumes nearly 48% of the country’s freshwater, is hit especially hard. The reliance on inefficient irrigation methods has led to low water productivity, particularly in the highlands, where productivity is only JOD 0.36 per m³, far below the potential achievable with Water Saving Technologies (WSTs). 💡 However, several barriers hinder the adoption of these critical technologies: - Financial Constraints 💸 - Limited Extension Services 📚 - Technical Gaps 🔧 - Unequal Access, especially for smallholders and marginalized communities 🚜 Many farmers struggle to integrate WSTs into their practices without proper guidance and support. Aligning farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) with water conservation goals is key to ensuring the successful adoption of these technologies. 🌱 To address these challenges, a multi-faceted approach is required: 💧Research & Tailored Support: Researchers can pinpoint adoption barriers, while practitioners offer targeted guidance to overcome them. 💧Policymaker Action: Policies should encourage WST adoption through financial incentives, education, and research. 💧Education & Awareness Campaigns: Farmers need to understand the long-term benefits of WSTs for sustainable farming. 💧Financial Support: Subsidies or low-interest loans can help make these technologies more accessible, especially for smallholders. 💧A Farmer-Centric Approach: A Market Systems Development (MSD) strategy can improve the market system surrounding WSTs, while peer learning and strong extension services offer ongoing support. By tackling these issues, we can ensure long-term water security and agricultural productivity for Jordan. Together, we can drive the adoption of water-saving technologies and pave the way for a more sustainable future. 🌱 #WaterSecurity #Agriculture #Sustainability #Jordan #WaterSavingTechnologies #ClimateChange #Innovation #WaterConservation #AgricultureSustainability #FutureOfFarming #MarketSystemsDevelopment International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Read full Policy Brief: https://lnkd.in/epr2fWpT

Most lawyers are using AI to do faster what they were already doing. That is not the opportunity. AI agents can complete entire workflows autonomously. Here are three examples from legal work: 1) Lease abstraction at scale. An agent reviews 400 commercial leases, extracts rent escalation clauses, flags deviations from the negotiated form, and outputs a variance report. Before a human opens a single document. What took a team two weeks now takes two hours. 2) Regulatory change management. Instead of a paralegal manually checking state-by-state privacy law updates, an agent monitors legislative feeds, maps changes to existing data processing agreements, and drafts a memo flagging the ones that require action. 3) Deal room diligence. In an M&A transaction, an agent ingests the virtual data room, surfaces missing representations, identifies indemnification gaps, and cross-references disclosed litigation against public court records. Autonomously. What all three share: a human sets the objective, verifies the data, and reviews the output. The agent handles every step in between. The professional responsibility question this raises is not whether to use these tools. It is how to structure meaningful supervision when you are reviewing an agent's work product rather than directing it step by step. That is the question lawyers need to be asking right now. I'm Colin, General Counsel at Malbek and author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem. #legaltech #contracts #law #business #learning

💧 Liters per kilogram of produce. That’s the metric that will define the future of agriculture. As clean water becomes more scarce, especially in climate-stressed regions, producers have two options: react later (when water access may be significantly restricted), or invest now and lead. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) offers a better path forward. Smart greenhouses and vertical farms use sensors, automation, and AI to optimize light, water, nutrients, and temperature—cutting water use by up to 90% while dramatically increasing yields. In tomato farming, for example, these systems have been shown to produce over 600% more than open fields. CEA approaches maximize yield, minimize risk, and conserve precious resources. While it may not be feasible to have a smart greenhouse in every field around the planet, wouldn’t it make sense to invest in more of them now, to conserve water and improve our knowledge on how to make farms around the world more resilient in the face of increasing climate volatility? 💡 It’s time to stop asking "if" and start investing in the places where smart greenhouses will make the biggest difference. The weather volatility of the last few years is signaling what’s coming. Why wait longer and risk more when we can act now to conserve water and increase profitability? #SmartFarming #AgTech #WaterEfficiency #ClimateResilience #GreenInnovation #FutureOfFood