Our Mission

RiOS Institute works to bring the benefits of new technologies to underserved people. We use the tools of social science and design to create meaningful and sustained ICTD projects. Our work informs and enables innovators and decision-makers to create active collaborations.

Our Vision

We envision a world where social and technological development projects make a meaningful difference in the lives of their recipients, and thrive long after their originators are gone.

Our Team

Paul Braund is the Co-founder and Executive Director of RiOS Institute, a partnership organization of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Mr. Braund began his career in design and technology development with a leading international consulting group in Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia, and worked for 20 years with startups, multinationals and government agencies. He is a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on ICT and Development and Social Entrepreneurship, and an adviser to the World Bank Institute.

Mr. Braund has an MPhil from the Royal College, Industrial Design Engineering London and a BA (Hons) in Design Engineering from the University of Birmingham, England.

Anke Schwittay is the co-founder and Director of Research of RiOS Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Anke has ample research experiences in developing countries. Her most recent work examines the participation of multinational high-tech corporations in the ICT+D area, through a multi-year ethnographic study of Hewlett-Packard's e-Inclusion program in Silicon Valley, Costa Rica and India. She is a lecturer at UC Berkeley, teaching on the topics of ICTD, development and corporate ethnography.

Anke has worked as a researcher with the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley independent research organization forecasting emerging trends in technology, healthcare and business. She also consulted with the World Bank Institute's Business, Competitiveness and Development group. In that capacity, she started the group's India program and organized and implemented several global e-conferences.