Jhonatan Rotberg is the founder and the director of MIT's NextLab Program.

As a Lecturer at MIT's Engineering Systems Division, he works closely with corporate partners to develop joint MIT-industry programs that spin off high-impact innovation in mobile technologies.

His current focus is on extending engineering systems thinking into the design of mobile platforms that address challenges of global significance. These platforms then become the basis of out-of-the-box innovation within partners' industries, new open-source initiatives, or for-profit startups. A serial entrepreneur, Rotberg is experienced in the original conception and deployment of innovation in communications technologies, and in building commercial ventures in emerging markets. Throughout his career, he has founded and sold various startups in the financial and high-tech sectors.

Rotberg is formerly a Lecturer and the Telmex Visiting Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where he founded and directed the Next Billion Network. Previous to joining Grupo Carso, Latin America's largest telecoms holding, he spent 7 years in financial consulting and investment banking (Accenture, Baring Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities). A native of Mexico, he is a graduate of Brown University.

Spring 2010

Next Generation Mobile Logistics Platforms in Resource Constrained Environments: Leveraging Smartphone Technologies for Creating Self-Provisioning, Real-Time, Low Cost Distribution Networks at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

I. Executive Summary

To reach most consumers in emerging markets, firms often need to build laborious and highly complex logistics and distribution infrastructures. For most of them, especially SMEs, this cost is prohibitive outright or unsustainable over the course of a normal business cycle, thereby preventing them from serving untapped, high volume consumer markets at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). Needless to say, this is harmful not only to the firms themselves, but to low-income consumers in underserved regions, as it leaves them with scarce options for obtaining the basic products and services they need on a daily basis.

The mission of my current research is to understand the basic commercial processes in resource-constrained environments (pricing, transaction, procurement), and to design and deploy a mobile software platform that will enable member firms to distribute their products and services to these markets at a substantially lower cost.

II. Motivation

Within the next three years another billion people will make regular use of cell phones, continuing the fastest adoption of a new technology in history. By 2012, mobile technologies will be used by almost five billion people, most of them in the developing world, thereby unleashing significant opportunities for innovation, not only in mobile phone technologies but in distribution efficiencies within previously unreachable areas of the world.

The advent of the smartphone and next generation handsets has advanced the power and functionality of mobile devices exponentially, to the point that our belts and purses now carry ubiquitous, always connected handheld personal computers. Global consumer patterns and Moore's Law both predict that these advanced technologies will soon reach a mass scale in developed markets, and quickly thereafter in emerging markets, as has been the case with previous generations of mobile phones.

The opportunity lies in leveraging this widespread adoption and transforming it from a primarily voice-based medium, into an interactive, data intensive platform for real-time personal coordination, collaboration and ultimately logistics-efficient commerce at the individual consumer level. Our hypothesis is that such platform can significantly decrease friction in a) price information, b) payments, and c) procurement for existing commercial transactions in resource constrained environments where it is adopted.

III. Research Goals

• To study the mechanics of commercial transactions in resource constrained environments in general, as well as in a particular emerging market, we'll be analyzing three main variables: a) price information, b) transactions, and c) procurement, all key to decreasing friction in commercial transactions.
• To design a next generation mobile logistics platform appropriate to the insights obtained in this study, and to develop it as a collaborative academic endeavor within MIT and with international partners in academia and industry
• To deploy this platform organically in a given test-bed, observing adoption as well as commercial behavior at the individual and group levels, measuring changes in the three main variables mentioned above
• To synthesize results into research insights that can be acted on concretely, both academically and commercially

NextLab: Mobile Innovation for Global Challenges

• Instructor: Jhonatan Rotberg, Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics
• Period: Spring 2010
• Meetings: Tuesdays 2:30-5pm
• Room: 9-057 (linc room, with live distance education transmission to ITESM Cuernavaca, Mexico)
• Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units)
• Class size: Maximum 35 students
• Listing: ESD 938
• Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergraduates

NextLab is a hands-on technology development and business case design course in which multi-disciplinary student teams collaborate with industry partners, field experts, NextLab alumni, and students from universities worldwide to deploy ground-breaking platforms of smartphone technologies that address challenges of global significance. These mobile platforms then become the basis for out-of-the box innovation within industries (i.e. project Hammock), new open source initiatives (i.e. Mocamobile.org), or fundable startups (i.e. EmpleoListo.com).

For Spring 2010, the course will focus on the use of smartphones for creating mobile, organic logistics and distribution networks at the base of the pyramid (BOP), akin to India’s Dabbawala phenomenon. Students will develop a smartphone platform based on a specific case in Mexico, collaborating with Estafeta -Mexico’s premier courier company- and with students from ITESM, a 33-campus strong university system, widely considered the country’s top technical institute.

During the summer (optional, but recommended involvement), MIT and ITESM students will team with Estafeta executives to deploy the m-platform and run a live pilot test in Estafeta's local operations, including a number of delivery routes. The results of this deployment will inform the work for NextLab Fall 2010, and form the basis for a case study or white paper to be presented in academic and industry proceedings later on.

Fall 2010 NextLab students (optional, but recommended enrollment) will focus on building apps and value added services on top of the m-platform, and on launching full fledged deployments that leverage it as a catalyst for out-of-the-box industry innovation, the basis of new open source initiatives, or fundable startups.

NextLab II: Launching Mobile Ventures for the Next Billion Consumers

• Instructor: Jhonatan Rotberg
• Period: Spring 2009
• Meetings: Tue/Th 2.30-4pm
• Room: 56-154
• Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
• Class size: Maximum 30 students
• Listings: MAS.967, 6.978. This course is also an approved Product-Level subject for meeting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Requirements at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
• Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergrads. NextLab I is NOT prerequisite for taking NextLab II. Students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds welcome, particularly those with interest in innovation, entrepreneurship and international development.

NextLab II is a hands-on technology implementation and business execution course in which students develop high-impact mobile ventures. Such ventures are intended to enable mobile phone applications to scale-up and have widespread social benefit in developing communities and countries worldwide.

Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects, closely collaborating with project partners, experts in communications technologies and sustainable business models, field practitioners, and with NextLab alumni. Students are expected to leverage technical ingenuity in both mobile and internet technologies together with entrepreneurial zeal in order to implement viable solutions that address social challenges in areas such as health, economic empowerment, education, and civic engagement.

Similar to all NextLab courses, NextLab II's final class period will be an open event in which all student team projects are presented to the pubic through live demos, poster sessions, and formal presentations. NextLab II students may follow up their projects with Summer travel grants for deployment in target markets.

NextLab I: Designing Mobile Technologies for the Next Billion Users

• Instructors: Jhonatan Rotberg and Luis Sarmenta
• Period: Fall 2009
• Meetings: Mon/Wed 1:00-2:30pm
• Room: 37-212
• Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
• Class size: Maximum 30 students
• Listings: MAS.967, 6.978. This course is also an approved Product-Level subject for meeting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Requirements at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

NextLab I is a hands-on design course in which students research, develop and deploy mobile technologies for the next billion mobile users in developing countries. Guided by real-world needs as observed by local partners, students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects, closely collaborating with NGOs and communities at the local level, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields.

Students are expected to leverage technical ingenuity in both mobile and internet technologies together with social insight in order to address social challenges in areas such as health, microfinance, entrepreneurship, education, and civic activism. Students with technically and socially viable prototypes may obtain funding for travel to their target communities, in order to obtain the first-hand feedback necessary to prepare their technologies for full fledged deployment into the real world (subject to guidelines and limitations).

Information and Communications Technologies for Development

• Instructors: Gari Clifford, Rich Fletcher, Jhonatan Rotberg and Luis Sarmenta
• Period: Spring 2008
• Meetings: Tue/Thur 1:00-2:30pm
• Room: 32-144
• Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
• Class size: Maximum 30 students
• Listings: 6.976, MAS.962, HST.481, SP.716.
• Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergrads. Students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds welcome, particularly those with interest in innovation, entrepreneurship and international development.

ICT4D is a design studio course in which students learn about, and work on, applications of information and communication technologies (ICT) for use in developing countries and underserved communities. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. They will be expected to leverage hands-on technical skills in both mobile and fixed digital technologies together with social insight in order to address relevant development problems in areas such as health, microfinance, entrepreneurship/economic innovation, education, and civic activism/people empowerment. Emphasis will be placed on projects aiming to serve actual underserved communities (through international project partner organizations). Students with technically viable, sustainable projects may apply to obtain funding for travel and stay in their target communities, in order to truly understand the constraints faced when designing for developing countries.

MAS.664 Digital Innovations

• Instructors: Alex Pentland, Federico Casalegno, Jhonatan Rotberg
• Course hours: Tuesdays 4-6PM
• Course location: E15-387
• Course units: 3-0-6 (G)
• Prerequisites: Permission of instructor

Within the last few years, mobile technology has progressed rapidly to now include Wi-Fi, GPS, and even mobile banking capabilities. Yet, today's mobile technology is limited to addressing Western needs. People in developing countries differ significantly from consumers in developed markets with respect to demand, supply, and the use of communications. These nascent mobile communications system offer endless possibilities for empowering individuals in their quest for economic advancement. It is the goal of this workshop class to address developmental concerns hand-in-hand with sustainable forms of entrepreneurial collaboration. In collaboration with Telmex, students will work with low-income communities in Costa Rica to design a revolutionary mobile communication system that is user-oriented, open-source, multi-functional, and scalable. Students with backgrounds varying from design, engineering, to business will work together in multidisciplinary groups.

Moca

The NextLab team collaborated with Centers for E-Health and Tele-Medicine in Southeast Asia to develops a mobile-linked web application that allows doctors to diagnose and recommend treatment for rural patients remotely using text, photo, audio, video, and other data collected by mobile phone. The MoCa Dispatch Server, a plugin of OpenMRS, is developed to handle the communication between mobile phone and OpenMRS server. MoCa is now a growing student-run open source movement, and is being launched Philippines in the Summer of 2009, and in Mexico in the Fall of 2009.

Assured Labor

Assured Labor seeks to improve the lives of workers in developing countries by using mobile phones to match dependable workers with honest employers in Brazil. In Spring 2008, NextLabbers worked with Assured Labor executives and developed the technology that enables the Assured Labor service. Assured Labor then released its first beta on July 2008, and is now running as a for-profit company with expansion plans across Latin America.

Dinube

A runner-up at the mobile track of the MIT $100K Business Plan Contest, DINUBE was developed by NextLab students as a mobile-enabled, cloud-based payment and transaction platform targeted at the under-banked population that is fully interoperable with network carriers and financial institutions. It being prepared to launch as a for-profit startup in the Mexican market for the Fall of 2009.

Interactive Alerts for Child Pneumonia

In Spring 2008, NextLab students designed and developed a system that uses commodity mobile phones with Near Field Communication (NFC) capability (normally used for contactless payments and transit applications), for facilitating the tracking and care of patients in collaboration with Interactive Research and Development (IRD) in Karachi. Subsequently IRD adapted the system and integrated it into their larger system and deployed in collaboration with Nokia and the Hindus Hospital on-site in Pakistan during Dec 2008. In April, the project won “Best NFC Service of the Year 2009," and " Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2009" at the NFC Forum Global Competition 2009.

Awards and Recognitions

• The Smithsonian Institution's Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design has selected three NextLab spinoffs for its renowned National Design Triennial, an exhibition of work by designers and firms who are setting trends and transforming their disciplines. From May 2010 to January 2011, the Next Billion Network, Moca, and Interactive Alerts for Child Pneumonia will exhibited (January 2010).
• Selected as a Senior Technology Advisor to the Interamerican Development Bank's Mobile Citizen Program (November 2009). Member of the High-Level Scientific Committee of the Interamerican Development Bank's "Innovation for Inclusive Development" Grant Program (Spring 2008).
• Spring 2009 NextLab teams made 40% of the semifinalists of the mobile technologies track of the MIT $100K Business Plan Contest (March 2009); one of them won 2nd place.
• Four out of 6 Spring 2009 NextLab teams made the semifinals of the Dell Social Innovation Competition at the University of Texas, Austin (March 2009).
• Based on our coursework during Fall 2008, two NextLab students won the IEEE Gold Humanitarian Fellowship (January 09). Only 10 are granted per year around the world.
• NextLab was chosen as part of the Open Courseware offering.
• Our MOCA project has a growing number of international recognitions:
  • Selected from 648 competitors to be one of 12 finalists for the Lien i3 Challenge.
  • Selected to present at the International Conference on Open Source Software in Healthcare.
  • Presented at International Conference on Open Source Software in Healthcare.
  • Showcased at the Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government.
  • MIT IDEAS 2009 Development Grant Winner.
  • Accepted to present at ICTD 2009 Conference in Doha, Qatar (keynote speaker: Bill Gates).
  • Won full funding out of 200 applicants to travel to Doha.
  • Wall Street Journal Online did a segment in November 2008 that discussed MoCa and its potential applications for treating cervical cancer in Africa.
  • Selected as a finalist of the Idea to Product competition at Purdue University.
  • Winner of 2 OpenMRS internships to enter "Google Summer of Code". Only 16 awarded.
  • Presented at ILP's April 2009 MIT Information and Communication Technology conference.
• Our NFC-enabled "Interactive Alerts for Child Pneumonia" project's recognitions are: First place winner of NFC Global Competition 2009, with app named "Best NFC Service of the Year" over 52 other competitors from 21 countries. Prize was €5,000.
• Presenting "Using NFC-enabled Mobile Phones for Public Health in Developing Countries" at the Spring 2009 Congress of American Medical Informatics Association (May 2009)Presented "Using NFC-enabled Mobile Phones for Public Health in Developing Countries" at IEEE's 3rd annual NFC Congress 2009 in Hagenberg, Austria (February 2009).

Media Presence and Events

• Quoted in Communications of the ACM: "Upwardly Mobile: mobile phones are bridging the digital divide and transforming many economic, social and medical realities, particularly in developing nations", (Dec. 2008, pp. 17-19)
• NextLab was the main feature in a mobile technology innovation article written by the MIT News Office (July 2, 2009)
• Fast Company online mentioned NextLab as example of best-in-class course that inspires invention and innovation (May 7, 2009)
• Nokia Press Release: Nokia and IRD/PATH issued a Press Release on successful NBN project using NFC Mobile Pneumonia Detection in rural Pakistan (March 19, 2009)
• Presentation of project during World Pneumonia day November, 2009
• Boston Globe: front page article in the business section featuring NextLab and its projects, also reprinted and syndicated in various media through the NY Times News Service (Oct 14, 2009)
• Boston Globe article reprint in India:
• MIT Tech front page article, reprinted from the Boston Globe (Oct 16, 2009)
• Organizer of ICT4D Event Spring 2008, and NextLab Events Fall 2008 and Spring 2009: Held 3 large, public events on mobile technologies for developing countries at MIT Media Lab’s Bartos Theatre. Spring 2009, Fall 2008
• Presented at Media Lab Sponsors Meeting (April 2008, October 2008)
• Harvard Kennedy School, panelist and moderator at Global Empowerment Meeting, hosted by the Center for International Development (Sep 17, 2009)
• Gigaom Mobilize 2009, mininote speaker at the event (September 10, 2009)
• MIT Communications Futures Program, panelist on Pent-up Disruptions panel (Oct 28, 2009).
• Requested to present at a closed-door meeting with high-level members of the US intelligence community (Nov. 18, 2009).
• MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge (April 2009)
• Sloan Entrepreneurship and Innovation Class (Dec. 2008)
• MIT Global Poverty Initiative (May 2008).
• Sloan School Latin Conference (May 2008)
• Lemelson's Invention to Venture: Affordable Technologies (May 2007)
• Boston University Forum for Social Entrepreneurs (Oct 2008),
• Harvard Kennedy School (May 2009)
• Mobile Monday Boston (Apr 2009, Nov 2009)
• TIECON East (Boston, May 2009)