CAF and ESPOL expand mobile laboratory project

The presentation of the pilot project of the "Mobile Community Learning Centers (Mobile Laboratories)" took place in the presence of representatives of national and international companies, local and national authorities, mayors, representatives of science and technology institutes, the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and the Litoral Polytechnic School (ESPOL). The aim of the event was to find allies to replicate the project in communities in other provinces in the country.

In November 2002, the CAF Andean Competitiveness Program (PAC) and the Litoral Polytechnics School (ESPOL) installed a mobile laboratory in San Pablo community in Bolivar province. The laboratory consists of a container of eight computers, with its own source of power and satellite access to the Internet. The laboratory can function anywhere, however isolated. In San Pablo, the laboratory was set up in the San Pablo Athens Institute.

The Center is termed a mobile laboratory because the container can be transported around the country as a single resource shared by many communities, or can be used as a demonstration instrument to generate interest and open access to new technologies. Narrowing the digital gap that separates Ecuador from the other countries of the continent cannot wait for the arrival of public services; for example, at present, San Pablo has only one communal telephone installed by Andinatel.

Direct access to these technological processes helps users understand the enormous scope of these instruments. People who have not had access to them cannot imagine their importance for community health, literacy, agricultural advisory services, communication, etc.

To illustrate the isolation of some communities, in Ecuador 64% of fixed telephones are in Quito, Guayaquil and Guayaquil and Cuenca while only 36% are in the rest of the country where 67% of the population live. Even cellular phones do not work in San Pablo.

The objective of this pilot project is to demonstrate a technology that can narrow the digital gap, and improve the connectivity of geographically isolated communities. The direct beneficiaries of the mobile laboratories are teachers, students, young entrepreneurs and community leaders.