Originally published on AshokaTech.

One of the many sessions in Hyderabad that I'm really excited about is a discussion on intellectual property with Richard Jefferson of Cambia, John Wilbanks of Science Commons, Phil Weilerstein of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and Ashoka fellow Bright Simons of mPedigree.

Here's a great interview with Richard Jefferson that ABC TV Australia ran a few months ago. Jefferson explains how Cambia is enabling biotech innovation by rethinking how scientists deal with IP issues. He makes the alluring point that open source - something we often think of as a recent development - has actually existed for millennia, much longer than proprietary technologies.

Ashoka and the Lemelson Foundation invite bloggers covering the intersection of technology, invention and social change to be the official blogger at the upcoming Tech 4 Society conference in Hyderabad, India where 100 Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows will be attending, in addition to other changemakers, to share ideas and projects that are changing the world through technology and invention.

One of the themes discussed at the beginning of the Sao Paolo gathering (after we dried off the Sao Paolo rain, which took us by surprise on the way and drenched us, literally, and which allowed us to skip the ice-breaking  dynamic) was about the main barriers that impede social technologies in reaching the people for whom they were invented. Social technologies are products and services that seek to improve the quality of life of the people who today are exclused from the system because of their economic situation, location, culture, physical disability, etc.

Every social entrepreneur seeks financial sustainability regardless of their mission. In looking to create a bigger demand for green products, Ashoka Fellow S. Rajagopalan figured out how to generate almost half of his organization's annual budget from entrepreneur-commissioned sales. Here's how he did it.

Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow Howard Weinstein is on a mission.  “250 million people in the world need a hearing aid, yet only 6 million are sold each year, mainly to people who can afford $1,000 - $15,000 US.  This is a huge shortfall, and Howard is trying to do something about it.  His organization, Solar Ear, is making desperately needed hearing aid technology affordable to the world’s poor.

How can social entrepreneurs drive the adoption of their mobile activism tools? Participants in Ashoka’s Social Entrepreneurship Twitter chat identified several key themes. Broadly speaking, the key drivers of adoption fall into three categories: design, distribution and context.

I can think of no better introduction to the topic of sanitation than the words of a former professor of mine: "I know its seems mundane and a little gross," she said to our class, "but what a society chooses to do with its poop and pee is one of the most important public health decisions it can make."  Despite the importance of sanitation reform in the developing world, it has to be one of the least glamorous fields out there.  Until recently, that is.

As members of the technological community, how do we make sure that we are not leaving behind low-income communities who would benefit most from technological advances? The value of new and existing inventions is so often diminished because of the inability to connect the right essential products with people who need them. In light of these challenges, AshokaTech has been established to identify and fund people like you with groundbreaking ideas and a passion for using technology for social change.

Since 2004 I have blogged daily for the disability community about Universal Design and travel at www.RollingRains.com. A recent spike in interest motivated me to create a social networking site as an innovation incubator. Projects like My Green Map offer even more potential for our work in Inclusive Tourism. Now we have an emerging need for a site to serve a project being considered for funding by Echoing Green and listed in Ashoka's Changemakers Geotourism Challenge. The site would serve as a hub for three international Centers of Excellence in Inclusive Tourism.

Youth Venture, sister program of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public (www.ashoka.org), is one of three finalists in the MySpace Impact Awards. Youth Venture is building a global movement of young social changemakers by inspiring and investing in young people around the world to launch and lead their own social ventures. Youth Venture is using it's innovative new website, www.genv.net, to connect young people across the globe in a movement of youth-led social change. Youth who have already launched Ventures can create their own profiles of their teams and can read about and connect to other teams.