You know what? I just don’t think Sunnyvale, California is the right base from which to save the world with Tech.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Architecture for Humanity have announced a $250,000 competition for the design of technology centers in the developing world.

Dan Shine, director of the AMD’s 50×15 Initiative, says "the creative designs developed in this competition will contribute to our ambitious goal of connecting 50 percent of the world’s population to the Internet by 2015."

Had the organisers spent more time in South Asia, or in Africa, they’d be aware that six million mobile phone accounts are being opened each month, just in India, right now, today, without the participation of a single "technology centre".

The explosion in cell phone usage is even more pronounced in Africa - from just one million in 1996 to 100 million users today, and rising exponentially.

AMD’s 50% figure is likely to be reached years before 2015 because of the smart ways poor people share devices and infrastructures.

Shine says that the prize will be for the design of a "sustainable technology facility and community center which incorporates a centralized building equipped with internet connectivity solutions designed to enable an entire community to access the transformative power of the Internet".

That’s two uses of the word "centre" in a single sentence. The words "old" "western" and "paradigm" spring to mind.

further reading at doorsofperception