How my Laptops for Kids innovation bridges digital divide – David Richards

But with nearly one in 10 children living in households with no access to laptop, desktop or tablet computer, the shift towards remote learning during the pandemic has excluded up to 1.77m young people from active schooling. No access equals no education.

I am not prepared to let this injustice go unchallenged. Fortunately, I am not alone. In my home city of Sheffield, the public and private sectors have come together to launch the Laptops for Kids campaign. Our success so far has attracted national and international interest as well as hundreds of donated devices. It lights up the way for others to follow so that no child should be left behind just because they cannot get online.

As an entrepreneur, I approached the digital divide as a supply chain issue. In Sheffield, it is estimated that 11,000 children lack sufficient access to the internet at home. Conversely, we know from experience that many employers own devices that are surplus to requirements.

Gathering dust in storerooms, they might be obsolete for the latest business purposes. For a child in need, they can open the door to the world.

Just one device has the potential to transform a life by connecting a young person to a learning environment while stuck at home under Covid restrictions. Imagine what 11,000 could do in one city alone. We would be wiring up the next generation for success. It could help fill the gaps in learning left by the lockdowns. We want to scale up our model. We are talking to a number of large organisations which want to take the campaign to the next level.

Matching supply with demand is as old as capitalism but the presence of data in devices has added a degree of complexity.

We have come up with a novel solution. Students at The Sheffield College are securely erasing devices under the guidance of experts at the WANdisco Data Academy. They are using licenses donated by global data security expert Blancco in support of our campaign. Students are learning about data security, supply chain management and contributing to the community at the same time.

Certifiably clean and pristine, the devices are equipped with educational software and a free subscription to Natterhub, a digital literacy platform to introduce children to online safety.

Ready to go, the devices are distributed according to need by Learn Sheffield, part of the city council. Donors are reassured by our approach, which could be replicated across the UK.

New computers have been in short supply. Global demand soared at the start of the global health crisis, reducing availability and leading to long lead times. Simply throwing money at the problem – buying new laptops – is evidently not working.

Instead, targeted partnerships like ours are the way forward for getting recycled devices to those with the greatest need. Our model cuts down on e-waste. It is estimated that 50m metric tonnes of toxic electronic waste will be produced this year, a quarter of which will be personal digital devices.

Much of this waste will be sent to landfill. It is not just young people’s prospects that are being thrown on the scrapheap.

Still, the digital divide is a difficult bridge to gap. Sourcing and recycling devices is solvable, as we are showing in Sheffield.

However connecting those devices to the internet is another matter. In a perfect world, the Government would create a free network for schools, guaranteeing access to safe educational content for all children. Such access should be enshrined in law.

The means to deliver this type of network already exist. A variety of different solutions could be rapidly deployed at little cost to the taxpayer. These include the pooling and gifting of unused bandwidth, the removal of data usage fees from approved sites and the opening up of local WiFi hotspots to boost connectivity. Telecoms providers are central to these and should step up.

The world has changed. Connectivity is essential. It is assumed in our social, economic and technological development. We cannot afford to have nine per cent of the population locked out. It is an enormous waste of talent.

We will need their ideas and energy for the enormous rebuild after the pandemic. Young people should have every opportunity to succeed. It is their right.

To support our campaign or find out more, please email [email protected]

David Richards is the founder and chief executive of WANdisco plc, and co-founder of the David and Jane Richards Family Foundation.

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