JumpToPC

During the past decade India has entered a digital revolution as online services provide access to education, finance, employment and political participation. However, 80% of the population lacks the basic digital skills and tools to participate in and benefit from the Digital India revolution. The COVID-19 pandemic has promoted digital inclusion for some, but has left large swaths further behind. Girls are disproportionately affected since they are often excluded from accessing computers outside of the home.

JumpToPC is a practical and scalable solution that provides the means for India’s digitally excluded to learn and use digital services. With an experience tailored for first-time computer users, JumpToPC pairs with a smartphone and television to create an affordable home computer. It is compatible with most digital learning content, and offers a platform to build and distribute new content, making it adaptable to the specific needs of underserved communities in India and globally.

Full inclusion in the digital economy means that students and workers are equipped with accessible technology and digital knowhow. Only 10% of Indian households have broadband internet and half as many own a computer, leaving 1.3 billion people, the bottom billion, without the means to fully participate in the digital economy. On the other hand, the Government of India has made aggressive moves toward digitisation of government services, healthcare and education, and India is home to the world’s largest IT workforce in the only economic sector with positive growth prior to the pandemic. Smartphone ownership is rapidly increasing and expected to reach nearly 1 billion devices by 2025, driven in part by the world’s most affordable mobile data rates. However, viewing, tapping and swiping won’t lead to full digital inclusion. Post COVID-19, the need for remote learning and work-from-home tools have risen exponentially. Smartphones are an adequate solution to consume content, but they aren’t suitable for interactive learning, problem-solving in maths or learning digital skills - a must for entry-level jobs. In the absence of technology, infrastructure and training targeted toward the digitally illiterate, the global digital divide will continue to grow wider. 

Digital content is expanding at an unprecedented rate, and many households already have most of the devices needed to access them. JumpToPC technology augments these, enabling learners to jump across the digital divide. The solution consists of three components: a device that wirelessly pairs the user’s existing smartphone and television, a mobile application that transforms the mobile OS into a big screen desktop experience, and peripherals that allow the user to interact in the digital environment.

JumpToPC includes technology advances that are responsive to her needs. The hardware connects any smartphone to any television, including old CRTs, using a peer-to-peer wireless protocol that does not require external WiFi. The base peripheral set includes a keyboard and mouse designed for mobile-first users. Each user receives a set of compatible applications (e.g. browser, word processor, spreadsheet, content), and can easily add from the curated JumpToPC Library as she advances. Users can also receive free content recommendations driven by JumpToPC’s recommendation engine. The pairing also works without any Internet connectivity, making it a perfect solution in those low-to-no connectivity areas.

JumpToPC can be implemented at an institutional level with additional custom-built features including e-classroom software, video and voice peripherals and pre-installed offline content.

JumpToPC provides an opportunity for underserved students, entrepreneurs, families and other digitally curious people to own and use technology that is currently unaffordable and unfamiliar. Alongside our distribution partner, Greenway Appliances, we have spent most of the past decade serving underserved Indian communities with life-improving household products. JumpToPC was born from conversations with students, teachers, mothers, fathers, business-men and -women, local leaders in these communities, and developed with their regular input, testing and feedback. During JumpToPC user acceptance testing, we learned about women who were hired for at-home data entry jobs, students who could participate in remote courses, and girls who were writing their first Python scripts. We recognize that for many families, inclusion in the digital economy can effectively begin with youth. Therefore, we are focusing on serving students’ needs, especially given the urgency brought by the pandemic.

While most technology companies serve India’s top 10% income earners, the stories from JumpToPC’s first users have motivated us to further develop technology tailored for them. With an average annual income of 40,000 INR (525 USD), the bottom 50% of Indian households cannot afford laptop and desktop computers, so we targeted a price of 20% the price of a low-cost laptop. For example, we have seen smartphones quickly become one of the first luxury goods purchases for low-income families. Therefore, we designed JumpToPC’s peripherals and user interface for mobile-first users. This is how we knew that quick adoption would depend on minimal behavioural changes. English language comprehension is often low in these communities, so we are adapting JumpToPC for regional languages. JumpToPC is an in-home solution, comprising devices that she is innately familiar with, and lowering barriers for her to be included in the digital economy.

We believe that in order to be equipped, included and participative in the digital economy, one needs to be familiar with and confident in using it’s basic equipment - namely, a computer and the internet. JumpToPC can contribute to reducing India’s massive digital divide by providing a solution that enables all Indians to be confident with the equipment and infrastructure of the digital economy. JumpToPC can achieve digital inclusion by designing for the underserved, and tailoring digital experiences for India’s diverse communities. It is not parachute technology that requires extensive training or behaviour modification, which then leads to disuse.

JumpToPC is currently being piloted in several communities in India, but primarily by approximately 3000 users in Western Karnataka where our team has extensive work experience and knowledge of the local culture and languages. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we completed development of the basic JumpToPC setup and demonstrated it at dozens of schools, NGOs and clubs in Karnataka. Many of the first JumpToPC users came from those demonstrations. During the pandemic, we ceased in-person and hosted regular virtual demonstrations with many attendees representing schools and educational NGOs serving low-income and rural communities.

JumpToPC’s innovation arises from scarcity in low-income households, every family’s desire to create a better future for their children, and the recent increase in penetration of mobile technology. With an average annual income of 40,000 INR (525 USD), the bottom 50% of Indian households cannot afford conventional computers. However, with an average 20% of their income spent on education, JumpToPC fits within household constraints as an educational investment. By focusing on this cost constraint, we took a different approach compared to competitors like Sentio and Nexdock who pair the smartphone with a laptop shell. Since 70% of Indian households already own a television, JumpToPC leverages that for the display instead of a dedicated monitor, eliminating 15% of the cost of a computer. 

In addition, India has the cheapest mobile data in the world and fastest growing smartphone ownership, which serves as the processor and storage in JumpToPC, eliminating an additional 50% cost. The display adapter functions similarly to a Chromecast and Fire TV stick, but meets the specific needs of our target customers by using a secure peer-to-peer wireless connection instead of WiFi, no subscription- or pay-wall, and easy setup with local customer support. Today, all Indians are familiar with using mobile applications including ShareChat, WhatsApp and TikTok, which was not the case when products like One Laptop Per Child, Aakash tablet, and Intel’s Classmate PC were introduced. JumpToPC is built in Android for the mobile-first user to make their transition to digital literacy easier.

JumpToPC is currently in use in approximately 3000 households for learning and working from home. On average we see that there are at least two users per home. Our users are both those who have bought directly from us, as well as those who have received it from the schools or NGOs that have partnered with us. 

In the next one year, we aim to reach at least 50,000 households and we are on track to scale to 1 million households in the next 5 years.

1. Total number of units distributed - This is easily measured, and we collate the user demographics. This helps us to define our user set as well as calculate our reach, and in turn impact. Daily and Monthly Active Usage on our app is also taken into account. 

2. Completion of basic digital tools tutorials - We measure this via our app analytics, and ensure that every user has completed it. This includes typing, mouse skills and preparing an age-appropriate word document. This is accounted as becoming digitally literate as per the National Digital Literacy Mission developed by the Government of India.

3. Completion of foundational skills especially in literacy and mathematics, based on national curriculum levels - We are adding grade-appropriate tests that can be accredited and help students graduate classes without having to repeat years especially with at-home learning or missed schooling. In our next phase, we will also curate these in multiple regional languages. 

4. Completion rates for boys and girls - We measure this by dividing the total number of all students who logged-in for the first time vs the number of boys/girls who have completed certain predetermined levels - this helps us calculate dropout rates by gender. 

5. Set up impact measurement trackers with our allied schools and foundations, along the same lines as above. We also build certain customised services and analytics basis feedback or requests from our partners. 

The core team has 3 members. We have a partnership with Greenway Appliances, for manufacturing and distribution support. We have 5 dedicated freelance software developers. Hardware design and firmware are managed between our core team and our original design and manufacturing partner in Shenzhen.

12 people dedicatedly work on JumpToPC.

The main leads on the project are:

a) Sucheta Baliga - CEO, JumpStream

ex: Head, Digital Products & Marketing, Greenway Appliances (2015-2019)

Product Management, Fund-Raising, Sales & Marketing Strategy, Market Research and Customer Behaviour Modelling

b) Dr. Daniel Sweeney - CTO, JumpStream

ex: Research Scientist at MIT D-Lab (2013-Present)

Design and engineering of technology for low-resource communities, IoT for measuring product performance, design for manufacturing

ex. Fulbright Scholar

c) Neha Juneja - Founder, Greenway Appliances

Award-winning, seasoned serial social entrepreneur

Designed, manufactured and sold over one million products to low-income Indian households

Our team has a combined 20 years of experience in manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, sales + marketing, of products specially designed for the under-served communities in India. We have designed, manufactured and launched multiple, successful rural-oriented products and generated a portfolio of over 20 intellectual property rights. The manufacturing facility helps to refine and value-engineer multiple iterations of the product now and at a later stage, develop an assembly line and scale production to reduce costs. Our vast experience in selling to the same target audience has also provided an in-depth knowledge of the need-gaps, buying behaviour and purchase psyche of the customer.

Through our affiliation with MIT, we have consulted faculty and staff with expertise in relevant areas including digital learning, embedded systems, wireless communications, monitoring & evaluation, and manufacturing. Additionally, we can leverage MIT’s strength in disseminating key findings to broad audiences.

Just like our product and mission, we value diversity, equity and inclusion in our team. The JumpToPC team comprises 70% women and we aim to maintain a female majority company. In addition to our customers, we value learning from and within our team. We recruit qualified interns and team members from minority and underrepresented communities. Our CTO Dan, voluntarily created a virtual engineering and design course for Kashmiri students during the Kashmir lockdown and pandemic, several of whom have gone on to work with JumpToPC. Our ultimate DEI dream will be to hire exceptional team members from underserved communities who got their start using JumpToPC.

Our core value is accessibility - whether it’s the code we write, the user interface and design on our app or the phone segments that our hardware is compatible with;  all of it is designed so that a first time user can not just access it, but make the most use of it, without language or gender constraints. We ensure that our team does not take their education or comfort with technology or design for granted. 

JumpToPC was a Solve finalist last year and we found the experience of connecting with other applicants, receiving feedback from judges, and presenting our solution to be very helpful. We are proud not only that our company has survived this past year, but also advanced since our Solve experience including adding new members to our team, completing multiple product design cycles, and piloting in several more communities. We are applying again this year because we are ready to grow and we believe Solve can help rapidly elevate us. Growing a social business in India requires ambition and credibility to attract dedicated team members, partners and investors. With help from Solve coaches and mentors, we will focus our approach and efforts toward JumpToPC’s greatest impacts and opportunities to scale. During last year’s competition we also learned about Solve Members and identified many that are well aligned with JumpToPC’s mission and technology, and would be valuable partners both for the JumpToPC product and funding. The exposure from being selected as a Solver will also help us to connect with new partners from within and outside of the Solve community that can support us in distributing and scaling JumpToPC. Our interactions with other startups have been very valuable, and we would look forward to joining a close cohort of other Solvers that are addressing similar challenges.

Our team can benefit from advice, mentorship and partners in four areas in particular. We would benefit from mentoring on effective pitching and negotiation with investors, and fundraising (debt, equity) in general. We have already pitched to a few investors, but rarely receive substantive feedback that can help us convert on future opportunities. We would seek the support of large NGOs, foundations and corporations to help us increase our user base and achieve growth. Measuring and communicating our impact is important to us, and hopefully to our future partners. We would need advice on lean methods for incorporating impact data collection into our regular operations. During the past two years we have bootstrapped and been fortunate to attract a few talented and dedicated team members that align with our values and mission. We would further benefit through mentorships on adding human capital within our means as we grow, and best utilising our existing resources. Finally, we recognise that distributing durable goods across India is costly and challenging. We would seek additional partnerships to help us organise logistics and reach communities that need JumpToPC.

JumpToPC has already benefited greatly from strong partnerships, and many conversations with entrepreneurs and educators around the world. We would benefit from the following partnerships through the Solve Member and MIT community:

Atlassian Foundation International: Our mission aligns well with their mission to prepare disadvantaged youth for the workforce of the future.

BHP Foundation: JumpToPC’s has the potential to help disadvantaged young people around the world access quality educational opportunities.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Education Program: The long term opportunity for JumpToPC to enhance learning outcomes for young people, especially girls, aligns with the goals of this Gates Foundation Program.

MIT Teaching & Learning Lab: Help to make sure that we are asking the right questions from our users, appropriately integrating those answers into our design, and understanding student’s learning outcomes.

MIT Open Learning: MIT’s reputation and quality of education is known worldwide. JumpToPC would benefit from integrating and adapting existing digital content from edX, OpenCourseware, Blossoms and other MIT digital platforms for JumpToPC users.

MIT Media Lab Learning Initiative: Help us to create new learning experiences for girls and women with JumpToPC technology.

JumpToPC is qualified for the HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity because JumpToPC serves as an essential technology for advancing digital inclusion, digital literacy and economic opportunities for underserved communities in India and around the world. This prize will help us to advance JumpToPC by enabling us to improve our support and training programs for new users, scale manufacturing, and establish distribution lines to reach new underserved communities.

JumpToPC is qualified for the Innovation for Women Prize because JumpToPC offers a unique opportunity for women and girls to safely participate in the digital economy. Women in India are often cut off from digital services due to their traditional roles in the household; they are frequently excluded from accessing computers and internet services outside of the home. JumpToPC can be easily utilised at home and offers tailored content meant to educate and build confidence in women and girls. From our initial pilots we have successfully motivated many women to improve their digital skills and pursue new employment opportunities, and girls to pursue STEM education that is traditionally male-dominated. 

JumpToPC is qualified for The AI for Humanity Prize because while it does not currently use artificial intelligence, we will soon have to leverage it both for better learning and impact. Our recommendation engine is based on a cursory profile of the learner (e.g. grade level, interests, language). Implementation of AI could greatly improve the engine and possibly result in better learning and productivity outcomes, for example, by building a profile of the user based on their learning and practice behaviour, and recommending content based on their interests and needs. An AI assistant in a JumpToPC online classroom would assist teachers and tutors in managing student participation and questions. AI-based guidance counselling could advise students regarding higher education and career opportunities. Many current and future JumpToPC users are interested in learning and practicing AI tools, so we think it would be helpful to incorporate some of those into the technology itself. Providing effective guidance, recommendations and assistance to users at a large scale will undoubtedly require AI. However, as online learning novices, existing AI approaches may not be suitable for JumpToPC users. Our team has some experience using AI tools in data interpretation, however we would benefit from additional expertise and guidance in this area.