One laptop per child scheme to launch new give one, get one scheme in Europe

Published: 11/05/2008

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - (HealthTech Wire / News) - One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the scheme aimed at delivering connected computing to remote, poor and underserved regions of the world, is to launch its ‘Give One, Get One’ scheme in Europe this year as well as the United States, the project’s founder, Professor Nicholas Negroponte told delegates at the World of Health IT conference in Copenhagen.    

The campaign, which is being run exclusively through Amazon and will finish on December 31, offers consumers the chance to buy a laptop for US$399, for which price OLPC contributes a second laptop to recipients in developing countries. OLPC is concentrating its donations on the fifty poorest countries as well as post-war conflict zones and other areas where there are displaced populations.    

This year’s campaign aims to build on the successes achieved by the first Give One, Get One initiative, which took place in the      US last year. Negroponte said this year the campaign – which will be supported by a major advertising push – could see half a million Laptops sold.    

The laptops that are supplied to developing nations come supplied with one million books as well as games and other content. The principle behind them is to encourage learning, computer literacy and social development among the world’s most disadvantaged people    
Negroponte also said that OLPC was currently developing a second generation device, which will feature open-source software and an innovative eBook-style design, and that OLPC was aiming to bring down the cost of basic laptops to US$100 in the US by the end of 2009. Professor Negroponte added that OLPC had already been successful in bringing down the costs of laptops in developed markets by forcing laptop makers to launch new, low-end devices.