The Internet has a democratization effect. Not only does it empower citizens to participate but also governments to understand and address real needs. Projects can be catalyzed and legitimize through openness, accountability and collaboration.
Jorge Soto
Jorge has been involved in the design and implementation of projects that uses technology to empower citizens and institutions in Mexico, Latinamerica and Africa. In 2009, together with Oscar Salazar, he launched "cuidemos el voto" (let's protect the vote) to track and monitor Mexican elections and later that year they launched "internet necesario" (internet is necessary) to protest against an internet 3% tax in Mexico. In 2010 he founded CitiVox, a start-up that uses technology to enhance the communication between citizens and their institutions. From helping NGOs in Benin track elections to enabling policemen in Honduras to build a state-of-the-art real time crime database, CitiVox empowers citizens, community leaders and government officials to turn citizen reports into actionable information. At 26, he is the youngest Endeavor global entrepreneur in the world and was selected as one of the top 10 Mexican entrepreneurs by a local Time-Warner magazine. In late 2011 he was selected Young Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum and invited, together with other 30 Global Shapers in the Americas, to represent the millennial generation in Davos during the World Economic Forum in 2012.