Smart Village Movement: We are driven by a shared vision and mission to create more vibrant, sustainable rural areas to reduce the Urban-Rural gap.
Approximately 3.4 billion rural people worldwide lack access to global markets. Smart Village Movement (SVM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in USA and India that works with governments, global corporations, and research institutes to enable rural people to provide for themselves through entrepreneurship, job training, and access to ... Read More
Smart Village Movement: We are driven by a shared vision and mission to create more vibrant, sustainable rural areas to reduce the Urban-Rural gap.
Approximately 3.4 billion rural people worldwide lack access to global markets. Smart Village Movement (SVM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in USA and India that works with governments, global corporations, and research institutes to enable rural people to provide for themselves through entrepreneurship, job training, and access to Open-Innovation platforms.
Organization Journey
The Smart Village Movement (SVM), founded in 2016 in collaboration with its knowledge partner, UC Berkeley Haas, is a nonprofit organization rooted in open innovation and dedicated to holistic rural transformation. Using a Triple Helix model—uniting government, academia, industry, and village communities—SVM creates scalable, tech-driven solutions for holistic rural development - including verticals like healthcare, education, livelihoods, water, sustainability, agriculture, energy, and digital access. Funded by State Governments, SVM Foundation USA, public donations, and CSR contributions, our projects are designed to be cost-effective and replicable. Having operated in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and now in Meghalaya and Gujarat, SVM has positively impacted the lives of over a million villagers through more than 40 active initiatives. In Meghalaya, SVM has led impactful public-private partnerships that demonstrate how innovation can empower underserved communities and advance sustainable development. Several of SVM’s models have won awards and been adopted at scale by the State Government of Meghalaya, showcasing a proven blueprint for rural progress. SVM’s vision aligns with national development priorities and offers a transformative path forward for rural India.
Future Plans :
SVM will drive tech‑led rural transformation across India and other emerging markets by scaling precision agriculture, eco‑friendly waste management, STEM labs, and healthcare innovations, while strengthening open innovation platforms—piloting sustainable, economically viable solutions that governments and corporates can adopt and replicate widely, bridging the urban‑rural development gap
Unlike other forms of aid, SVM has never been about providing free facilities and expensive infrastructure investments. Our primary role is to bring underserved rural people the facilities and opportunities that are available and connect them to the rest of the world’s ecosystems. This means providing them with access to resources, tools, market linkages, and knowledge to transform their local habitats with targeted investments in Healthcare, Household, Livelihood, and Education projects.
Our mission is to empower villagers with the right technology and innovation to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, increase revenue, and utilize existing and new resources to achieve a happier life in their village.
Our Founding Principles:
Core Values: What Does SVM Stand For?
Open Innovation
We provide a platform for companies to come together and share intellectual properties (Ideas and tools) to address villagers concerns and challenges
Co-Innovation
Using the shared solutions, companies and universities come together and we share the work of co-creating innovative solutions with all stakeholders.
Collaboration
We coordinate and facilitate Government, Corporates, Academia and Communities to come together for the greater good of all.
Empowerment
We work to enable autonomy and self-determination in people and communities and help them to recognize and use their own resources for an enhanced life experience.
Not Simplistic, But Simple
At SVM we believe our process must be simple and scalable. Sustainable development can only occur when thoughtfully chosen technologies and innovation are readily adopted by the community and allowed to flourish organically.
Our Process of Innovation for Development:
Smart Village Movement carefully selects Pilot Projects for development in rural India. We follow these criteria for selecting organizations:
Assessment of needs: We perform analysis of gaps and resource requirement in healthcare, education, agriculture and household verticals by speaking directly to villagers, village heads and community leaders. The Grand Challenges found are registered on our platform for Universities and Companies to research.
Assessment of existing resources: The resulting Grand Challenge from our needs analysis is studied with information about the availability of government and private resources, to identify locations where such help is relatively scarce and how SVM can facilitate better access to technology and knowledge.
Assessment of grassroots efforts: Finally, the criteria of co-innovation and scalability are applied, to identify initiatives that offer the best promise of impact.
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