(FORTUNE Magazine) – Technology for the planet's poor countries has always meant hand-me-downs from the developed world--things like the automobile, coal-fueled electric power, and wire-line telephones. But among those gathered at FORTUNE's Brainstorm conference were several who believe that the technologies and products that will most help the developing world live up to its adjective will be designed not for the rich but explicitly for the poor. A lively session in Aspen suggested that these new purpose-built products could not only help people in the Third World but also make money for companies that produce them. This crowd's mantra: "We can do well by doing good."

Two participants have moved beyond theory. David Green sells intraocular lenses and hearing aids--and maybe eventually a variety of drugs--for dramatically less than the big multinationals do. (The venture is making money.) Dean Kamen, the technology true believer famed for inventing the self-balancing Segway scooter, has developed a machine that he thinks can bring two desperately needed things--electricity and clean water--to the villages of Africa. (Now he just needs someone to pay for it.) As the economic, political, and security implications of the global gap in income and opportunity grow ever more dire, people like Kamen and Green help maintain hope that all boats can still rise together. --David Kirkpatrick