News release

HP and Partners Announce DevelopmentSpace Network

Emerging Model for International Development Empowers Entrepreneurs

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced the formation of DevelopmentSpace Network (DSN), an alliance that leverages the power of technology and competitive markets to increase the flow of funds from private citizens, companies and multilateral aid agencies to social entrepreneurs and community-based projects in developing countries.

DSN is a public-private partnership that includes HP, Many Futures, Inc., the Center for Global Development and the State of the World Forum. HP is spearheading this initiative through its leadership role in the United Nations' Information and Communications Technology (ICT) task force.⁽¹⁾

HP's e-inclusion program is working to create new market opportunities for underserved communities by forging strategic partnerships with private and public entities to close the gap between the technology-empowered and the technology-excluded.

Debra Dunn, senior vice president, HP Corporate Affairs, believes that community-driven initiatives are key to sustainable economic development. "HP's involvement with the UN ICT task force is focused on harnessing technology to empower entrepreneurs in underserved communities," said Dunn. "We believe DSN is a powerful vehicle to help achieve that objective."

Through DSN, HP and its partners are pioneering a series of virtual and physical markets that will enable private citizens and institutions to direct their philanthropic contributions directly to the qualified social entrepreneurs and community-based projects of their choice. Typical projects funded include bilingual teachers for indigenous children in Peru, human waste treatment facilities in Mali, restroom facilities for school children in India and IT education in Nepal.

"This initiative has the potential to dramatically increase the flow of private investments overseas and to demonstrate a new model of bottom-up, market-based international aid," said Tom Rautenberg, vice president for Strategy and Business Development, the State of the World Forum.

The virtual market will be supported by Many Futures' DevelopmentSpace platform, http://www.developmentspace.com, which HP piloted during its 2002 employee giving campaign. As a result, Project Lifeline in India, which provides medical professionals with the funding necessary to perform life-saving surgery on infants who are born with congenital heart problems, was funded entirely by HP employees.

The series of physical markets will be one- to two-day events in which social entrepreneurs, sponsoring corporations and private individuals can meet to create and strengthen relationships. At these events, entrepreneurs will compete for funding and private individuals can evaluate projects to which they'd like to make a contribution. The goal of the physical market is to give a real face to development efforts. DSN's first global physical market is being planned for late 2003 in the United States.

"DevelopmentSpace is something many people have called ‘an eBay for international aid,'" said Dennis Whittle, co-founder and chief executive officer, Many Futures. "We're striving to create a real marketplace where any qualified group in the world can propose a community development project and any donor can fund it."

The Center for Global Development (CGD), one of the founding partners, has been researching ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of international aid. CGD believes market-based models, such as DSN, show the most promise. "We need to be business-like about the business of aid. We need to make markets work for poor people, too. And the power of technology makes this possible on a global scale," said Nancy Birdsall, president, CGD.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its acquisition of Compaq Computer Corporation on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ The UN ICT task force is an initiative intended to lend a global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge the global digital divide and foster digital opportunity.