Innovation That Matters

In Brazil, missing persons posters automatically print in nearby homes

Telecommunications

The Print For Help campaign uses HP's ePrint technology to help locate missing persons, by emailing and auto-printing missing posters in nearby homes.

In Brazil, 200,000 people go missing each year and posters are still one of the most effective ways of locating them. Now, Mães da Sé NGO — the nonprofit dedicated to helping families find missing people — has partnered with HP for the Print for Help campaign. Using HP’s ePrint technology, which facilitates mobile and email printing, the campaign will help spread the word about missing individuals by automatically producing posters through nearby homes printers.

By registering printers with citizens’ email addresses and zip codes, Mães da Sé is able to email and automatically print posters in the area where a person went missing. Citizens can then assist with the search effort by displaying the poster in busy areas in their neighborhood, and create a network of helpers. By streamlining and speeding up the process of poster printing, the efforts in the first few hours, which are crucial in a search, can be maximized.

Are there other ways for consumer tech to be put to positive social uses?

Email: MaesdaSe@Globo.com

Website: www.imprimaparaajudar.com.br