:00:00. > :00:00.In around 10 minutes we'll have Newswatch but first on BBC News,
:00:00. > :00:45.Since then, the region has seen a mass movement
:00:46. > :00:48.of people as an estimated 4 million refugees have fled into neighbouring
:00:49. > :00:49.countries including Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.
:00:50. > :00:51.Distributing aid and processing papers for
:00:52. > :00:57.It means that many people can wait at the border for a long time
:00:58. > :01:00.But for refugees entering Jordan, new ways
:01:01. > :01:02.of using biometric technology to identify people could make for
:01:03. > :01:07.quicker processing times and even easy access to aid through banks.
:01:08. > :01:10.And there is plenty of other inventive tech ideas to
:01:11. > :01:13.improve daily life coming from the refugees themselves.
:01:14. > :01:18.We have been to Jordan's capital Amman and the Zaatari camp
:01:19. > :01:26.We are on the road to Zaatari, the largest refugee camp in Jordan.
:01:27. > :01:29.Only a few miles from Syria, many people have come here
:01:30. > :01:33.from Daraa, often called the cradle of revolution for its early role
:01:34. > :01:41.The camp was formed four years ago when people fled the war
:01:42. > :01:45.Now over 80,000 people are estimated to live here.
:01:46. > :01:47.Despite facing incredible hardship, there is an atmosphere
:01:48. > :01:49.of resilience and entrepreneurial spirit which gives it
:01:50. > :01:57.In the camp, many refugees are working and there
:01:58. > :02:02.Once an empty desert, thousands of shops and homes almost
:02:03. > :02:11.The main street is called Sham D'Elysees, which is a play
:02:12. > :02:15.on two things, the word the Syrians refer to Damascus by,
:02:16. > :02:20.You can find everything from bridal dresses, to vegetable
:02:21. > :02:26.shops and barbershops, and even quite a few mobile phone shops.
:02:27. > :02:29.One of the shop is run by Mohammed who showed me one
:02:30. > :02:34.Do have one with a bigger compartment?
:02:35. > :02:44.I haven't seen these tablets before, they have games for kids from China.
:02:45. > :02:47.And if you break your phone, you are in good hands here.
:02:48. > :02:50.There are several workshops open in the evening in many spare parts for
:02:51. > :02:55.sale including the Samsung batteries for just a few dollars each.
:02:56. > :03:00.We also watched a report he had been featured in talking
:03:01. > :03:04.about how he stays in touch with his family in Syria through WhatsApp.
:03:05. > :03:07.Not many people here have laptops he says, but everyone
:03:08. > :03:14.Keeping in touch with family back home is
:03:15. > :03:17.critical for those whose lives have been torn apart by the conflict.
:03:18. > :03:20.The majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan live in
:03:21. > :03:26.the capital where at least 600,000 are registered with the UNHCR.
:03:27. > :03:28.This is the waiting area for refugees.
:03:29. > :03:34.This is where they wait to process their cases,
:03:35. > :03:37.whether it is a interviews to renew asylum certificates or to follow up
:03:38. > :03:40.on their cases on an individual basis, whether it
:03:41. > :03:42.is for cash assistance, health assistance or legal assistance.
:03:43. > :03:46.Whatever they may need, we have it here.
:03:47. > :03:53.We have around 3000-4000 individuals per day and this is why
:03:54. > :04:01.the registration centre is the largest in the Middle East.
:04:02. > :04:04.We process their cases on a daily basis, whether it is
:04:05. > :04:10.for registration for other units or even resettlement interviews.
:04:11. > :04:13.The problem of registering so many new people has led to a solution
:04:14. > :04:19.All refugees to enter Jordan have their irises scanned to confirm
:04:20. > :04:21.their identities and are given an identification card
:04:22. > :04:27.The process is two steps, with initial enrollment
:04:28. > :04:33.Today we meet a family from Homs who are renewing their asylum documents.
:04:34. > :04:36.The iris scan is considered the most secure form of biometrics as
:04:37. > :04:41.fingerprints can change over time, especially for young children.
:04:42. > :04:44.Along with ID cards, the data is shared with local partners to try
:04:45. > :04:50.Bank accounts are automatically created with the Cairo Amman bank
:04:51. > :04:53.where aid money can be taken out in the blink of an eye.
:04:54. > :04:56.There is no need to register information again with the bank,
:04:57. > :05:18.as it comes through the UNHCR secure iCloud server based in Amman
:05:19. > :05:20.There is some information that would be shared with the government,
:05:21. > :05:23.actually for their service and for our service actually
:05:24. > :05:25.because the Jordanian authority needs to know the numbers.
:05:26. > :05:27.But other information, this will be 100% secret
:05:28. > :05:31.He might tell me that he was tortured in his country.
:05:32. > :05:35.The general information, we will tell him that this might be
:05:36. > :05:38.shared with the government, and actually they agree.
:05:39. > :05:41.Back in Zaatari technology is being used in inventive ways to
:05:42. > :05:48.The camp is a community of makers and one of the most innovative
:05:49. > :05:58.Four years ago, he fled the violence in Syria with two family members.
:05:59. > :06:01.They all have disabilities and struggle to get around
:06:02. > :06:06.He wanted to have more independence and designed electric bike
:06:07. > :06:55.Giving refugees access to technology and education is the focus
:06:56. > :07:02.One of its startups, 3DMeena, is focused on fabrication
:07:03. > :07:09.A Syrian refugee volunteer named Assam, became so efficient with the
:07:10. > :07:12.machines here that he became the company's Technical Director, even
:07:13. > :07:18.teaching members of the Jordanian Royal rehab centre how to 3D print.
:07:19. > :07:21.He was an ambulance driver in Syria and lost his leg
:07:22. > :07:25.As well as customising his own prosthetics, he helped
:07:26. > :07:31.a young Yemeni boy named Zayn, who lost part of his hand in a fire.
:07:32. > :07:33.They were able to include elements of Zayn's favourite cartoon
:07:34. > :07:38.character in the design, all for just 75 US dollars.
:07:39. > :07:42.Assam also helped develop a 3D printed system using feedback
:07:43. > :07:45.for another Syrian refugee named Ahmed who was blinded by a sniper
:07:46. > :07:54.The echolocation system helps guide him to walk around unaided.
:07:55. > :07:56.There are 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Jordan and that is
:07:57. > :08:09.So we need to find the best way to engage with them.
:08:10. > :08:11.As we can't just keep ignoring the problem, it is opportunity
:08:12. > :08:15.for us to find an economy in Jordan where we don't have much resources.
:08:16. > :08:21.This is a change for us more than a burden.
:08:22. > :08:23.The company plans to open fabrication labs
:08:24. > :08:28.in a refugee camp in Turkey and in a northern Jordanian city.
:08:29. > :08:32.It is a small but positive step to harness the talents of people forced
:08:33. > :08:51.into exile and help them to integrate to a new country country.
:08:52. > :08:55.It might not look it, but it is a world record.
:08:56. > :08:57.This is the fastest data transfer in history.
:08:58. > :09:03.Researchers here at University College London are sending it
:09:04. > :09:15.commissioned through optic fibre at speeds of 1.125 terabits per second.
:09:16. > :09:26.It is also 50,000 times faster than the average UK home broadband
:09:27. > :09:29.connection, and still much faster than the fat internet connections
:09:30. > :09:40.And it is this internet backbone that this research is
:09:41. > :09:43.As with all experiments, this looks very experimental,
:09:44. > :09:50.It is sending data over 3000 kilometres of optic fibre.
:09:51. > :09:52.It's actually sending it through 100km of fibre 30 times.
:09:53. > :09:54.Then it comes to the receiver over here.
:09:55. > :10:00.There it is, the data coming in at one terabit per second.
:10:01. > :10:02.This is a clever mix of digital signal processing to filter out
:10:03. > :10:06.the noise, and physics, which attempts to use every part of the
:10:07. > :10:14.In order to increase the data rate, we are typically instead
:10:15. > :10:18.of using one colour light we are using a number of colour lights
:10:19. > :10:21.and combining them into one big what we call a super channel.
:10:22. > :10:24.Then, we increase the amount of information we can send on each
:10:25. > :10:28.By using these cunning techniques, the team here say upgrading
:10:29. > :10:33.the internet won't take a lot of digging.
:10:34. > :10:35.You can use the same optic fibre cables and just change
:10:36. > :10:43.But will we ever really need all that extra speed?
:10:44. > :10:48.Well, history would suggest, yes we would.
:10:49. > :10:51.To be able to send much greater volumes of data at much higher
:10:52. > :10:53.speeds over existing fibres, all the devices constantly sending
:10:54. > :10:56.data - your televisions, computers, cameras, sensors, the toothbrush.
:10:57. > :10:58.Terabits to hundreds of terabits of data, the minimum necessary to
:10:59. > :11:32.transmit all the data we are currently generating and receiving.
:11:33. > :11:38.That is it for the short version, much more on the longer version
:11:39. > :11:42.which you can watch on iPlayer.