--- --- Oct 09, 2025 # SolarSPELL A digital library for half the world by [Jessica Klein](https://time.com/author/jessica-klein/) ## Jessica Klein  Courtesy The SolarSPELL Initiative at Arizona State University Roughly half the world isn’t online. The offline digital library SolarSPELL has more than 45,000 [resources](https://solarspell.org/our-digital-libraries) in its collection spanning education, agriculture, and health to bring what co-founder Laura Hosman, an associate professor at Arizona State University (ASU), calls “the best of the internet” to students, teachers, farmers, and healthcare workers in low-access areas like Micronesia, Rwanda, and Northeast Syria. The solar-powered device, created by a team at ASU, is made from recycled plastic with a computer board that generates its own offline WiFi hotspot so nearby devices can tap into the stored data. The initiative, which introduced an improved design in 2024, now reaches 420,000 learners across 15 countries, 92% of whom report feeling better prepared to do their jobs, Hosman says. These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. SolarSPELL: The Best Inventions of 2025 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318502/solarspell/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318502/solarspell/"},"headline":"SolarSPELL","datePublished":"2025-10-09T11:00:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:57.722Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318502/solarspell/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","Best Inventions 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2554d7165ecb12de/6998ca4893610c73a1c3009d/solarSPELL-offline-digital-library-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Klein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jessica-klein/"}],"creator":"Jessica Klein","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2554d7165ecb12de/6998ca4893610c73a1c3009d/solarSPELL-offline-digital-library-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318502/solarspell/","name":"SolarSPELL"}}]}] ```