This document outlines the vision for the Technological Empowerment Institute, which aims to empower people and businesses in developing areas through smart sensor-based systems for situation awareness. The institute will have three legs: a multi-disciplinary research leg, an implementation leg through partnerships, and an education leg. Some example target applications mentioned are assistance for elderly independent living through situational awareness alerts, supply chain monitoring, agriculture environmental control, and water quality monitoring. The overall goal is to help realize the power of event-driven systems to create a better world.