Third World lender taps local tech.(Grameen Bank of Bangladesh's Grameen Foundation USA is planning to establish a technology center in Seattle)(Brief Article)

Grameen Bank puts U.S. center here

The world's largest micro-lender, the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, is finalizing plans to base its first U.S. technology center in Seattle.

It's hoped the new center will combine Puget Sound's technological know-how with its philanthropic bent, and discover new ways to use technology to help the impoverished.

Philanthropist Peter Bladin, who spent a decade as a Microsoft Corp. employee, will head the new center. He said its offices will open in October at 12th Avenue and Pike Street in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The office can house up to 10 employees.

The center will be a nonprofit project of the …