Thinking Big Technology Solutions For Social Impact Conference

Thinking Big: Technology Solutions for Social Impact Conference at Santa Clara University is a unique opportunity to learn about some of the world's most promising socially beneficial innovations, as The Tech laureates join top NGOs from NetHope and leading Silicon Valley tech companies at a conference hosted by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 28, 2010 — Top non-governmental organizations from NetHope and leading Silicon Valley tech companies will converge at Santa Clara University for a Nov. 4 conference hosted by the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. The unique conference will highlight a novel partnership designed to help humanitarian groups and enterprises vastly improve the social benefit of their technological innovations.

Also attending will be 15 laureates from The Tech Awards 2010 Presented by Applied Materials, the annual signature program of The Tech Museum. The program honors global innovators that use technology to benefit humanity.

Conference participants include the 15 laureates, representatives of more than 30 leading global non-government organizations who are members of NetHope, prominent technology corporations, funding organizations, and the University community.

The conference, Technology Solutions for Social Impact: Taking Innovations to Scale, is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Thursday Nov. 4, at Santa Clara University. A reception and additional opportunity to meet The Tech Awards laureates will follow.

Media and the public are invited to attend the conference and reception. Additional information and RSVP is available at http://www.scu.edu/sts/nov4conf.cfm.

A highlight of the conference is The Tech Awards Showcase, the highly anticipated debut of the 15 global innovators who are being recognized for their outstanding technology innovations for the benefit of humanity in environment, economic development, education, equality, and health.

The laureates are brought to Silicon Valley for a week filled with opportunities to strengthen their business skills and contacts with Silicon Valley venture capitalists and companies. At the end of the week on Nov. 6, five of the 15 laureates will also receive additional recognition with a $50,000 cash prize at The Tech Awards Gala.

The Tech Award Laureate Showcase portion of the conference takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 4 in the Locatelli Center. The laureates will introduce their innovations starting at 11:30 am.

This year’s laureates were selected from more than 1,000 nominations sourced largely by The Tech Museum’s program partner, SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society (CSTS), an interdisciplinary center focused on promoting the use of science and technology through social entrepreneurship to benefit underserved communities worldwide.

Nominations were received from more than 50 countries. The 15 laureates were selected by CSTS judging panels, which comprised SCU faculty members, CEOs and other senior executives of some of the world’s largest multinational companies, and thought leaders from research institutions and the public sector.

“The Tech Awards honors those who have dedicated their technological prowess and entrepreneurial spirit to the causes of social justice and the betterment of life for the underserved,” said Thane Kreiner, Ph.D., executive director of CSTS. “In selecting the laureates, the Center and its judges look for technological applications that demonstrate the most potential for improving the human condition worldwide.”

The five cash prize recipients of The Tech Awards 2010 will be revealed on Nov. 6 at The Tech Awards Gala, where Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will accept the 2010 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award presented by Applied Materials.  More information on the gala can be found atwww.techawards.org.

At the conference before and after The Tech Awards Showcase, CSTS and NetHope will announce a novel partnership between NetHope’s NGO members, leading technology companies and CSTS’s social-entrepreneur network and resources.

The partnership represents an agreement to collaborate, share and leverage technology and resources from companies like Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, Applied Materials and Accenture for the benefit of social entrepreneurs in CSTS’s network, and for humanitarian aid groups that are members of NetHope.

“This partnership, for the first time, will combine the efforts of influential technology companies, foundations and NGOs along with social entrepreneurs who together are positively changing the lives of the world’s neediest,” said NetHope CEO Dr. William A. Brindley.

During the conference, NetHope will announce some advancements already underway with partners such as HP, which is working with NetHope to evaluate technology to help thwart killer counterfeit drugs in third-world nations; Intel, working with Catholic Relief Services to develop a platform for mobile field workers that’s helping over one million farmer families across Sub-Saharan Africa using cloud-enabled innovations to scale to new areas; and Microsoft, which is supporting CARE in its efforts to innovate on affordable mobile phones enhanced with cloud computing to support CARE’s HIV/Aids programs in Kenya and Mozambique.

During the week of the conference, the CSTS will introduce The Tech Awards laureates to proven techniques from the Center’s signature Global Social Benefit Incubator™ program, which enable social entrepreneurs to build sustainable business models, reach scale commensurate with the level of the need they seek to address, and attract funding.

“The GSBI has graduated more than 121 social entrepreneurs, with a focus on sustainability and scaling of their ventures,” said Dr. Kreiner, “Fifty-five percent are growing earned income faster than expenses, a metric that would delight most VCs.”

The week also includes the NetHope Global Summit: Connect. Collaborate. Innovate. This unique conference includes 32 of the world’s leading NGOs, major corporations, and program spotlights that highlight best-of-breed innovations and technologies for driving social benefit. The Tech Awards laureates will participate in elements of the Summit, including a special plenary dinner.

The conference is a collaboration between The Tech Awards Presented by Applied Materials, a signature program of The Tech Museum, NetHope, and Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society.