"We bring The Tech Awards laureates to Silicon Valley for a week of activities designed to expose them to potential funders, social entrepreneurs, corporate executives, media, researchers, students, and many others. We commission films about the laureates, hold workshops, offer speaking and networking opportunities, connect laureates to Silicon Valley mentors, and present a public Showcase, Conference, and Gala. As a tranquil escape from these intensive activities, in recent years Nokia has treated the laureates to an airship ride over the San Francisco Bay. The high point of The Tech Awards Week is the Gala. It's one of Silicon Valley's most important and most beautifully staged events. World-class photojournalists and photo agencies contribute images that are projected onto an immense screen half a football field long, bringing the world into the Gala, magnificently. The legendary photography editor Karen Mullarkey is the force behind this element of The Tech Awards. Naturally, The Tech Awards is also shaped by personal experiences. As former Peace Corps volunteers, the program's co-founder, Dick King, and I have experienced first-hand many of the conditions that inspire The Tech Awards laureates to take action. At last year's gala, as he paid tribute to the program's other co-founders, Dick told a moving story. When he arrived in his Salvadoran village, one of the first neighbors to befriend him was a timid, naked, malnourished, barefooted young child. Years later, the haunting memory of that boy, and the daunting conditions and poverty he had to endure, inspired Dick to help create The Tech Awards."
Saint Lucia RPCV David Whitman is vice president at The Tech Museum in Silicon Valley where he directs its signature programs, including The Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity
An Inside Look at the Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity
Caption: David Whitman is an independent writer and photographer whose work like that above has appeared in more than 100 publications and exhibitions.
Recently, I interviewed David Whitman, vice president at The Tech Museum in Silicon Valley, where he directs its signature programs, including The Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity. In collaboration with the Uffizi Gallery and Museo Galileo in Florence, Whitman coordinated The Tech Museum's international exhibition on Leonardo and other artist-engineers of the Renaissance. For 14 years, he managed U.C. Berkeley's famed Hertz Concert Hall. Later, he assisted in establishing Art Basel Miami Beach. An independent writer and photographer whose work has appeared in more than 100 publications and exhibitions, Whitman often travels abroad and has resided in Belgium, Brazil, and as a Peace Corps forester in the West Indies.
Rahim Kanani: Explain a little bit about the founding and motivation behind The Tech Awards.
David Whitman: Eleven years ago, The Tech Museum partnered with the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University and Applied Materials to create an international program recognizing innovative people who develop "technology benefiting humanity."
The 5 categories for The Tech Awards-environment, economic development, education, equality, and health-were derived from the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in 2000. And later, the Global Humanitarian Award was established.
Each year, 15 laureates are selected, from among hundreds of competing applicants, in an independent review conducted by the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. Since its inception, The Tech Awards has inducted 245 laureates and awarded $2.75 million in unrestricted cash prizes.
We bring The Tech Awards laureates to Silicon Valley for a week of activities designed to expose them to potential funders, social entrepreneurs, corporate executives, media, researchers, students, and many others. We commission films about the laureates, hold workshops, offer speaking and networking opportunities, connect laureates to Silicon Valley mentors, and present a public Showcase, Conference, and Gala. As a tranquil escape from these intensive activities, in recent years Nokia has treated the laureates to an airship ride over the San Francisco Bay.
The high point of The Tech Awards Week is the Gala. It's one of Silicon Valley's most important and most beautifully staged events. World-class photojournalists and photo agencies contribute images that are projected onto an immense screen half a football field long, bringing the world into the Gala, magnificently. The legendary photography editor Karen Mullarkey is the force behind this element of The Tech Awards.
Naturally, The Tech Awards is also shaped by personal experiences. As former Peace Corps volunteers, the program's co-founder, Dick King, and I have experienced first-hand many of the conditions that inspire The Tech Awards laureates to take action. At last year's gala, as he paid tribute to the program's other co-founders, Dick told a moving story. When he arrived in his Salvadoran village, one of the first neighbors to befriend him was a timid, naked, malnourished, barefooted young child. Years later, the haunting memory of that boy, and the daunting conditions and poverty he had to endure, inspired Dick to help create The Tech Awards.
Rahim Kanani: What have been some of the examples of winning technologists or organizations over the last decade?
David Whitman: All 245 laureates-including the 15 to be honored next month-are listed on our website, thetechawards.thetech.org. The diversity is staggering. Seattle-based PATH is a 3-time laureate of The Tech Awards. And often in the media these days is the phenomenal Khan Academy, one of the education laureates of 2009.
Recipients of the Global Humanitarian Award include Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Al Gore, Muhammad Yunus, Gordon Moore, Bill Gates, Kristine Pearson, and James C. Morgan in whose honor the award is named. The 2011 award will be given to social entrepreneur Jeff Skoll at The Tech Awards Gala on Thursday evening, October 20, at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
ahim Kanani: In carving out the landscape, where do we currently stand with respect to the intersection of technology and social change?
David Whitman: Using your landscape metaphor, technology and social change seem, to me, like elements of a mighty thunderstorm. Thunderstorms alter the landscape with the forces of wind, rain, and fire. Depending on our perspective, these changes can be viewed as negative or positive-just like with social change. And as technology continues to change exponentially, the conditions leading to social change around the world are being created with corresponding speed and impact.
Rahim Kanani: Where are we headed?
David Whitman: My profound hope is that technology will help bring us closer together rather than creating technologically unequal worlds with all the tragic and enduring consequences that would generate. I also hope that humans will always be in control of technology rather than the alarming possibility of the reverse situation. Contemplating a world dominated by artificial intelligence is no longer science fiction. We are moving swiftly into a new realm.
Rahim Kanani: If you were to advise budding technologists about using their learned expertise towards social change, what would you say?
David Whitman: As Queen Rania said at the awards ceremony last year, "The Tech Awards laureates see technology's potential and promise, putting their talents to work for others as leading techmanitarians."
Become a techmanitarian. Consider others, especially those outside your usual circles. The world is far more complex, mysterious, and diverse than most people experience. Consider how your innovations can be truly meaningful. Imagine someone for whom your innovation would have a positive and perhaps life-changing impact. Be a force for good. Truly use technology to benefit humanity…and all other life forms, too.
Rahim Kanani is a writer, advocate, strategist and entrepreneur for global social change. His articles, opinions, and interviews with global leaders can be found at www.rahimkanani.com.
