 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) |
The Tech Awards (expanded in 2016 to The Tech for Global Good [1] ) is a program of The Tech Interactive (previously The Tech Museum of Innovation) wherein innovators from any country are recognized for technological contributions which benefit the greatest number of people.
The Tech Interactive created the award in response to The Millennium Project's State of the Future report, which recommends the granting of awards to accelerate technology to improve the human condition. [2] [3] [4]
The Tech has granted the awards yearly since 2001 to multiple recipients in each category, and as of 2011, one recipient in each category also gets a cash award of $50,000 from any of various award sponsors. Awards are granted in five categories - environment, economic development, equality, education, and health.
In 2012, the categories changed to environment, economic development, education, health, young innovator, and Sustainable Energy. The sustainable energy category will not return in 2013. Along with the changes in the categories, the number of laureates changed. Each category would have 2 laureates, one laureate will receive $25,000 and the other laureate would receive $75,000. Therefore, both laureates received a cash prize. [5]
In 2016, the Awards program was a retrospective celebrating the first 15 years, and announced that The Tech Awards would be expanded as The Tech for Global Good, making "the inspirational power of The Tech Awards a year-round presence at The Tech, including special exhibits, educational programs, and "new summits and events that celebrate innovation and inspire young people." [6] [1]
The Global Humanitarian Award is given to individuals who displays leadership in using technology to benefit the world. [7]
| Year | Global Humanitarian Award recipient |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Dean Kamen [8] |
| 2012 | N.R. Narayana Murthy |
| 2011 | Jeffrey Skoll |
| 2010 | Queen Rania of Jordan |
| 2009 | Al Gore |
| 2008 | Muhammad Yunus |
| 2007 | Gordon Moore |
| 2006 | Bill Gates |
| 2005 | Kristine Pearson |
| 2004 | James C. Morgan |
The following organizations are currently sponsors of The Tech Awards: [9]
| Award Laureates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | award | laureate | affiliation | contribution | region | notes |
| 2010 | environment | Peer Water Exchange | Blue Planet Network | water sustainability | India | award |
| 2010 | Economic Development | Alexis T. Belonio | Gasification system for rice husks | Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam | award | |
| 2010 | Education | BBC World Service Trust | Mobile application development to teach English | Bangladesh | award | |
| 2010 | Equality | A Single Drop for Safe Water | social entrepreneurship for drinking water | Philippines | award | |
| 2010 | Health | Venkatesh Mannar | promotion of double-fortified salt | India | award | |
| 2011 | Environment | AquaClara | Cornell University | inexpensive water treatment | Honduras | award |
| 2011 | Education | PhET Interactive Simulations | free educational physics and math simulations | United States | award | |
| 2011 | Equality | Universal Subtitles | A simple, open, and collaborative way to subtitle videos | United States | award | |
| 2011 | Health | WE CARE Solar | A "solar suitcase" to provide emergency lighting and power for medical procedures | United States | award | |
| 2011 | Economic Development | Eko India Financial Services | Simple, instant, and safe banking and money-transfer services | India | award | |
| 2012 | Environment | Arup K. SenGupta | transform arsenic crisis into an economic enterprise while protecting human health | India | award | |
| 2012 | Education | Literacy Bridge | audio computer playing locally produced lessons that address the practical needs of people in oral cultures | Africa | award | |
| 2012 | Young Innovator | Angaza Design | Low-cost, embedded Pay-As-You-Go technology that allows customers to pay for energy use in small amounts | Africa | award | |
| 2012 | Health | BioLite | A low-cost, highly efficient wood-burning stove that dramatically reduces smoke and harmful black carbon emissions | Global | award | |
| 2012 | Economic Development | Pamela C. Ronald, David Mackill, Kenong Xu | U.C. Davis | Identification of a submergence tolerance gene and precise introduction of the gene into locally adapted varieties favored by farmers using modern molecular breeding | Global | award |
| 2012 | Sustainable Energy | Simpa Networks | Simple, affordable, pay-as-you-use pricing and mobile payment for off-grid solar energy solutions | India | award | |
| 2013 [10] | Environment | Antrix Corp./ISRO: Sujala Project | Watershed development | India | award | |
| 2013 | Education | Enova | Created educational learning centers in areas determined by data | Mexico | award | |
| 2013 | Young Innovator | TOHL | Mobile piping infrastructure for post disaster areas | Chile | award | |
| 2013 | Health | Nazava Water Filters | Easy-to-use household water filters | Indonesia | award | |
| 2013 | Economic Development | The Darfur Stoves Project | An energy-saving metal cookstove adapted for local cooking traditions, and assembled from flat-kits that are easily stockpiled and deployed. | Sudan | award | |
The Tech Interactive is a science and technology center that offers hands-on activities, labs, design challenges and other STEAM education resources. It is located in downtown San Jose, California, adjacent to the Plaza de César Chávez.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. The award may be granted to a specific person, to a group of people or to an entire organization or corporation. It is the highest honor the United States can confer to a US citizen for achievements related to technological progress.
Ashok Gadgil Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Faculty Senior Scientist and has served as director of the Energy and Environmental Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society.
Open Architecture Network was the world's first online open source community dedicated to improving global living conditions through innovative and sustainable design. It was developed by Architecture for Humanity and incorporated Creative Commons licensing within the project management tools.
The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) is an international initiative aimed at transforming education through innovation. WISE was established by Qatar Foundation in 2009 under the patronage of its chairperson, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser. With a biennial Summit held in Doha, and a range of year-round initiatives, WISE's mission revolves around promoting new approaches to education and investigating new ways to address pressing global education challenges.
Lifeline Energy is a non-profit social enterprise that provides technology solutions for off-grid learning. The organization designs, manufactures and distributes solar and wind-up media players and radios for classroom and group listening and was behind the first solar and wind-up radio for humanitarian use which launched in 2003. Since it began operations in 1999 more than 550,000 wind-up and solar powered radios and media players have been distributed, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of listeners have been reached, as classrooms of up to 60 children or listening groups can use each radio or media player.
BBC Media Action, formerly known as the BBC World Service Trust, is the BBC's international development charity, funded independently by external grants and voluntary contributions. The purpose of the organisation is to use media and communication to reduce poverty, improve health and support people in understanding their rights. It works in partnership with the BBC World Service and other local media and development partners in over 35 developing and transitional countries around the world.
The Merdeka Award is a Malaysian award that recognises and celebrates the achievements and significant contributions of individuals to Malaysia and its people, within their respective fields.
Mick Ebeling is an American inventor, entrepreneur, author, speaker and philanthropist who focuses on developing groundbreaking technology that benefits humanity. Ebeling is the recipient of the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award and was named as one of the “Top 50 Most Creative People” by Fortune Magazine, a WIRED Agent of Change, 2x SXSW Innovation Award winner, a 2x Tribeca Disruptor Award winner, and the only person to receive TIME Magazine’s Top Invention of the Year 2 times - for the Eyewriter in 2010 and Bento in 2021.
Marita Cheng is the founder of Robogals. She was named the 2012 Young Australian of the Year. She is the founder and current CEO of Aubot, a start-up robotics company. She co-founded Aipoly, an app to assist blind people to recognise objects using their mobile phones. She was named as one of the World's Top 50 women in Technology by Forbes in 2018 and was recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2016. On 9 June 2019, Cheng was appointed a member of the Order of Australia for significant service to science and technology, particularly to robotics.
Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists was established in 2007 through a partnership between the Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by Leonard Blavatnik, chairman of Access Industries, and the New York Academy of Sciences, headed by president Nicholas Dirks.
The Tang Prize is a set of biannual international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent selection committee, which is formed in partial cooperation with the Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institution.
Patient Innovation is a website that shares solutions and ideas developed by patients and informal caregivers for managing personal health issues. It is a non-profit and also provides rating tools and options to report and track modified solutions that these individuals develop.
CODE_n is a global innovation platform initiated in 2011 by GFT Technologies AG under the direction of its CEO, Ulrich Dietz. As part of the platform, an annual contest is held for startups with business models based on digital technologies. CODE_n runs for five days at the CeBIT exhibition, offering a full trade show of its own and a conference program culminating in the naming of a contest winner. Additional CODE_n elements like CONNECT, SPACES, and EVENTS were developed to bring together startups and established businesses.
Elliot V. Kotek is an Australian producer, filmmaker, photographer and the co-founder and former content chief of Not Impossible Now, and former executive director of the Not Impossible Foundation. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Beyond Cinema magazine.
FinTech Awards are several award ceremonies, most of them unrelated, which are held all over the world to recognize excellence in financial technology as assessed by either a public vote or panels of judges. There are typically many categories, winners and prizes. Hundreds of companies, mostly startups, participate as candidates.
Inna Braverman is an Israeli entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power, a renewable energy company with a patented technology for the generation of clean electricity from ocean and sea waves. Braverman established Eco Wave Power at the age of 24, and under her leadership, Eco Wave Power installed its first grid-connected wave energy array in Gibraltar, secured a projects pipeline of 254MW, and became the first Israeli company to ever list on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Eyitayo Ogunmola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur and an international speaker who started Utiva, a global talent development company that has helped over 45,000 Africans learn technology skills and supported major startups and enterprises to hire talents among Africans and Minorities.
The VinFuture Prize is an annual international award that honors remarkable scientific breakthroughs and promotes innovations for mankind, with involvement from world-renowned scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and Prize holders. It is the first influential and worldwide prize to be founded in Vietnam, and it is hosted by the VinFuture Foundation.