What Does It Mean To Win A Tech Award: Eight Laureates Share Their Story

Since its inception in 2001, The Tech Awards, presented by Applied Materials Inc.— a signature program of The Tech Museum of Innovation — has named 287 laureates who are using technology to benefit humanity. What has that designation and affiliation meant to them? In many cases, it’s been exactly the boost early-stage social entrepreneurs have needed to scale their ventures.

Here are a few of their stories.

Steve Rudy, Gradian Health Systems CEO, 2014 laureate

Developed an anesthesia machine that doesn’t require compressed oxygen or continuous grid power

“The greatest value to Gradian from being a 2014 laureate of The Tech Awards came, unexpectedly, from our customers. I received messages from users in Uganda and Malawi congratulating us, and conveying their pride to be associated with a company and a technology that had been internationally recognized. It has given us additional weight when we meet with ministries of health, NGOs and clinical providers. We use it in discussions with donors to show we are beyond the concept stage into execution, and thus an effective avenue for social investment.”

Dipika Matthias, Ultra Rice Project Director, 2009 laureate

Commercialized nutrient-fortified rice for the developing world

“Winning The Tech Awards was pretty significant. It helped give the Ultra Rice technology a level of credibility with major stakeholders, which in turn helped us to garner more funding for the project from a wider set of donors. With additional funding, we were able to conduct clinical trials with thousands of children in both Africa and Asia, as well as develop the markets for fortified rice in several geographies. We also met another organization at The Tech Awards, Akshaya Patra, with whom we later partnered to bring fortified rice to one of the largest school lunch programs in India.”

Lesley Marincola, Angaza Founder and CEO, 2012 laureate

Developed pay-as-you-go solar energy for millions of families with no access to electricity

“If not for The Tech Awards, we would not have gotten our company off the ground to be able to bring clean solar energy to the 20,000 off-grid people we have impacted to date. The Tech Awards came at a turning point for Angaza and gave us both the funding we needed to kick off our first large financing round and the international recognition that gave others the confidence to back a young entrepreneur.”

Sal Khan, Khan Academy Founder, 2009 laureate

Created a vast selection of free online classes for students around the world with limited access to education

“Since being honored as a laureate six years ago, Khan Academy has grown to more than 15 million registered students in 190 countries, and we’re working every day to achieve our mission of a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”

Asi Burak, Games for Change president, 2011 laureate

Created socially conscious video games to engage young people

“Becoming a Tech Awards laureate in 2011 was a special moment for the organization. It was not long after we took leadership of Games for Change and it certainly increased our confidence in our strategy and direction and created a lot of momentum around the brand.”

Mohammed Rezwan, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha Executive Director, 2009 and 2004 laureate

Created solar lighting for people in flood-prone Bangladesh

“Winning The Tech Awards in 2004 and 2009 has brought our project to the attention of innovators around the world and helped them to learn about how we have adapted and innovated to bring change to the hardest-to-reach people. This has inspired other social entrepreneurs to replicate our project and to innovate to overcome some of the world’s most difficult problems.

The Tech recognition has played an important role in scaling up our projects to reach half a million people with the fleet of over 110 boats. At the same time, we have received extensive media coverage nationally and internationally. It helped our organization to renew existing grants and also to get new supports for other innovative ideas.”

Rolf Papsdorf, Zolair Energy President, 2009 laureate

Created an inexpensive, environmentally friendly source of electricity

“The Tech Awards are an exciting recognition for social entrepreneurs anywhere in the world that want to make a difference to less privileged communities. They represent a link between the first world and the developing world in a non-political way and encourage out of the box, game-changing innovations. The award and recognition that I received changed my life and that of many others to the positive. Thank you for recognizing the people in the field that face the day-to-day challenges to create a better world.”

Matt Flannery, Kiva CEO, 2007 laureate

Developed worldwide person-to-person microlending platform

“After Kiva became a laureate, we were surrounded by mentors, created a good business plan, partnered with companies like PayPal, Google and eBay, and had access to a network unique to this part of the world. Partnering with other Tech laureates has changed my life entirely.”

Special thanks to our sponsors