Press Room

NetHope Honored as a 2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureate

November 16, 2004

SAN JOSE, California  – NetHope, an information technology consortium of fifteen of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations, was one of several organizations honored by The Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity on November 10, 2004.  NetHope received the Agilent Equality Award for their use of technology to benefit mankind. 

“This award recognizes the impact computers and communications can have in making a significant difference on relief, development and environmental efforts of humanitarian organizations,” said Dipak Basu, Executive Director of NetHope and a Cisco Systems Leadership Fellow.  “Our passion is to accelerate and scale the adoption of information technology for humanity, which in turn helps tens of thousands of aid workers in the developing world, and to serve hundreds of thousands if not millions of their beneficiaries.” 

Edward Granger-Happ, NetHope Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Save the Children said, "NetHope is a strong example of a new level cooperation among leading international nonprofits that not only better leverages technology resources that impact our relief, development and conservation activities globally, but also leverages a stronger partnership with our key technology partners such as Cisco and Microsoft." 

Since its inception, the primary focus of NetHope has been to develop a collaborative approach to addressing unreliable or non- existent communication facilities in deprived areas of the world.  Technology and communication processes that are commonplace in advanced countries offer breakthrough advancements for humanitarian efforts – if selected wisely.  NetHope addresses Information Technology problems with innovative solutions in both long-term development work and more immediate humanitarian relief situations. 

“We are pleased that NetHope has been recognized for its humanitarian efforts in making a difference in the lives of people in dire situations around the world,” said Tae Yoo, Vice President Corporate Affairs, Cisco Systems.  “NetHope’s success demonstrates the contribution Information Technology could have in the developing world.”   

When a disaster strikes local communications are destroyed or inoperable. The foremost requirement during crisis situations, beyond rescue and treatment of survivors, becomes the ability to communicate within and across communities for coordination of aid. Relief agencies and materials descend on disaster areas in an uncoordinated manner, yet the rapid coordination of refugee assessment and materials distribution is paramount to saving lives.  In concert with Cisco, Inmarsat and Microsoft, NetHope has developed and is piloting the NetReliefKit, a wireless communication hub for voice and data for disaster relief workers with satellite access to the Internet.   

 “The Tech Awards laureates are pioneering appropriate technology solutions to aid so many people, but it’s the ease with which their innovations can be scaled and replicated elsewhere that will continue to truly make this world a better place,” said Tech Museum President and CEO Peter Giles. “The ultimate promise of the laureates and their technology is the power these examples have to communicate to every individual who becomes aware of them that they too can make a difference.” 

The award ceremony, attended by over 1,300 global technology leaders, philanthropists and guests, honored 25 laureates in total, in the categories of environment, economic development, education, equality and health. The laureates traveled to Silicon Valley from the 12 countries they represent for a week of scheduled meetings with potential funders and partners, various speaking engagements, and the black-tie gala.  

This year, more than 580 nominations were received, representing 80 countries. The 25 laureates came from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, India, Guatemala, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, The United States and Uruguay. Their work impacts 37 countries. Nominations for the 2005 Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity are now open. For more information and nomination forms, visit www.techawards.org. 

About NetHope  

NetHope, a public charity incorporated in the State of Delaware, USA, is a information technology consortium of fifteen of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations.  Headquartered in San Jose, California, NetHope empowers its members to offer improved services to their beneficiaries by developing innovative IT solutions, negotiating pricing benefits, providing program management services and a forum 

for sharing knowledge and experiences.  In its three years of existence NetHope has successfully completed deployment of a pilot network of 21 monitored satellite locations including an Internet Telephony trial. Broadband solutions for fixed and mobile relief sites in disaster-affected regions of Iraq, Iran, Liberia, 

Afghanistan and Chad are in place or in planning.  NetHope is developing long-term strategic relationships with major high-technology corporations to allow its members to procure telecommunications, computing and software products at affordable prices. 

About The Tech Museum Awards 

The concept for The Tech Museum Awards and its five categories was inspired in part by The State of the Future at the Millennium report of The Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University, which recommends that award recognition is an effective way to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and technological applications to solve the most critical global challenges. The Awards were inaugurated in 2001. For more information, visit www.techawards.org 

Judging for The Tech Museum Awards is independently conducted by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society, a global network of academic and industry experts dedicated to understanding and influencing how science and technology impact society. Judges for the five categories are recruited from research institutions, industry and the public sector around the world. 

About The Tech Museum of Innovation 

Located in the heart of downtown San Jose, Silicon Valley, Calif., The Tech, a non-profit organization, engages people of all ages and backgrounds in exploring and experiencing the technologies affecting their lives and aims to inspire the innovator in everyone. For more information, visit www.thetech.org or call (408) 294-TECH.  

Contacts: 

Dipak Basu, NetHope, +1 408 526 4514; dbasu@nethope.org 

Tony Santos, The Tech Museum, +1 408 796 6226; tsantos@thetech.org