Boston Foundation Honored As Finalist In Prestigious Global 2003 Tech Museum Awards Competition

Boston – Today the Boston Indicators Report 2002, an initiative of the Boston Foundation, was named one of 25 laureates for the prestigious 2003 Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity presented by Applied Materials, Inc.  The Tech Museum of Innovation, located in San Jose, California announced the laureates. In Silicon Valley where technology is considered a way of life, The Tech Museum Awards were developed to recognize the need to bridge existing technology in emerging countries and emerging technologies in developed countries.

The Boston Indicators Report has been selected a laureate for the Knight Ridder Equality Award. Developed in partnership with the City of Boston and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Boston Indicators Report is a project of Boston’s civic community which uses the Internet to track progress on shared and high-leverage goals in 10 categories: Civic Health; Cultural Life and the Arts; Economy; Education; Environment; Housing; Public Health; Public Safety; Technology; and Transportation.  The Report, which is available online at www.bostonindicators.org , uses an interactive and systemic format with data drawn from the wealth of local, national and international research.

“As Greater Boston’s community foundation, one of the Boston Foundation’s primary mandates is to assemble and make available a wealth of information about Boston and the region,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation.   “Through the Boston Indicators Project and our partners, we have developed the capacity for a biennial audit, a process and a tool that is unique to our city and tracks progress on a variety of civic goals.  Using this instrument, people can come together to frame issues, sort out priorities, and develop strategies for progress.”

On October 15, at a black tie Awards Gala, Silicon Valley leaders and delegates from the United Nations will join together to honor all 25 laureates, and one laureate from each category will be awarded a $50,000 cash honorarium.  The awards, presented in partnership with the American Council for the United Nations University and Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society, are designed to honor individuals, for-profit companies, and public and not-for-profit organizations from around the world who are applying technology to profoundly improve the human condition in the categories of education, equality, environment, economic development, and health.

This year, an esteemed panel of judges considered more than 500 nominations, representing 70 countries. The 25 2003 Tech Laureates come from Bangladesh, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nepal, and the United States.

“Reflecting the mission of The Tech Museum of Innovation, these awards recognize the innovators who use technology to improve people’s lives,” says Peter Giles, president and chief executive officer of The Tech. “Through these awards, The Tech inspires future scientists, technologists, and social entrepreneurs to harness the incredible power and promise of technology to solve the challenges that confront us at the dawn of the 21st Century.” For more information on the awards and laureates, visit http://techawards.thetech.org.

The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, has an endowment of more than $500 million and made grants of  $53.7 million to nonprofit organizations last year. The Boston Foundation is made up of 750 separate charitable funds, which have been established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. The Boston Foundation also serves as a civic leader, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to build community. For more information about the Boston Foundation and its grantmaking, visit www.tbf.org , or call 617-338-1700.

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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 improve the human condition. The Awards were inaugurated in 2001.

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. They assemble five panels of judges from around the world, recruited from research institutions, industry and the public sector, who judged the nominations on five set criteria.

The Tech Museum Awards Partners

The Tech Museum Awards represent a collaborative effort among educational institutions and business. Among Silicon Valley’s leaders supporting The Tech Museum Awards are presenting sponsor, Applied Materials, Inc. and Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. Category sponsors are the NASDAQ Stock Market, Knight Ridder, Intel, and Accenture.

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.  Gary Summers, The Tech Museum of Innovation, 925-284-7004; gary@prwebsite.com .

Ryan Donovan, Ketchum Public Relations, 415-984-6138; ryan.donovan@ketchum.com.