Bill Gates to receive award from Tech Museum

By Jason Bennert, Bay City News Service

July 11, 2006

SAN JOSE (BCN) - The Tech Museum of Innovation announced Monday that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, will receive this year's James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award.

The award will be presented at a ceremony at the museum on November 15 at the annual Tech Museum Awards, which annually honor innovators who apply technology in creative and practical ways to global problems.

"From Microsoft's early days, to the founding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates has consistently made philanthropy a priority, and demonstrated that technology can be applied not just to business problems, but for the benefit of humankind,'' museum president Peter Friess said. "We are delighted to honor Bill Gates with this award, and to celebrate his humanitarian contributions with the next generation of innovators who can take great inspiration from his example.''

Gates will be one of 25 award winners honored at the dinner, which will be hosted by San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.

"I'm honored to be named as the recipient for this year's James C. Morgan Humanitarian Award,'' Gates said. "Melinda and I are optimists who believe in the power of science and technology to help solve some of the world's most difficult problems. Through our foundation, we are committed to reducing the greatest inequities in global health, and to providing greater access to information and technologies that can help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty.''

More information about the awards can be found at www.thetechawards.org.

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