The World Technology Network is encouraging serendipity. Serendipity is happy
accidents. Fortunate accidents that happen when a person encounters an
idea
that didn't know would be beneficial to them or a person that they didn't know was going to be enjoyable or
otherwise interesting to know.
And we all know that we have to do some planning in our lives or in our organizations to move ahead. We also all know
that life is not linear and serendipitous encounters are often where the most interesting things
happen at the edge.
Almost all of the members of the world technology network will tell a story and can tell a story of a serendipitous
connection often many that led them to their career, led them to a particular
line of research led them to particular insight in their research. And often when
they were at their lowest point lead them to a new doorway opening.
Innovators are also people who have more serendipitous encounters. Now how can something
random happen more often?
Well, I think it's based on the fact that innovators are obsessed with their goal.
They have a passion and what that means is that instead of filtering out
seemingly, meaningless things
from their existence.
the way most of the rest of us do all the time, they're so obsessed they're not sure what's meaningless.
So they want to encounter and absorb it all.
So they take random encounters, filter them through their passion and often turn
what for the rest of us might be a random encounter to a serendipitous one.
They actually create more serendipity for themselves.
The world technology network is attempting to encourage everything more of that serendipity amongst those people
who are very susceptible and apt towards it.
So. Be it in an elevator.
Be it on a long airplane flight.
Be it in a doctor's office when you read an ancient magazine and a seemingly out of the article in
a magazine you've never would have read otherwise that gives you an idea.
That's where the interesting stuff happens. we all know it is extremely difficult to plan for it
but the more we recognize it, the more we recognize what a role it plays in the world of science and technology,
the more it can happen to us.
That's probably why I'm not an innovator or a scientist because I've missed both those opportunities. On a lighter note
I will just say just to warn you right now that the winners always to me seem every award's evening to get
taller as the night gets through.
It may not happen. I haven't thought about it but I just noticed that I
felt shorter as I take the photos.
Next category. The 2005 World Technology Award for education. The new fellows are. Tzuo Ito
Shariff Kamal, Mushruka Sharknia, Shivsvac Kumar,
Eliot Solloway and Elizabeth Stalk. And the winner is Shivsvac Kumar with ITC Limited.
Clapping and music
Thank you network.
As I participated in the two days of the summit, a couple of phrases we're
going all the time.
One was that we are living in exciting times.
And two is always look for the sense of possibility like serendipity that Jim talked about.
Having on of the obligations that all of us have is
To create the sense of possibility.
And bring those exciting times to everyone in this world.
Not just a few of us. I quite humbly accept this award on behalf of 3 and a half
million farming families who's lives ITC inaudible that better represent. Such as day in and day out.
here the farmers from Bood, India,
because they are very small each one cultivates a hectare, a hectare and a half
Competing in this global market
And here are the farmers who are disposed around 600,000 valleys of India
who are far removed from the markets. Access to information is
Almost impossible on a real time basis.
Live
at no more then 50 cents a day as income. About 4 years ago,
the world of internet was opened up to these people.
bringing information on a real time basis to what the markets, what the weather is going to be.
Bringing knowledge, customizing it today's oil conditions.
and what they made out of it, another phrase that we've heard is often known as the lunch time speaker.
Ziv said a collective force of mass collaboration.
I think while these people didn't have opportunities so far
when tools are made available they certainly can make
well out of it build on their capabilities to live their own lives. So on behalf of all of them, I accept this award. Thank you.
Clapping
I have to say, while we have a second here, I love the international feel of these awards that,
and I don't mean this in an offended way , although it may come across that way, that it is actually a world,
I like the World Series. Let my say I'm from Canada full disclosure there's only one Canadian team and the rest are all U.S.
teams, so it's not really the world series and I know the players are from around the world, anyway, sorry.
The, just on that topic
I said that the awards are nominated by existing members
Who are primarily previous winners and finalists. This is the sixth world technology cycle and in the first 2
years we didn't have critical mass of members to make those nominations.
And I felt it was very crucial how those first nominations were made. So. We have small percentage of the members
who are founding members who are who were selected in those first two years to nominate.
And those founding members I made a point of seeking
From around the world so that.
The network would begin truly international
And then would continue to cycle internationally.
Also I would say that the members.
often nominate people from their own part of world but when the voting comes and they get to see
all the nominees, they often expand their horizons. So that's a good sign as well.
The next category is the World Technology Award for IT software for corporate.
The new corporate members are Amazon.com, Apple Computer, Evolution Robotics, IBM, Iterice, and Virtual
Tech. I'm pretty sure I can pronounce the winner here. Amazon.com. Clapping and music. Amazon.com
was also made a great effort was unable to send someone this evening get and
in the spirit of a company that truly is an e-commerce pioneer, wait until you hear the
message.
Jim, we're honored to nominated for this award if we are fortunate to win this award on behalf of
Amazon.com. Thank you. We'd very liked to have attended the event but unfortunately
we were heads down focused right now on offering a holiday shopping experience that is our best ever.
Kind of brings a tear to my eye.
I do all my shopping at Amazon. I don't know about you just everything.
The next category is the world technology award for IT hardware.
The new fellows are: Holly Gates, Sumio Egma, Kun Lay Kutung, Geordie Rose and
Twuling Shan.
And the winner is Holly Gates from E Inc Corporation.
clapping and music.
It's a great honor to be nominated for this award and even a greater honor to win and I really feel
humbled in comparison to the amazing people that are here
tonight both in the room and the other winners in other categories and I guess I'll say a word about
the technology I've spent the last 10 years of my life trying to push forward which is electronic paper.
You may have heard of E Inc. We're nominated in the corporate category as well. But the idea is to
have paper that you can change it electronically and the reason why that would be good is because even
though you might
want to use your electronic communicator all the time,
A lot of people would prefer to use paper. There's good reasons for that. It's high contrast, it's portable, its low-power,
it's sunlight readable, it's
Flexible, it's cheap. So wouldn't it be great to have all those qualities in your electronic display.
So what we're trying to do is bring the qualities of paper to an electronic device using a lot of same technologies that are
used in the printing industry, so hopefully within the next
couple of years, you will have something for yourself that comes from us. Thank you very much.
Clapping
A couple of years ago towards the end of the awards, I made the comment that I was so ecstatic that I felt six feet tall.
The world technology award for energy, corporate category, the new corporate members are: First Solar,
Front Edge Technology, H2Gen Innovations,
Nano Solar, RecTech Energy and XonX. And the Winner is XonX.
Clapping and music.
Well thank you very much. It is an honor to be nominated and obviously a great honor
to win.
In 1999 Jim has become a close friend of mine. He came to me and helped us build our business plan quarterly
Any e-business plans require few different companies and he came to me and said I just met with a company that's filing
pants for
transparent solar cells. They plan to wrap high rise buildings and turning this with architectural glass into a
power source and I have a background in development, construction development, and I thought, this is amazing.
I mean, instantly it hit me how relevant that was and how important that was but I was busy running a big company
with hundreds of employees, growing about 800 to 1000 % that year here and I get on with
my own business.
About 3 or 4 years later this same gentleman came to me and said Tom the scientists who running this is, as brilliant
as they were, weren't able to go anywhere with it but it was a good idea in 1999. I think it's even a better
idea today.
Solar electricity has been socially irrelevant for 30 or 40 years
And its time, its economic relevance has really come, it's full circle, it's here now. He said why don't we get these patents
why don't we get this technology, let's roll it up into a new entity and let's go out with some new creative backing and
and financial backing and what not, and let's move forward. So about a month later I found myself
without any employees, no capital but the patents and the idea and passion to really drive this idea
forward.
And the concept is building integrated photo otaics. We're not the only company in this space and I think it has immense
relevance both socially and economically for probably the next, the balance of this century. If you look at a tree, its
form is just beautiful and its function is immensely intelligent and perfect.
You look at this structure and you say its form is beautiful but its function is really lacking. And building
integrated photo otaics offers the opportunity to add intelligent function to this beautiful form.
And that's an area we hope here at XonX that we're able to drive these concepts forward, develop products and
technologies that allow these kinds of things to occur. I just want to thank everyone for nominating us
once again
And congratulations to the rest of the nominees also. Thank you.
Clapping
I'm getting shorter. He's just seven feet tall. I'm sorry.
The next category is the world technology award for marketing communications. The new fellows are:
Scott Faverin and Shaun Vanderlinden, Jeffrey Emalt, Gregory Lee, Mike MacEwen and Angus Davis,
Stan Ng and Steve Stern.
The winners are Scott Faver and Shaun Vanderlinden from Inginio. Clapping and Music.
It's such an honor to be here.
I'd like to thank the WTN, my co-founder Shaun,
and of course James for such a wonderful conference.
It was such a pleasure getting to know many of you over the past couple of days and it's sort of what do at Inginio, we
connect people.
We use all of the information, finding power of the internet with a live voice connection with the telephone and we combine them seamlessly.
You want to add to that? No. When we do so, it makes great things possible. One of the things we do is we enable
anyone anywhere to sell what they have to say. So all of you with the great ideas that you represent,
we're looking to empower people to sell not just the goods they have but the services they have
to offer and doing so in combination with internet and the telephone. So look out for us. Look out for
ether.com. It's coming soon. Thank you. Clapping
I do have just one observation which is that James in his opening remarks,
was having a hard time finding a common thread throughout the six or nine different major disciplines
that are represented here today. And I think there is one common thread which is that
I think everyone in this room has bothered to ask the question.
Why sell for the status quo and I encourage all to keep asking that question. Thank you very much
for the honor. Clapping and music.
If I just knew when rehearsal was I would have been here. There's a question I'm going to keep asking.
There's nothing I can do about it.
The next category is the
World technology award for law.
The new fellows are of Yoki Bankler, Dan Burke, James Love, Hardy Rye, and Anthony Reese.
And the winner is Yoki Bankler from Yale. Clapping and Music
Yoki had planned to participate in the entire summit and the awards
but wrote me this message.
Faxed this message, emailed me this message.
and Fed-Exed this message
It arrived today.
Dear Jim. I had planned to attend the World Technology Awards ceremony tonight but I'm afraid I have been grounded
literally for two weeks because of a severe ear infection and I had been told simply I cannot fly. I'm
honored to have been nominated for the Law award. If you in fact decide to select me for the award, I would appreciate it if you could read
my thanks to the WTN membership.
I am honored. But more than I'm personally honored I'd rather think of this award as a sign that
more people are beginning to take seriously the change we're undergoing as a society and then
economy. With the policy challenges we face as we undergo it. For a decade now, I've been writing about the
centrality of the comments To the production and exchange of information, knowledge and culture.
I have focused more specifically on the rise of peer production. Like free and open source
software or wickapedia.
And sharing of material resources like wireless mesh networks, distributed computing and pip pop architectures.
My economic project has been to work out why these forms of social behavior were not a femoril fads but
reflected instead of fundamental structural change in the economics of information, knowledge and
cultural production.
I've sought to provide not only a thorough and transparent economic explanation of the macros
sustainability of these phenomena. And how they interact with market enterprises. But also a
microeconomic account that would allow designers such platforms as I've recently working with
various organizations to do for the collaborative production of teaching materials, scientific publications,
survivable infrastructures, agriculture research and perhaps even by medical innovation
No less importantly from my own perspective I have worked to think through what it means from the
perspective of individual freedom and democracy
that we lived in a public sphere produced by individuals and cooperative social enterprises,
like the blogis sphere,
And in movie video culture. or the simple aggregation of all the many and diverse interests of
the millions of people on web instead of through the filters of a small number of mass media
outlets.
These economic and social changes are challenging the major incumbents of the industrial
information economy. As a result, we are seeing every nook and cranny of the law that regulates communications,
from copy write to patent to spectrum regulation and the DNS service being twisted and warped to burden the new emerging
modes of production and to prop up the sagging giants of the last century. It has been my purpose for a decade
to shine a light on the stakes of this battle over the institutional ecology of the digital environment.
I thank the membership for seeing my contributions as significant to development of that
recognition and understanding. Yours, Yoki Bankler.
Clapping
A passionate lawyer. I like that.
The next category is the 2005 world technology award for materials. The new fellows are: Yung son
Choi and James R. Baker Jr., Michael Gretzel, Wolfgang Kathlervin, David R. Loo,
Daniel Rugar, John Maman, Rafi Bedackiun and Benjamin Chiu.
And the winners Daniel Rugar, John Maman, Rafi Bedackiun and Benjamin Chiu with IBM.
Clapping and Music
This for us is a big surprise. We are really nitty, gritty hardcore physicists.
We work every day in the lab building things. We're driven by a dream. The dream is that someday
we'll be able to take the beautiful technology of magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, which your probably
all familiar with in hospitals and extend that down to the atomic scales and to be able to take beautiful three-dimensional
images of the most important