Awards for Social Entrepreneurs at Santa Clara University Conference

A conference at Santa Clara University on October 19 will feature 15 global socially responsible companies that will be honored with the 2011 Tech Awards for their enterprising use of technology to benefit humanity. The awards will be conferred by The Tech Museum in association with Applied Materials and Santa Clara University. The conference will examine factors that drive the success of social enterprises.

The Nexus Conference will include a keynote presentation by the CEO of Lifeline Energy, Kristine Pearson. Kristine, a former Tech laureate, will speak about her first-hand experiences and the growth of Lifeline Energy over the past decade as it has pursued its mission to provide orphans, refugees and women with sustainable access to energy, light, information and education.

Speakers and panelists at the Nexus Conference will include leaders of social ventures, financiers and researchers such as Anudip, an India-based IT training enterprise, DataDyne, a mobile health and development technology company, Toniic.com, a social entrepreneur investor aggregator, and Ashoka, the leading social entrepreneur community builder. These social innovators will share their experiences in raising funds for social enterprises, building profitable social businesses, and creating productive partnerships between diverse ecosystem constituents.

The Nexus Conference is open to the public, and expects to bring together socially responsible companies and Silicon Valley VCs, successful and aspiring social entrepreneurs, foundations and impact investors funding social enterprises, and broad community at Santa Clara University. The event will provide a good opportunity to know more about the Tech laureates at late morning meetings, an informal networking luncheon, and an afternoon reception, during which the laureates will present their social innovations.

The conference is hosted and organized by Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society, with support from the Skoll Foundation and Applied Materials. The conference is a part of the week-long series of programs and activities that The Tech Museum and its associates provide for their laureates. These laureates consist of social entrepreneurial organizations from all over the world, which are recognized for their innovative use of technology to address the most pressing problems facing the world today.

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