Gates stresses technology to help the poor

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In town to receive an award for humanitarian efforts, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday evening urged that technology be used to help the poor.

Doing so can raise the world's standard of living and help remediate health issues, Gates stressed.

"While I see roomful of great customers, great competitors, and important partners, tonight I want to talk to you as leaders to discuss how we could bring technology to bear in reducing inequality and the suffering it causes," Gates told the audience at the Tech Museum of Innovation.

He received the museum's 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. The museum cited Gates's United Way campaign at Microsoft as well as the establishment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its charitable endowment, which totaled $29.1 billion at the end of 2005.

Gates said he and his wife, Melinda, became concerned about millions of children dying in poor countries from diseases eliminated in this country, including Rotavirus. News of this does not hit the front page, though.

"It's hard to escape the conclusion that in our world, some lives are seen as worth saving but others are not," Gates said. Resources need to be reallocated to recognize that the death of a child in a poor country is as tragic as that of a child in a rich country, said Gates.

"We have to take this technology and make sure it benefits everyone," he said.

He cited uses of technology such as development of cheap fertilizers, simpler irrigation techniques, and heat-sensitive stickers that can detect when a vaccine is no longer effective. A water treatment plant utilizing ultraviolet light to kill bacteria also was noted as an example.

Gates urged cooperation between multiple parties to boost the plight of persons in developing countries. "No foundation alone can solve all of this. We need businesses and governments as an essential set of partners in this equation," Gates said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Gates discussed both technological and global issues during a session at the TechNet Innovation Summit event at nearby Stanford University.