Last week Microsoft came together at the World Economic Forum to discuss partnerships and investments, ultimately creating new opportunities for young people, as they are the key to our future. But part of the problem we face is as our world continuously grows, so does the opportunity divide—where some children have access to technologies, their opportunities are growing; where people are struggling with no educational opportunities, their opportunities are shrinking.
Brad Smith, the General Counsel and Executive VP of Legal and Corporate Affairs, wrote in the Microsoft on the Issues blog to address the issue:
“More than 100 million youth worldwide lack access to any sort of education and more than 77 million young people are unemployed. Unemployment rates are consistently higher for young people than any other group. There has been unprecedented change in recent years, from a surge in international trade that has fundamentally changed the global economy to major breakthroughs in science that have transformed the way we live. Technology has been a major driving force behind this change, and a major force for good in our economies and societies. But these forces have created new challenges and caused new dislocations. And the rate of change isn’t slowing.”
In light of these faced challenges, Microsoft and other partners have concluded that, “all opportunity divide is a complex challenge—one that will require collaboration and partnership, global learning but local solutions, and above all, the involvement of youth themselves to address.”
The Imagine Grants Program looks to do just that, donating to causes that solve a world problem on a global scale. One recipient of the award, Dominik Tomicevic, is a student from Croatia who proposed his project KiDnect—“provid[ing] children with cerebral palsy a customized physical therapy solution using the Kinect sensor.” With the Kinect sensor the technology is able to monitor exercises to ensure correct completion.
This is the first project of the program among many more to come—as there is no quick fix for this divide; it will take long-term investing, global collaboration, and work from all ends of the political spectrum so the children of our future are well-educated enough to succeed.
(via Technet)
