Bill Gates - Global Humanitarian 2006

The Tech Museum of Innovation annual awards dinner in Silicon Valley was the stage where Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates accepted the 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. Applied Materials President and CEO Michael Splinter at the Tech Museum of San Jose was the one who handed out the award to Bill Gates. They are both featured in the adjacent image, courtesy of Microsoft. In his acceptance speech, Gates underlined the impact that technology can have on society's top most intractable issues.

Currently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest philanthropic institution world wide with a capital of 62 billion dollars. This has been possible through the resources gathered by Bill and Melinda Gates, approximately 31 billion dollars and after a consistent donation from the world's second wealthiest man, Warren Edward Buffet, who provided an additional 31 billion.

The 2006 Global Humanitarian Award has been announced from July and back then, Bill Gates said that he and his wife both believe in the power of science and technology over the world's problems and over the inequities of global wealth.

"We need businesses and governments as an essential set of partners in this equation," Gates said. "It means we all need to embrace a broader definition of responsibility and a willingness to look at the failure of collective action and see how we can change that. Ultimately, it really comes down to all of us setting examples. All of us are very blessed and we enjoy what the world has given us, and it also has given us the opportunity to do the important work of reducing inequities."