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Technology for Humanity

Through the annual Technology Awards, Applied Materials supports laureates who share our vision of benefiting humanity through technology innovation. We're the proud presenting sponsor of this program, honoring those who use their knowledge and technology skills to make a difference in the world.

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Tech Awards – Tropical Rain Forest Trust

Rugged, hand-held portable touch-screen computers — linked by satellite to a Global Positioning System (GPS) — are being used by semi-nomadic Mbendjele Pygmies to protect forested areas in the Congo. This technology enables the certification of 1.3 million hectares of forest and is used for real-time reporting of commercial poaching and illegal logging. Technology benefiting humanity.

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Tech Awards – Solar Tuki

A low-cost, non-polluting source of light is something that those in the developed world take for granted. It extends the working day and allows studying at night. Yet many in the developing world, such as 2.4 million in Nepal, rely on wick-based kerosene lanterns — a costly petroleum based derivative — to perform even the simplest tasks. With locally assembled Solar Tuki lamps, consisting of two light emitting diodes and a battery powered by a three Watt solar panel, lives are being changed, improved.

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2008 Humanitarian Award

Muhammad Yunas, the winner of the 2008 James C. Morgan Humanitarian Award, believes in the impossible. For more than three decades the micro-credit bank he founded, Grameen Bank, has helped break the cycle of poverty for millions of clients by funding their entrepreneurial enterprises with minimal loans. A simple, but profound idea that continues to improve the way people live.

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