Reports & Papers
Around the world, individuals, groups, and organizations are striving to make advances in technology more inclusive, safer, and fairer. When the development and deployment of technology is grounded in the greater good of humanity, these efforts—which are often ignored in news headlines—should be acknowledged and encouraged.
We envision a future in which technology is transformative, but not at the expense of our values and social cohesion. By highlighting examples that protect our societal values, we hope to foster a broader tech culture that embraces responsibility for its inventions and actively works to secure the foundational values of society.
The Tech Spotlight recognizes products and initiatives that demonstrate a commitment to public purpose in the areas of digital, biotech, and future of work. Through a nomination process, independent reviewers have evaluated entries based on their proven ability to minimize technological harms and protect public purpose values including:
• Privacy
• Safety and Security
• Transparency and Accountability
• Inclusion
SELECTION PROCESS
Nominations for the Tech Spotlight were open in Fall 2019. All qualifying submissions were researched and verified by the TAPP research team including desk research and phone interviews. Each submission was then scored according to the following criteria:
Alignment: Minimizes technological harms and protects public purpose values, including privacy, safety and security, transparency and accountability, and inclusion.
Impact: Clear demonstration of impact, scalability, and geographic scope through specific, measurable examples.
Innovativeness: Novelty of strategy or approach and responsiveness to current issues.
The top 20% of submissions were considered finalists and moved to the next round for reviewer evaluation. Reviewers evaluated nominations relevant to their areas of expertise and provided additional context or comments that the research team may have missed. The list of nominations approved by reviewers were presented Tech Spotlight Selection Committee in early 2020 to select the top finalists .
Learn more about the Tech Spotlight at belfercenter.org/TechSpotlight
For the Spotlight recipients and runners-up, download the full Casebook: