The Tech For Good Podcast Tech For Good

The public sector is often built on old technology procured through even older processes. Even when the technology is new, the glacial pace of bureaucracy can make it old by the time it arrives. Andrea Danes, global human services leader at EY, discusses how we might break the paradigm and unburden the public sector's "innovative instigators" to deliver cutting-edge technology faster and deliver better public services for all.

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Young Italian entrepreneurs at startup Novis Games, supported by Microsoft’s Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact programme, are using generative AI to revolutionise how video games can be made more accessible for the visually impaired. Founder and CEO Arianna Ortelli gives us insight into the company's origin story, how she came to attract the attention of Microsoft, and her goals for a better, AI-driven future for visually impaired gamers.

Find out about Novis Games: https://www.novisgames.com/

Find out more about Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact: https://www.microsoft.com/socialentre...

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Chloe Tartan, one-time inventor of invisiblitiy cloaks for microbes, is these days a leader within global consulting giant Accenture in the area of ESG and sustainability. She's also a storied Blockchain expert and has turned her thoughts to how the technology can be leveraged to revolutionise how we govern public services and ensure digital inclusivity. Blockchain is much more, she says, than a mechanism to conjure digital currencies.

As she says in one LinkedIn post: "In my view, the only way to justify the amount of energy the [blockchain] network consumes is by demonstrating that this technology can actually solve a critical problem in society to make the world a better place."

At the turn of the millennium, the UN launched its Global Compact, an ambitious endeavour to encourage companies around the world to adopt socially and environmentally sustainable policies. One of the first names on the team sheet was technology giant Lenovo. Ever since, as the company has ballooned in size, it has released a comprehensive annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report to hold itself publicly accountable against its sustainability targets.

Mary Jacques leads the company's efforts in this area as Executive Director, Global ESG and Regulatory Compliance. Her career with Lenovo stretches almost as far back as that original compact, and in every role her focus has been sustainabilty and the environment. It was the same in roles at MIT and IBM before that, and in academia where she studied environmental science.

In this episode we discuss Lenovo's progress to date, the challenges that remain, and the lessons we can all learn to continue to advance the sustainabilty cause.

Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest independent cancer research organisation, has digitally transformed. At the forefront of the world’s battle against cancer for the last 120 years, the charity has embraced agility and fast innovation in the Cloud in partnership with AWS.

Amref Health Africa has been working for more than 60 years to advance access to quality healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa. They partner with communities in 35 countries to sustainably strengthen health systems and improve access to vital care and services. 
Tech for Good sits down with leaders from Amref, its long-standing backer GSK, and Cognizant, to discuss a remarkable collaboration, spawned in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, that is set to create a lasting digital advantage for Amref as it seeks to transform healthcare on the continent.