December 2, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Tech Museum of Innovation has presented its annual awards to honor the creative use of technology to benefit society. Winners in six categories received $75,000 prizes, while runners-up received $25,000 awards.
Literacy Bridge, a charity in Seattle, won the education award. To deliver information in developing countries where many people are illiterate and lack electricity, the group distributes durable, battery-operated audio computers that play locally produced programs on health and agriculture.
In a test in Ghana, farmers who had access to the “talking books” increased their crop yields by 48 percent. Farmers who did not have access saw their crop yields decrease by 5 percent.
Several nonprofits were honored as runners-up:
• TeachAIDS, a charity that uses technology to teach people about HIV/AIDS, was recognized in the education category.
• The Grameen Foundation USA was honored in the economic-development category for its network of community workers who share agricultural information via cellphone.
• Embrace, a nonprofit in San Francisco, was recognized in the health category for its low-cost infant warmers designed to protect premature babies from hypothermia.
The museum is accepting nominations for next year’s awards through May 1.
