Microsoft's Innovate4Good: Technology & youths as a force for social good

Thanks to Singapore International Foundation, BagoSphere was able to take part in Asia Pacific's Innovate4Good@Microsoft.

Asia Pacific Innovate4Good@Microsoft is a gathering of talented and accomplished youths around the region. It's main aim is to introduce the transformative power of technology and empower youths to make the world a better place. The 2-day conference, organized by Microsoft, was held in Singapore on the 28th-29th April 2012, at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and Microsoft Singapore.

The event hosted 100 energetic participants from all over Asia Pacific and invited CNN Heroes of 2009 and 2010, Efren Geronimo Peñaflorida Jr. from Philippines and Poheary Ly from Cambodia.

Mr. Peñaflorida, founder of the Dynamic Teen Company, is a teacher and social worker. Ms. Ly also a teacher and a social entrepreneur, founded The Ponheary Ly Foundation. They shared their experiences on how they effected change through educating impoverished youths in their countries. Albeit their differences in circumstances, it was inspiring to listen to their journeys as they spoke of the same unwavering will to help people.

In the course of the 2 days, we got to brainstorm on how to make use of technology to provide sustainable solutions to the world’s social and environmental issues such as poverty, environmental degradation, education and many others. We were also introduced to a feast of Microsoft’s technology and their practical applications such as Kinect, Microsoft Surface, Photosynth and other technology.

The activities culminated to the highlight of the conference – a 5-min pitch to a panel from Microsoft Singapore and the 2 distinguished speakers, Mr. Peñaflorida and Ms. Ly – before the conference drew to a close.

It was a refreshing 2 days working with like-minded youths from the region and learning from their experiences. It was also a fruitful event as we learnt more about what Microsoft is contributing to education through innovative technology and how BagoSphere can scale our social impact.