By IANS,
Los Angeles : Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Monday that innovation will remain the key to alleviating human suffering around the world.
He was speaking in his second open appraisal letter of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Set up in 1994, the foundation has so made more than $21 billion in grants to various charity and human causes. It sponsors programmes in the third world to combat poverty, hunger, and disease, including HIV. In the US it supports innovations in the education system.
The foundation’s endowment is currently valued at $34.17 billion.
In the second annual letter, which is his personal appraisal of the foundation’s efforts and its priorities, Gates said in these tough economic times, innovation and strong partners on behalf of the world’s poorest people would be vital in improving the lives of people.
“Although innovation is unpredictable, there is a lot that governments, private companies, and foundations can do to accelerate it,” the world’s richest man said.
“Rich governments need to spend more on research and development, for instance, and we need better measurement systems in health and education to determine what works,” Gates said.
Thanks to the innovations by the foundation, Gates said new vaccines are preventing disease in children around the world.
New tools are aiding in the fight against malaria and HIV, and improved seeds and farming techniques are increasing agricultural productivity, he added.
In the US, he said, innovations by the foundation are helping educators improve teaching and learning methods to prepare high school students for success and post-secondary degrees.
The foundation supports projects with timeframes of up to 15 years to alleviate the human suffering.
Bill and his wife Melinda are the co-chairpersons of the world’s richest foundation.