Live blogging at the Web 2.0 Summit: The kickoff with Larry Brilliant of Googl... - The Diigo Meta page

• 08 Nov 08
  

  Takuya Homma

  Google Google.org

  • The first has to do with getting the right information in the hands of governments around the world in terms of how their populations are faring. He noted, for instance, that many governments don’t know how many of their people are literate or what the quality of drinking water is. Google.org’s initiative, “Inform and Empower,” does surveys that fill in the gaps in data collection.
  • Another initiative is “Predict and Prevent,” related to disease outbreaks. Brilliant noted that diseases, much like the HIV virus, can be detected and stopped if there is enough information gathered about people who get sick. The idea is to stop pandemics before they start. This mission, not surprisingly, fits with Google’s mission of organizing the world’s information. In these cases, Google.org will sometimes make investments that further Google’s own fortunes. But philanthropy isn’t the wedge to benefit the for-profit corporation, he said.
  • The last initiative involves coming up with renewable energies that can be cheaper than coal, such as less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour, much less than typical solar costs today. Brilliant said that the group has invested more than $50 million in wind, thermal and solar companies. He considers this effort core to Google because the company uses a lot of electricity in its data centers and it doesn’t want to contribute to global warming.

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