Tech Talk
Innovator and activist Bill Gates to deliver final keynote at SXSWedu
SXSW recently announced that Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will make his way to Austin as a keynote speaker at this year's conference.
But Gates will not speak at the ever-growing interactive portion of the event. Instead he will deliver the final keynote at SXSWedu, the educational arm of SXSW.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation takes on the world's toughest problems, from extreme poverty and poor health around the globe to education system failures here in the United States.
SXSWedu takes place March 4-7 and will provide an array of programming for a "passionate audience of education stakeholders and practitioners." Gates will give his closing speech March 7.
Although Gates is most widely known for his influential work at Microsoft, he will speak about his foundation's education advocacy, according to SXSW: "Gates ... will address the foundation’s U.S. education work, which focuses primarily on ensuring all students are prepared for success in college and career."
In 2000, Gates and his wife, Melinda, formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which merged the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation. Today, the organization takes on the world's toughest problems, from extreme poverty and poor health around the globe to education system failures here in the United States.
The foundation funds creative ideas that can help remove these barriers, whether it's a new farm technique in a developing country or a new teaching method for a local classroom.
SXSWedu is a four-day event in advance of the main SXSW programming. Although registration for SXSWedu is recommended, walk-up attendance is allowed as space permits.