posted by Dave Stangis on May 30, 2008
Next week I’ll be up in Minneapolis to deliver a few presentations at the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s annual conference. I think I’ve mentioned in this blog before that my path to CSR/Sustainability went through the areas of environmental engineering and employee health and safety for quite a while. Industrial Hygiene is a name born far too long ago, but its standard definition still holds - “the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of those environmental factors or stresses arising in or from the workplace, which may cause sickness, impaired health and well-being among workers or among the citizens of the community.” A more contemporary description can be found here.
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tagged: AIHCE, CSR, disaster recovery, environmental, health, Industrial hygiene, safety, sustainability
posted by Hitesh Barot on May 21, 2008
“Are you kidding me?” She must have said it like five times. She was one of the educators that was invited and flown to Georgia by Intel to participate in Intel’s educator academy telling me about a gift basket from Intel now in her hotel room. Included within was some cash — straight up cash - for expenses. “Not a gift card,” she emphasized, “cash. - Are you kidding me!” she asked. Four words that had been running through my mind all week. Let me elaborate:
Intel ISEF
I mean, seriously, what am I doing here? $100,000,000 a year spent on Education? Is this for real? Tens of millions more in long term sponsorship for a science and engineering fair? Where am I? Who does this? Don’t get me wrong, I did a lot of pro bono at my old law firm Bingham McCutchen, and they were a fantastic corporate citizen, but this is a whole new universe of Corporate Social Responsibility.
I was privileged to have witnessed a week of magic at Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair. Two hours ago, the event capped off with grand prizes and awards, and although I didn’t have a dog in the race, so to speak, I was on an emotional roller coaster nonetheless. Wow! Are you kidding me? I am still coming down off the high and wanted to capture my thoughts, while I was here in Atlanta (read: Oz) before I fly back to Santa Clara (Kansas).
As I catch my breath, let me recount some the highlights:
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tagged: education, Intel, Intel ISEF, ISEF08
posted by Dave Stangis on May 20, 2008
I’ve always liked this saying, but what does it really mean for a company? I know what it means to me personally, but let’s try to translate that to a company with more than 85.000 employees in close to 50 countries.
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tagged: citizenship, Corporate Responsibility Report, CSR, G3, Green Power, Intel, Intel Teach, Stangis, Supply Chain, sustainability, Volunteerism, Wellness
posted by Bruce Sewell on May 19, 2008
Every so often someone will tell me my job sounds glamorous – those people usually aren’t lawyers and rarely work for large corporations. The fact is that as General Counsel a lot of my time is spent dealing with a more challenging side of our business. I’m not complaining of course – it comes with the territory – but it’s the reason why days like I had last week are so incredibly special.
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tagged: Corporate Achievement Award, corporate social responsibility, Intel, Pro Bono, Public Counsel, volunteers, William O Douglas
posted by Gary Niekerk on May 19, 2008
I presented at a small conference on Corporate Sustainability in San Francisco earlier this month on the challenges of marketing and communicating “green”. The presentation was a lot of fun and the audience was very engaged—we all seemed to have a good time discussing the topic. My premise on why communicating green is so difficult is that when you speak on how green your company or your product is, what you are REALLY saying is how less bad you are—which I argue is a tough message to sell.
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tagged: bottle water, CSR, CSR communications, green, green washing, sustainability
posted by Craig Barrett on May 19, 2008
Traveling the world it is not uncommon to see poverty and people living in conditions that are almost unimaginable. It is especially striking when you see young people with seemingly no hope to get an education that might allow them to rise above the barriers that poverty imposes. Our World Ahead program has been focusing on the issue of how technology might help the poor attain a better education and improved health care. To date the effort has met with notable success in places as diverse as Egypt, Brazil, India and Lebanon. People are getting better health care where only limited resources existed before. Young children are experiencing the internet and an opportunity for life changing education. You can see the changes real time and feel the impact. It makes you know that you are doing the right thing.
While education and health care are rather straightforward to influence it is always more challenging to attempt to lift people out of poverty. Any effort has to be more than a simple handout - it has to be sustainable and consistent with basic needs and environmental circumstance.
The effort by Grameen and Muhammad Yunus which provided microfinancing to poor villagers in Bangladesh is a classic example of a successful and sustainable program to allow the poor to help themselves. Often utilizing cell phone capacity that was purchased wholesale and then resold at the local level, villagers (often women with little or no education) were able to make a comfortable living. The program is a model for local economic improvement and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2006.
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tagged: Bangladesh, Craig Barrett, CSR, Grameen, Intel, microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, social business
posted by Perry Gruber on May 19, 2008
Ok, I’m going to start by saying this post may get me in trouble here at Intel because I’m going to speak heresy. I’m going to suggest we should allocate some portion of our investments in education into a different arena. 
One that has much more immediate and longer lasting impacts for poor people. In an attempt to be fair and balanced though, I’m going to also laud Intel for its work. But my contention is many corporations, Intel included, could do a lot more in the cause of making the poor unpoor simply by helping the poor become rich - relatively speaking.
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tagged: CSR, Grameen, microfinance, Social entrepreneurship, social responsibility
posted by Wendy Hawkins on May 16, 2008
Intel ISEF has just sent 1500+ kids home with their heads awhirl. Most are high school seniors and they are here from 48 states and 51 countries and territories. I’m sitting in the Atlanta airport and they are everywhere around me. Some are wearing their medals home, letting the world see the superstar they are, but most are back in everyday teenage camouflage.
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tagged: Intel ISEF, science fair, STEM education
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 15, 2008
We are hours away from the official announcement. Tomorrow at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, three students will be ranked the top high school science students. The top three will return home with $50,000 each from the Intel Foundation.
Winners will be posted on the Society for Science and the Public website immediately following the ceremony.
You can comb through and pick who you think will rank among the winners. Check many of the student stories and science projects we’ve been sharing through photos, video, audio and mini-notes on Twitter this week.
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tagged: ISEF08
posted by Perry Gruber on May 15, 2008
My boss’ boss sent us all an email.
The content was important and I read it with interest, but what really caught my attention was this little graphic and tagline at the bottom:
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tagged: act, CSR, graphic, green, Intel, sustainability
posted by Dave Stangis on May 14, 2008
I don’t know how many of you saw the Business Insight piece in the WSJ on Monday, Does Being Ethical Pay? Here is another link to a summary just in case you don’t have access to the WSJ site.
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tagged: CSR, Intel, organic, purchase decisions, WSJ
posted by Gail Dundas on May 14, 2008
I love being around happy people.
Monday was a great day for just that reason…
I’m at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, doing communications for Intel, hoping that by getting lots of attention for the Fair we’ll see more and more kids getting excited about science, math, engineering, and technology.
On Monday, the ‘happy person’ was Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board at Intel.
Our Intel sponsorship started 12 years ago with Craig, and he has attended every year since.
We were making the long trek through the Georgia World Congress Center after a media interview when two finalists approached him excitedly. “Mr. Barrett,” they said, “we met you in Saudi Arabia last month.” http://www.intel.com/intel/citizenship/travelogue/riyadh08.htm They took pictures with him, and the trek lengthened as just this type of interaction happened over and over, including at CNN Center in the security line where one of our Intel Science Talent Search finalists—also a finalist at ISEF— came by to shake hands.
After an interview with Charles Hodson of CNN International http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/hodson.charles.html, Craig met with students at their projects, and a number of other people, before kicking off the open ceremony.
You’ll hear why he devotes significant time to Intel ISEF when you watch the following clip: he calls it the “elixir of youth.”
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tagged: education, Intel, International Science Engineering Fair, ISEF08
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 14, 2008
The judges are hours away from tallying their votes and selecting winners for this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Intel sponsored Sciencewoman to participate as a expert blogger and “ology” science competition judge, and she has been sharing her experiences through photos on her science blog. There are some great comments on some of her blog posts already. Did you know she’s an ISEF alumni?
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tagged: Intel, Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 13, 2008
The final hour before official judging began on Tuesday, I got to meet with four young scientists and learn about their projects.
Caroline Wurden is from Los Alamos HIgh School in New Mexico. This is her second year at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair showing the latest advancements in her research on Plasma reactions called “Great Ball of Fire II.” Her working lab, the home garage, is where she’s been zapping plasma under differenet conditions and measuring the reactions. She says there’s similar research on this topic happening today in Germany.
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tagged: Intel Education, Intel Science Fair, ISEF08
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 13, 2008
With a storyteller’s spark and an engineer’s eye, the Shelbinator whipped up this fun “for those who care about science” video. He shot it during his visits to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair on Sunday and Monday while students were setting up their projects, meeting each other and exchanging pins.
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tagged: Intel, Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair, Shelbinator
posted by Suzanne Fallender on May 13, 2008
I’ve been bogged down the last few weeks finalizing our newest CSR report (look for it on our CSR web site on May 21st). I was happy to take a break one night last week to attend a scholarship award ceremony for the Chandler Education Foundation. Intel was one of a number of organizations and individuals in the community sponsoring scholarships for local high school students.
Over the past few months, I’ve spent so much time reviewing numbers for this report - from the gallons of water we use, to the number of hours volunteered by our employees, to the number of teachers trained in our education programs. Companies are increasingly expected to quantify their CSR efforts in their public reporting. It’s easier to do this in some areas of corporate responsibility than in others to be sure. However, my evening with the students in Chandler reminded me that the numbers, while important, can only tell part of the story.
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tagged: Chandler, CSR, CSR report, education, foundation, social responsibility
posted by Gary Niekerk on May 13, 2008
I’m BACK……What do you mean you didn’t noticed I left? Okay, I will ignore that comment for now….FYI, I was on sabbatical for two months, which is a great perk from Intel; so now that I’m refreshed and re-energized, I have some input for this blog.
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tagged: CSR, social media, web 2.0
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 12, 2008
GeekDad Ken Denmead from Wired Blog Network will be on the scene meeting super science geeks from around the world as they compete at Intel ISEF.
In GeekDad’s post from earlier today he remembers his student science project and invites others to join him:
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tagged: GeekDad, Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair, Wired
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 12, 2008
My Intel pal Mark Pettinger and his video crew caught up with some young scientists setting on up on the first day of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
The excitement and thrill from students arriving on the scene at ISEF….getting ready for the big competition!
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tagged: Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 11, 2008
This Mother’s Day, many high school students were on the road to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta. Today, the 1,500+students were unpacking and setting up their science projects while I geared up for my arrival on Monday afternoon.
After my bags were packed, I spent a few hours reading proud stories from regions around the world sending representatives to the competition. Here are some inspiring stories from:
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tagged: Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair
posted by Perry Gruber on May 08, 2008
On this, the last day of the NetHope Summit, I wanted to share this vid about one project where NetHope member NGOs are doing great work. The person I spoke with about the project (I promised not to attribute agencies or organizations as part of my agreement to be authorized to blog while attending the conference) characterized this work in Panama as a classic example where technology enables people to rise from poverty. I agree. By the way, the project’s Internet connectivity comes courtesy of Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform, which is beaming the signal from a local hotel to the jungle-ensconced computer lab. RCP is cool technology.
Indeed the whole project is really cool. Two of my Intel colleagues, Meghan Desai and Jeff Galinovsky traveled there to install the project’s RCP component and they reminisce about the good times they had. But the video doesn’t tell the whole story. It touches on the collaboration between the NetHope member NGO, Intel and the Peace Corps. It talks about educating kids and women. Fair enough. But what it doesn’t show is how smart the indigenous peoples’ are and how quickly they’ve figured out how to use the technology to their advantage beyond education, Internet access and women empowerment (not that I’m diminishing the importance of these, especially women empowerment).
posted by Perry Gruber on May 07, 2008
I’m in day two at the NetHope summit and I’m fickle and in love. More on that last part later.
My new main squeeze. Isn’t her display gorgeous?
Where do you think the NGO community that is NetHope is focusing most? Can you guess? That’s right: Africa. In yesterday’s session representatives here voiced the same thing: Africa is the number one focus of their humanitarian and other efforts. Africa is getting a lot of attention these days and it’s not just the NGO NetHope community paying attention to the continent. I’ve heard economists talk about how low-end manufacturing (textiles and the like) will soon be shifting from Asia to Africa as infrastructure builds out there. That bodes well for the continent and its people. More affordable broadband access is in the works there too I hear. And to my eternal happiness, Intel too is finally beginning to increase its activities there (although it took us a while to get our focus focused).
posted by Ken Kaplan on May 06, 2008
Innovative, young change agents. They are gathering to change the world for the better and collect a chunk of change to help pay their way to college. That’s what’s happening at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) May 11-16 in Atlanta, GA.
It’s world’s largest annual international pre-college (grades 9-12) science competition where some 1,500 high school students from over 50 countries are showing their research projects and vying for more than $3 million in awards and scholarships. Voice of America just aired an informative audio report about the science fair.
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tagged: Intel, Intel Education, ISEF08, science fair
posted by Perry Gruber on May 06, 2008
Greetings from the 2008 NetHope Summit. I’m standing on probably some of the most valuable realestate in the technology universe – San Jose – at the Cisco headquarters. Virtually every big tech player is within eyesight here, but, not being a tech spazzo groupie – and I’m sure you’re not either – I won’t blog you to death about the companies I drove by on the way here. Instead, I’ll blog about the summit. I joined approximately 100 people this morning representing some 20 NGOs from as far as Finland, the Philippines, Bangladesh, the UK and other locals. Their intention: meet, greet and build collaborations leading to more and better results in the development and aid industry.
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tagged: CSR, Intel, nethope
posted by Perry Gruber on May 05, 2008
Socially-minded grass roots organizations like media darling Kiva.org and virtual networks such as NED are changing the development and aid industry. Is your company thinking about extending its CSR activities to include these upstarts? We are. I’ll tell you more about that, but first allow me defend my assertion that a sea-change (that link is only for those who lean towards the literary) is occuring in the development and aid industry.
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tagged: CMPC, CSR, donors choose, Grameen, grass roots, Intel, Kiva, microfinance
posted by Perry Gruber on May 02, 2008
Next week I’m off to the technology mecca (uh, that’s Silicon Valley, Ca) to rub shoulders with IT representatives of 20 NGO organizations belonging to NetHope. I swear it’s not a boondoggle. Intel is sponsoring the organization’s spring summit this year and we’re going to showcase a number of our technologies designed to address the needs of emerging markets. There’s one particular piece of technology we’re showcasing that I’m all ablaze about. I’ll post more about that later, but what I’m really looking forward to is meeting the member NGO representatives.
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tagged: conference, CSR, Intel, nethope
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