top of page

TEN TO THE NINTH FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANT TO GEEKS WITHOUT FRONTIERS’ RESILIENCE INITIATIVE

NOV. 9, 2020

Support for ‘Technology for a Resilient World” Sets Stage for Global Expansion of Exponential Preparedness Program

WASHINGTON , DC, UNITED STATES, November 9, 2020 — Ten to the Ninth Foundation, an organization focused on empowering exponential technological change worldwide, has awarded its Catalyst grant to the nonprofit Non-Governmental organization Geeks Without Frontiers (GEEKS) in support of the organization’s flagship 2021 program, “Technology for a Resilient World” (TRW). The program brings a technology-driven engine to meet the pressing human need for disaster preparedness and its resulting economic growth.

Inspired by the World Bank’s analysis that each dollar spent on resilience saves $16 of response, GEEKS will leverage the grant to further develop the TRW platform focused on aggregating the expanding base of relevant knowledge and the capacities of exponential technologies to facilitate humanity’s transformation from reaction to preparation, in order to help meet pressing human needs. From artificial intelligence to earth observation, and from mesh wireless to low-latency satellites, state-of-the-art systems are now able to deliver order of magnitude improvements in health, education, disaster preparedness and other critical elements of resilience.

“Our Foundation’s support for TRW is a direct response to the urgent requirement for an innovative approach to resiliency and preparedness. TRW is a platform for reimagining resilience as a technology-driven engine of socio-economic development rather than allowing investment in resilience to be perceived as an undesirable ‘insurance’ cost or ‘tax’,” said Mike Simpson, Chairperson of Ten to the Ninth Foundation. “GEEKS is affirming that technologies can not only predict, detect and track wildfires, control dam breaches, address viral outbreaks, snowmelt, rising sea levels and flooding, but they can also be powerful contributors to economic growth as well.”

“We are honored by the Foundation’s decision,” said Michael Potter, GEEKS Executive Director. “Their support will accelerate implementation of our strategy to help deploy exponential technologies, harnessing their wider economic potential, and creating holistic global resilience that leverages the ‘Resilience Ratio’ to achieve much higher impact and returns.”

In partnership with resilience stakeholders, TRW has already begun to identify state-of-the-art technologies and develop and implement sustainable strategies that recognize the interrelatedness of ecosystems. TRW has also begun producing innovative White Papers, regulatory models, and training and capacity building programs designed to equip decision makers with key resilience skills.

About Ten to the Ninth Plus Foundation

Ten to the Ninth Plus Foundation is an organization focused on empowering exponential technological change worldwide. The organization’s mission is to advance human well being through the study, discussion, assessment and encouragement of beneficial applications of rapidly accelerating technological change and through regular evaluation of the impact of such change on society and its institutions.

About Geeks Without Frontiers

Geeks Without Frontiers is a technology-neutral platform for global impact. An award-winning non-profit, Geeks’ mission is to promote technology for a resilient world including bringing the benefits of broadband connectivity – disaster preparedness, health, education, poverty reduction, gender equality and the other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) – to the estimated 3.5 billion people who remain unconnected.

bottom of page