Omidyar Network today announced a new initiative: Tech we need, a four-year, $8 million portfolio focused on connecting and fostering new leaders, companies and technologies built on mutual respect, sustainability, accountability and responsible innovation. The Tech We Want program is designed to build community, infrastructure, and a shared narrative of technologists, thought leaders, and investors pursuing healthy alternatives to mainstream tech culture.
“If we want to develop a responsible tech future, we need to be intentional about who and what we produce. We need to support diverse organizations and inclusive communities working to redefine what tech culture can and should be,” said Michelle Lawrence Jawando, Senior Vice President of Programs at Omidyar Network. We have the opportunity and responsibility to invest in transformative, experienced technology leaders, help them build collective power, and support their future-proof technology vision.
To make this vision a reality, Omidyar Network brings together a diverse group of entrepreneurs, funders, thinkers, innovators and builders whose ideas, models and networks have changed the way many think about how technology should be built and how the system should operate. first 15 “Lights” It creates a shared vision of ethical technology, systems and economies that generate value for all stakeholders, including technology creators, consumers, workers, communities and the planet. Through this partnership, Omidyar Network hopes to set examples that we – as an industry and society – want to reward and set, and that philanthropists can work together to support their vision, creativity and collective well-being.
“Through moral thinking, the technology we want and need can be built for sustainable growth, with patient capital, regeneration, ‘enough’ value, a win-win mentality, trusting relationships, distributed power and shared ownership,” he said. Anya Williams, Technology Group Principal: “In contrast, today’s technology system is built on big growth, fast capital, extraction, ‘more/bigger’ is better assumptions, zero-sum thinking, transactional communication and dominance models. These values are healthy, trusting.” They fail to provide a transparent, comprehensive and fair procedure and results.
Emily Best: Founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform launched ten years ago to make entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and relevant. She is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, active board member of several community organizations, and a believer in storytelling to build equity and sustainability for all.
Kelly Burton: CEO of the Black Innovation Alliance, a national coalition of 65 Black-led organizations supporting more than 300,000 innovators across the country. She is a political scientist, serial entrepreneur and change agent driven by passion, purpose and vision.
Jennifer DanielsTalk Tech Executive focused on using data-driven storytelling to close the funding gap for Black Tech founders building high-growth businesses. She is also an angel investor in underprivileged startup founders.
Coraline Ada Ehmke: Founder and Executive Director of Open Source Communities, an organization whose mission is to ensure that their work is being used for social good and human rights. She is an internationally recognized engineer, speaker and activist with over 25 years of industry experience.
Lilibit Ganges: Chief Technology Community Officer at the Kapoor Center, which works at the intersection of technology and racial justice. She provides research and thought leadership, operational programs, strategic partnerships and investments to increase diversity in the technology ecosystem.
Jessica Mason: Executive Director of Start.coop, a non-profit organization building the next generation of cooperatively owned businesses at scale. She is an impact strategist, entrepreneur, educator and angel investor with deep experience leading innovation in the social and public sector.
Andy MossProfessor of Social Entrepreneurship at NYU, founder of CORMethod.org (Tools for Running the Pursuit of Purpose), and board member of the Jericho Project and American Governance. He also spent 17 years developing and managing new businesses at Microsoft; founded and sold his own startup; And they have mentored many startups.
Dr. Good morning. Author, UCLA professor, and director of the National Center on Race and Digital Justice – a groundbreaking effort focused on accountability and repair of existing and emerging digital harms. She was recognized last year as a 2021 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and was honored with the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award.
Ifeoma OzomaFounder and principal of Earthseed, an organization specializing in tech accountability and public policy. She is a co-sponsor of the Security Now More Act, creator of the Tech Worker Handbook, and co-founder of the Employment Agreements Coalition.
Ellen PaoCEO of DEI’s nonprofit Project Inclusion, which collects, analyzes and shares data to recommend measures and metrics for technology startups. Her efforts to end discrimination in the workplace have given rise to the term “Pao effect”.
Ellie Paris: Curator of New_Public, a project focused on building more thriving and equitable digital spaces. He is an active author, activist and entrepreneur focusing on how technology and media serve democracy.
Jasmine Sun: Co-founder and director of Reboot, a non-profit publication and community of young technologists reimagining techno-brightness for a better collective future. She has also worked in production, research, writing and education roles at Substack, Schmidt Futures, Stanford University and beyond.
Hunt Van Knoppen.Co-Director of Mobius, The Lab is home to people who create technology products, systems and narratives. She supports the Mobius community with the relational, intellectual, spiritual, and financial resources needed to create a compassionate, accountable, and just technology system.
Xiaowei R. WangLead Steward of The School of Logic, an organizing community for technology workers. Their work addresses the importance of community-based technology and care for a more equitable future.
Maria ZepedaCo-Founder and Managing Director of Zebras Unit, creating capital, culture and community for the next economy. She also co-authored “Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break,” a manifesto on technology and venture capital structure.
Other partners and collaborators of the program include:
To learn more about Lights and follow the team’s progress, visit thetechwewant.com.
