Innovation can turn the world's foreboding future bright, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on January 25 in an annual letter from a charity foundation he runs with his wife and father. "If we project what the world will be like 10 years from now without innovation in health, education, energy, or food, the picture is quite bleak," said Gates.
"Society under invests in innovation in general." Important areas where such investment is lacking are innovations that benefit poor people, education, and preventative health care, according to Gates, who retired from Microsoft in 2008.
The world struggled with a fierce financial crisis during his first year working full time at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he and his wife established in 1994. "The neediest suffer most in a downturn," said Gates, who noted that he consulted powerhouse billionaire investor Warren Buffet while assessing the economic landscape.
Gates Foundation has allocated billions of dollars in grant money for vaccine research, drought-resistant corn, low-cost mobile bank accounts, systems to evaluate abilities of school teachers, and more. "Despite the tough economy, I am still very optimistic about the progress we can make in the years ahead."
Without innovation, health care and energy costs will spiral upward, Gates predicted. Gates added that a key goal must be to find a greenhouse gas-free way to produce electricity that is cheaper than burning coal to generate power.
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