I just got back from CES where I attended the Social Innovation Summit (SIS) Tech for Good conference. The room was full of 500+ delegates from high-profile companies and foundations – everyone from the Annenberg Foundation and Comcast to Microsoft and Twitter, plus two-time NBA all-star Baron Davis! The schedule was packed with speeches and panel discussions on diversity to the future of the tech economy to innovation and the business of impact.
I learned a lot about what tech brands are doing in this space – from committing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to coming up with innovative methods for recruiting talent to catering for the new generation wanting to work for purpose driven companies.
We were the PR partner for this year’s summit, the first time it has ever taken place at CES, and made the most of our presence by partnering with author, speaker and broadcaster Andrew Keen (who has a book coming out around “How to Fix The Future”), hosting a roundtable on the SDGs and staging a panel on the Future of Jobs with our client Sjoerd Gehring from Johnson and Johnson and Casey Aden-Wansbury from Airbnb. It was a busy day!
The key takeaway from the first ever SIS at CES was that this is the year for action – tech leaders are looking to drive sustainable solutions to make a real difference now. At Porter Novelli, we have always believed in making a positive social impact in everything we do. For over forty five years, we have sought out clients who want to find the purpose in their work and believe they can make the world a better place. Today – as made clear at CES – it’s as much a business imperative as it is a social one.
I would recommend that you check out the conference videos here and #sis18 for the conversations from the day. I have already marked down June 4-6th for the next SIS taking place in Silicon Valley.