Recognizing projects and initiatives that demonstrate a commitment to tech and public purpose.

Homepage - Tech Spotlight

Tech Spotlight was active from 2019 to 2021

After 3 incredible years, we have "pressed pause" on Tech Spotlight. The Technology and Public Purpose Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is grateful to all those who contributed to the goal of recognizing incredible work at the intersection of technology and public purpose.

Learn more about Tech Spotlight and the projects we recognized through our casebooks and ceremonies on this website.

About the Technology and Public Purpose Project

The Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project works to ensure that emerging technologies are developed and managed in ways that serve the overall public good.

Technological change has brought immeasurable benefits to billions through improved health, productivity, and convenience. Yet as recent events have shown, unless we actively manage their risks to society, new technologies may also bring unforeseen destructive consequences. Making technological change positive for all is the critical challenge of our time. We ourselves - not only the logic of discovery and market forces - must manage it. To create a future where technology serves humanity as a whole, we need a new approach.

To this end, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has launched a new endeavor, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project. Led by Belfer Center Director, MIT Innovation Fellow, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, the TAPP Project works to ensure that emerging technologies are developed and managed in ways that serve the overall public good.