Technology is everywhere in our lives, but our primary goal should be to use it for a better world. Because technology can play a very effective role in finding solutions to many problems such as environmental pollution, violence against women, inequalities in education and health opportunities. And there are social entrepreneurs around us who are working to make life better by taking action with the belief that "technology exists for good above all else".
Askoka Turkey Co-Director Zeynep Meydanoğlu
"Digital technology companies and social entrepreneurship are two ecosystems that complement and nurture each other with a focus on innovation and transformation, but are relatively divergent when it comes to the well-being and equality of all.
Today, many of us access our basic needs such as education, health and food through internet technologies. The same internet and technology manipulate voters with algorithms in the US Presidential Elections, slow down or completely cut off the connection to control anti-government demonstrations in various countries. In the Global Ashoka Network, we observe that social entrepreneurs, especially since 2010, have focused on technology and have established different systems to defend and protect the integrity of digital information and the rights of everyone who comes into contact with it."
The Goal is to Serve the Common Good
"Some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs are working to create 'Good Tech' - ensuring that the powerful digital technologies that shape our world serve the common good. "Tech for good - solutions that use technology for social impact - has been on the rise for the last two decades. Access to education for disadvantaged youth, agricultural advice for farmers in remote villages, and online accelerator programs for start-up entrepreneurs all started in this period and continue to proliferate. Among the social entrepreneurs who emerged during this period and shaped the way we work, shop and behave around the world were Caseyton, founder of Couchsurfing in the US, and Tülin Akın, founder of TABİT in Turkey. In the following years, Couchsurfing was followed by Airbnb and TABİT was followed by hundreds of agri-tech startups, and these ideas shaped the private sector."
