At an event held on the United Nations main New York City campus during its meeting of the General Assembly, CTA president & CEO Gary Shapiro announced the addition of technology as the eighth pillar in the year-old Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign. Existing HS4A security pillars are economic, environmental, food, health, political, personal, and community security.
HS4A is a joint campaign of the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS), which provides funding, and the 80-plus-year-old World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), which counts Albert Einstein, atomic bomb “father” J. Robert Oppenheimer, and philosopher, architect, and geodesic dome inventor R. Buckminster Fuller amongst its founders. The U.N. effort also includes bridging investment gaps in 17 sustainable development goals (SDG).
“We all recognize the enormous and powerful transformation that technology allows us as a society,” noted CTA President & CEO Gary Shapiro in his introductory remarks. “We are so happy to work with the Trust Fund for Human Security…and to put the spotlight on technology that makes our world a better place to live for literally billions of people.”
At CES 2023, several companies including John Deere highlighted human security technologies. Kinsey Fabrizio, CTA’s SVP of CES and Membership, noted that CES 2024 will feature a far wider human security presence that will include AI, smart home, energy management, mobility, digital health, digital assets and mobile payments, education, agriculture, and food technologies. In addition, there will be a dedicated Innovation Awards category for human security.
CTA was brought into the campaign by Walt Stinson, founder & CEO of Denver-based A/V retailer ListenUp now serving as HS4A director and treasurer.
“Recognition of the potential of technology as a force for good is rising within the U.N. system,” Stinson noted. “CTA is a great partner that amplifies the human security concept and reinforces the relevance of a people-centered approach to addressing human security needs in education, health care, food, finance, and the environment. This announcement of tech as a new pillar of human security shines a bright light on tech innovation and entrepreneurship in today’s complex and rapidly evolving world, and the importance of CES in bringing new ideas to life.”
Megan Lee, Panasonic North America’s chair and Chief Executive Officer and representing CTA’s membership, noted that all businesses strive toward profit, but also “want to contribute to the society that we’re in. I also have two children who…challenge me all the time as a businessperson and as a corporation on how we can all coexist long term, not just short term. Can I expect the world to be sustainable for my children’s future? At the end, [business] has to do a service to the bigger community.”
Garry Jacobs, World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS) president & CEO, also lauded CTA’s involvement in HS4A.
“That’s the kind of partnerships we need,” Jacobs insisted. “It’s a really important model for how business and technology organizations work together with civil society as we’re doing with governments around the world to get a consensus on how we use this great power in the most positive way possible for the good of all humanity.”
See also: Registration For CES 2024 Now Open
