Race to raise global awareness

As the Volvo Ocean Race gets under way this week, Ericsson is working alongside Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, to engage stakeholders and raise awareness of the contribution that the information and communication technology (ICT) sector can make toward poverty reduction, human rights and creating a more carbon-lean economy.

By bringing together public and private partners around the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson is taking another step in its ongoing commitment to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, which include reducing extreme poverty.

Last weekend’s meeting with Robinson at the race’s starting point in Alicante, Spain, shows how highly these issues will rank on Ericsson’s agenda at each port-of-call during the next eight months of the race.

At an in-port ceremony on October 4, Robinson said: “Ericsson 4 will be traveling to different parts of the world and will see the contrast in the world. The boat sails with the message that we have promised to bridge the gaps of poverty and bring the world to a more equitable place. This is a message that I think will resonate.”

The naming of Robinson as “godmother” of Ericsson 4, one of the two boats in the Ericsson racing team, has particular resonance because of her previous position in the UN and her current work as president of Realizing Rights – The Ethical Globalization Initiative and a member of The Elders, inspired by the leadership of Nelson Mandela.

Also in Alicante, Ericsson President and CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg made an appearance on the television program “Future Updated” which brought together global leaders to talk about solutions to climate change. The program is produced by TV4 in Sweden and will be broadcast on CNN International on October 18 and on CCTV in China later this month. Svanberg discussed how information and communication technology can combat climate change and contribute to a low carbon economy.

Sachs, who joined the program via link from New York says: “The global network that Ericsson and its partners have built is a leading example of sustainable development in practice because of the short-term gains and long-term opportunities it is providing to communities.”

Ericsson will engage in dialogue with customers about the transformational power of mobile communication and how a collaborative effort can help to mitigate global poverty and contribute to a carbon-lean economy.