Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. Rapid advancement in technology is creating new opportunities in a digital economy, changing how we communicate, learn, work and access healthcare and other essential services. But these opportunities remain out of reach for many in rural communities, small or midsize cities, or underserved areas of larger metropolitan areas. Five years ago, Microsoft launched the TechSpark program to accelerate economic growth in six communities across the United States and Mexico. Through TechSpark, we work with local community organizations to develop digital sk ..read more

We often say that you can’t fix a problem you don’t understand. Today, Microsoft is releasing a new Digital Equity Data Dashboard to help create better understanding of the economic opportunity gaps in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the United States. The new tool was developed by our Chief Data Science Officer Juan Lavista Ferres and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and aggregates public data from the Census Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), BroadbandNow and Microsoft’s own Broadband Usage Data. It goes census tract-by-census tract, examining 20 different indicators of di ..read more

An alarming number of people in America are cut off from opportunities afforded to the rest of us who have internet access. Microsoft data shows that more than one out of three people in the U.S. are not using the internet at what the Federal Communications Commission defines as a standard broadband connection, currently a speed of 25mbps down/3mbps up. The gap in broadband usage is vast and hides deeper truths. Racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and income-insecure families disproportionately lack a proper broadband connection. And in many rural areas, the infrastructure o ..read more

In 2016, as the United States emerged from a close and contentious national election, we published a blog on the need to find new ways for the country to move forward together. As we reflected that year on the election of Donald Trump, we started with a straightforward proposition, saying: “Every president-elect deserves our congratulations, best wishes and support for the country as a whole. The peaceful transition of power has been an enduring and vital part of our democracy for over two centuries, and it remains so today.” Four years later, these words are no less important. As we did in 20 ..read more

The world has now lived through half a year in which our normal economic and social existence has been upended by the strange new rules of a global pandemic. It is too soon to say that the crisis is over. While work on vaccines and therapies is advancing, the toll of sickness remains great. Employment and business activities are beginning to recover in many places, but are still far below normal levels almost everywhere. Yet, even as we all continue to battle the virus, governments and the private sector also need to look forward and think about how to build toward a recovery. The road to that ..read more

The Washington State Legislature recently began its 2019 session. In keeping with Microsoft tradition, I’d like to share with you our legislative priorities. What follows are a few of the issues at the top of our agenda this year. Ensuring a healthy community: the need for affordable housing in the Puget Sound region Growth in the Puget Sound region has created new challenges and, chief among them, is a now-critical need to increase the supply of affordable housing. To help address the affordable housing crisis in our community, Microsoft recently announced a commitment of $500 million in ..read more

Every day the world is becoming more digital. Cloud computing combined with new productivity, communication and intelligent tools and services enable us to do more, do it more quickly and in ways that were simply unimaginable a generation ago. But participating in this new era requires a high-speed broadband connection to the internet. While it’s a service that is as critical as a phone or electricity, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband is unavailable to roughly 25 million Americans, more than 19 million of which live in rural communities. That’s roughly the pop ..read more

The FCC reports that nearly 31 percent of people living in rural America do not have access to broadband, but data collection methods are flawed and call into question whether that number is much higher. Imagine how frustrating it is to live in a community that has limited access to the internet – that means limited access to the education, economic and healthcare opportunities that enable individuals and communities to prosper and grow. Complicating the problem further, the data gathered and reported by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the availability of broadband access in ..read more

In keeping with our commitment to communicate Microsoft’s priorities on key issues affecting our state, I want to share our perspective on this year’s session of the Washington State Legislature and the related state decisions that have followed. It was a short and productive session this year, and there have been some additional steps forward in the weeks that followed. I’ve organized the observations below along the major pillars of what we have dubbed the Next Generation Washington agenda, a balanced series of policy goals that we believe are critical for the future economic and social heal ..read more

Over the past six months we’ve written in our Today in Technology series about historical tech developments and the insights they provide for our current day. As the calendar flips to 2018, we are looking back at the top tech issues of the last year, offering our perspectives for the coming 12 months, recapping what we’ve learned, and sharing how Microsoft is helping to address these issues. The following are our top 10.   CYBERSECURITY: From WannaCry and electoral attacks to a Digital Geneva Convention   IMMIGRATION: From the travel ban to DACA to the green card back ..read more