Bill Gates Receives TiE Lifetime Achievement First Generation Entrepreneur Award The jury selected Bill Gates in recognition of his lifetime of work including his contributions to nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation as well as for his humanitarian efforts around the world

Technologist, business leader, and philanthropist Bill Gates was presented with the Lifetime Achievement First Generation Entrepreneur Award at the inaugural TiE Global Awards held during the TiE Global Summit (TGS) 2020 on Friday. The award was presented by TGS chair Sridhar Pinnapureddy.

The award celebrates Gates' body of work that laid the foundation for today's entrepreneurs and technology innovators, and his philanthropic efforts towards making the world a better place for those often overlooked by society.

"Mr. Gates' contributions are ginormous and invaluable, to list them out will be impossible. But the greatest, we at TiE feel is, that his work in computing has empowered anyone who uses a PC or any devices. His dream of the era of home computing when they were just used by big corporates, governments led to this day. Today, we have a mini-computer in the form of smartphones in our pockets. His work has impacted the way the world works," said Mahavir Sharma, TiE Global chair.

Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates, was chosen for the award by a jury of business leaders, chaired by N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys Technologies. Other members of the jury include professor Jagdish Sheth; Charles H. Kellstadt, professor of business, Emory University; and Gururaj Deshpande, president, and chairman, Sparta Group; as well as an entrepreneur and author Ping Fu, co-founder and board director, Geomagic. The TiE Global Awards was chaired by Kali Gadiraju, board member, TiE Global.

"More than establishing a pioneering company that brought computers to homes, Mr. Gates has helped build a global business ecosystem that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. So many of today's entrepreneurs have their roots in Microsoft and Bill Gates has inspired generations of entrepreneurs, including myself on my own entrepreneurial journey to establish Cloud4C and CtrlS," added Sridhar Pinnapureddy, chair of TGS, and chief executive officer and founder, Cloud4C and CtrlS.

TGS 2020 brought together various industry pioneers and entrepreneurs to discuss pertinent issues such as leadership, innovation, sustainable business, and the impact of emerging technologies. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 marked the first time in which the Summit was held virtually.

Cloud4C and CtrlS were the main sponsors and organizers of this year's Summit, working closely with the TiE Hyderabad Chapter.

"While we are all well-versed with Mr. Gate's entrepreneurial achievements, I am further in awe of his philanthropic work, working selflessly to make the world a better place. It is heartening to see the positive impact of the Foundation globally, and I look forward to seeing further results of all the good work being done to address health issues and poverty around the world," Pinnapureddy concluded.