Broadcom's Eben Upton Awarded By MIT
The innovator has been honoured for the Raspberry Pi $25 computer incorporating a Broadcom chip designed to inspire children to learn to program
Broadcom Corporation has announced that Eben Upton, its Technical Director of the Mobile and Wireless Group, has been recognised by MIT's Technology Review as a TR35 Honouree for 2012.
The TR35 recognises the world's top innovators under the age of 35, spanning biotechnology, computer and electronics hardware and software, energy, the Web, and nanotechnology, among other emerging fields.
Technology Review awarded Upton for Raspberry Pi - a $25 computer created to encourage children to learn to program.
Concerned about the decline in the number of and skill level of students in computer science, Upton set out to develop a mini-computer at a radical price point so schools could hand them out just like textbooks.
Raspberry Pi is a credit card-sized motherboard with a Broadcom system on a chip (SoC) enabling unsurpassed connectivity and integration, and designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a touch screen to create a tablet.
Broadcom's Raspberry Pi device is currently in mass production around the world and is said to be dramatically changing how children learn about computers.
"Broadcom's mission is to engineer the impossible," said Scott McGregor, Broadcom's President and Chief Executive Officer. "With the creation of Raspberry Pi, Eben is revolutionising programming and inspiring millions to learn about computer science for the first time. Congratulations to Eben for innovating a true game changer."
Upton was selected as a member of the 2012 TR35 by a panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review, who evaluated more than 250 nominations. He will join other TR35 honourees in discussing their achievements at the EmTech MIT 2012 conference, taking place at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge between October 24th and 26th, 2012.
"This year's TR35 recipients are applying technology to some our generation's greatest challenges, and innovating to improve the way we live and work," said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of Technology Review. "We look forward to watching these young technology leaders grow and advance over the coming years."
