LEGO®

American Nicholas Negroponte will receive the LEGO Prize today for his passionate vision of one laptop per child and his ability to make this vision come alive.

Nicholas Negroponte is the founder of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project. The OLPC project was set up to enable millions of children in the developing world to learn and grow through education and communication and thereby break the isolation of poverty.

“In the LEGO Group, we see children as our role models. Children look at the world with open eyes, unconstrained by the past and willing to ask why? and what if? By connecting them and enabling them to learn and develop, OLPC creates totally new possibilities and a hope for a much brighter future for the world” says LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.
“We say that the future belongs to our children. OLPC stays true to this, and I am therefore very proud to honour Nicholas Negroponte for his and OLPC’s untiring effort to bring learning opportunities to children in need all over the world. OLPC plays an immensely important role in creating a better future for our children” says Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, who will present Nicholas Negroponte with the LEGO Prize at today’s LEGO Idea Conference.

The LEGO Prize
The LEGO Prize was founded in 1985 and has been awarded to individuals and institutions who have made an extraordinary contribution on behalf of children and young people. The recipients have included Astrid Lindgren, Paul Newman, John Feierabend, Mario Lodi and such institutions as Associacão Santa Therinha in Brazil, The SaekDong Organisation in Korea, and Papalote Museo del Niño in Mexico City. The LEGO Prize was last awarded in 2008 to founder of the FIRST organisation Dean Kamen.

Nicholas Negroponte receives the sum of USD 100,000 and a unique glass bowl created specially for the occasion by Steffen Dam, a Danish glass artist from Ebeltoft.

One Laptop per Child
The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to provide educational opportunity to the world’s poorest children through ownership of a powerful, connected, rugged, low-cost laptop with content and tools designed for collaborative, creative, joyful, self-empowered learning. Children learn by doing. Constructionism is at the heart of OLPC.

OLPC was founded by Negroponte in 2005. So far almost 2 million children have received an XO laptop, in over 40 countries and 25 languages. Peru and Rwanda have committed to do all children in their country. Uruguay has already completed doing so. Afghanistan, Haiti and the Palestine Territories are a current focus.
www.laptop.org