Corporate Responsibility

Education

We support programs to encourage science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the U.S. and around the world.

In the U.S.

Innovation generation grants

Applications for the 2012 Innovation Generation grants are now open. Please visit this page for more information on how to apply.

In 2010, the former Motorola Foundation provided $7.5 million in Innovation Generation grants. These focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, especially for girls and underrepresented groups. Innovation Generation funding is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers.

We believe that innovative solutions are needed to encourage more young people to study STEM subjects. To support new thinking, nearly two-thirds of the 114 grants were awarded to science education and innovation programs that are less than two years old.

In September 2010, The Motorola Solutions Foundation also joined Change the Equation (CTEq), a corporate-led initiative to cultivate widespread literacy in STEM subjects. CTEq is aligned with the President’s Educate to Innovate campaign mission to increase private and philanthropic involvement in STEM education, and will help to address the shortage of U.S. workers with science and math skills.
The review process for 2011 Innovation Generation Grants currently is underway. Winners will be announced in July.

FIRST® Robotics Competition

Motorola, Inc. was a founding sponsor of the FIRST® Robotics Competitions in 1989 and has supported FIRST each year since. The competition involves students working in teams to create robots and then testing them in regional and national FIRST Robotics Competitions. For the 2010-2011 seasons, the Motorola Solutions Foundation provided $820,000 to support FIRST teams.

Our employees lead and mentor FIRST LEGO League and robotics clubs in the U.S. states of Florida, Illinois, New York, California and Georgia. FIRST participants are seven times more likely to study engineering at college than the U.S. average and twice as likely to choose computer science. For the 2010-2011 seasons, 80 Motorola Solutions employees volunteered with teams across the United States.

Global engineering marathon for women

In 2010, the former Motorola Foundation and the Motorola Women’s Business Council supported women in engineering through the Global Marathon. The event held for, by and about women in engineering is led by the National Engineers Week Foundation, an online forum uniting women around the world to inspire current and future generations of engineers. More than 150 girls from middle and high school attended the event which was launched by Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

Outside the U.S.

In 2010, we continued to support education programs around the world in a total of 44 countries including Afghanistan, Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Haiti, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Venezuela. These programs engage students in science and math and prepare them for the workforce of tomorrow. Two examples:

Afghanistan

In 2010, the former Motorola Foundation donated $200,000 to CARE and CURE International, aid organizations that support education and healthcare programs in Afghanistan:

CARE

CARE received a $100,000 grant to support the Community-Based Education for Girls Project in Afghanistan. The project began in 2006 and seeks to expand sustainable access to quality secondary education for girls in the rural Khost province.

The project is helping to set up schools that are managed and staffed by the local community. The program supports students in rural areas to train as teachers and health workers by providing teaching kits and funding teaching internships and access to certificate programs from the Ministry of Education. Schoolteachers and administrators are being trained to manage the schools without governmental assistance and to employ community-based education. With support from the Ministry of Education and its local departments, the project provides rural Afghan girls an opportunity to complete secondary schooling for the first time.

CURE

According to the World Health Organization, there are only two doctors per 10,000 people in Afghanistan, compared to 26 doctors per 10,000 people in the United States. CURE International received a $100,000 grant from the Motorola Foundation to support the CURE International Family Medicine Residency Program, the first of its kind in Afghanistan. This three-year program educates Afghan doctors in a variety of medical disciplines such as internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and orthopedics. CURE’s Family Medicine Residency Program is officially recognized by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health.

China

Many children in rural China have to leave school due to high fees, inadequately resourced schools and to help their families earn money for basic needs. Project Hope is a program launched by the China Youth Development Foundation to ensure that children of every generation in rural communities have the opportunity to go to school.

As of 2010, we have helped more than 30,000 children in rural China return to elementary school through our support for Project Hope. Our donations have surpassed $7.5 million to construct more than 100 Motorola Hope Schools, support teacher training and resources and provide student scholarships for advanced education.

Since working with Project Hope we have:

• Provided financial assistance to more than 30,000 children to help them complete their schooling
• Constructed 108 primary schools in 25 provinces
• Established eight sample Web schools - multi-media classrooms designed to synchronize teaching with schools in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai
• Set up 30 multi-media language labs inside existing schools using low-frequency wireless teaching equipment
• Established the Hope Library and Sanchen Movie Library inside 40 schools
• Trained more than 2,000 Motorola Hope school teachers
• Funded 800 "Motorola Hope Stars" to complete 3- to 4-years of education in senior high school or college
• Donated six laboratories to the BN Vocational School in Beijing and Chengdu