Today Google.org announced a several new
initiatives that match its existing projects in
scope and innovation. First is the Google.org
blog posting by Larry Brilliant, followed by the official press release.

Introducing our initiatives
Thursday 1/17/2008 08:04:00 AM
http://blog.google.org/2008/01/introducing-our-initiatives.html

Posted by Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director, Google.org

Today Google.org announced five initiatives that
we will focus on in the coming years. Predict and
Prevent will seek to identify hot spots and
enable rapid response to emerging threats,
beginning in the area of infectious diseases. The
other two efforts, Fuel the Growth of Small and
Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Inform and
Empower to Improve Public Services focus on
building jobs and improving the delivery of basic
services, such as education and clean water, in the developing world.

These efforts join our climate change-related
initiatives announced in 2007: to Develop
Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE-C) and
Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT).

There is so much good work to be done around the
world, we've had to make some tough choices about
our strategy and our focus. We spent more than a
year building a diverse team, researching, and
learning from others in the field. With Google's
skills in information and technology in mind, we
looked for areas where we could make the biggest
potential impact by helping find scalable
solutions. We are relative newcomers to these
efforts and are enormously grateful for the
guidance we've received from experienced partners
as we've considered where we could best lean our
shoulder against these global challenges side by
side with local communities and the broader philanthropic community.

And now it is time to dive deep! Please visit the
initiative pages for more specific information
about the approaches we're taking.

PRESS RELEASE
Google.org Announces Core Initiatives to Combat
Climate Change, Poverty and Emerging Threats
Reveals its plans for philanthropy; announces new grants and investments

Mountain View, Calif. (January 17, 2008) – In its
continuing effort to use the power of information
and technology to help people better their lives,
Google.org today rolled out five core initiatives
that will be the focus of its philanthropic
efforts over the next five to ten years.
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google
(NASDAQ: GOOG), will collaborate with experienced
partners working in each of these fields,
investing its resources and tapping the strengths
of Google's employees and global operations to advance its core initiatives.

Today's announcement includes more than $25
million in new grants and investments to initial
partners. The resources come from a commitment by
Google's founders to devote approximately 1
percent of the company's equity plus 1 percent of
annual profits to philanthropy, as well as employee time.

"In their first Letter from the Founders (2004),
Larry Page and Sergey Brin said that we wanted to
'make Google an institution that makes the world
a better place.' The work of Google.org will help
us do that by applying Google's strengths in
organizing information and scaling technology to
these complex issues," said Sheryl Sandberg, VP
Global Online Sales & Operations, and Google.org Board member..

Added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of
Google.org, "These five initiatives are our
attempt to address some of the hard problems we
as a world need to face in the coming decade. We
have chosen them both because we think solving
them will make a better, fairer, safer world for
our children and grandchildren---and the children
and grandchildren of people all over the
world---but also because we feel that these core
initiatives fit well with Google's core
strengths, especially its innovative technologies
and its talented engineers and other Googlers,
who are really our most valuable assets."

Google.org joins a community of like minded
groups working to make the planet and population
healthier and more equitable. Google.org's five
initiatives and initial partners include:

* PREDICT AND PREVENT

Google.org supports efforts to empower
communities to predict and prevent events before
they become local, regional, or global crises, by
identifying "hot spots" and enabling a rapid
response. Rapid ecological and social changes are
increasing the risk of emerging threats, from
infectious diseases to drought and other
environmental disasters. Google.org is initially
focused on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. In
Southeast Asia, a hot spot for SARS and
potentially bird flu, Google.org is working with
partners to strengthen early warning systems and
build local capacities to prevent the next pandemic. Initial grants include:

$5 million to InSTEDD (Innovative Support to
Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) to improve
early detection, preparedness, and response
capabilities for global health threats and
humanitarian crises. InSTEDD will work with the
community of relief and response organizations,
governments, academia and top scientists around
the world to address gaps in information flow
with software and other technology-based tools
and services. Acting as an innovation laboratory,
InSTEDD aims to support the humanitarian
community in preparing for and responding to
global public health emergencies, working
together towards a safer world. For more information, see http://instedd.org/.

$2.5 million to the Global Health and Security
Initiative (GHSI), established by the Nuclear
Threat Initiative to prevent, detect, and respond
to biological threats. Google.org's support will
help GHSI to strengthen national and sub-regional
disease surveillance systems through workforce
training and better laboratory capacity in the
Mekong Basin area (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Yunnan province, China).
For more information, see http://www.ghsi.org/..

More than $600,000 to Clark University, with
equal funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation, for Clark Labs to develop a system to
improve monitoring, analysis and prediction of
the impacts of climate variability and change on
ecosystems, food and health in Africa and the
Amazon. This system is a prototype platform to
deploy global environmental, health, and
development data, information and analysis tools
that the global community can freely access over
the Internet. For more information, see http://www.clarklabs.org/.


* INFORM AND EMPOWER TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SERVICES

Google.org works with partners to improve the
flow of vital information to improve basic
services for the poor in India and East Africa.
In many countries in the developing world,
essential public services are failing, especially
for the poorest members of society. Google.org
supports efforts to provide information to
empower citizens and communities, providers, and
policy makers to improve the delivery of
essential public services such as education,
health, water and sanitation. Initial grants include:

$2 million to Pratham, a non-governmental
organization in India, to create an independent
institute that will conduct the Nationwide Annual
Status of Education Report (ASER) as well as
large scale assessments in the education sector.
Our goal is to expand these types of assessments
to other sectors. For more information, see http://www.pratham.org/.

$765,000 to the Centre for Budget and Policy
Studies, a Bangalore-based analysis group, to
create a Budget Information Service for local
governments to facilitate better district- and
municipal-level level planning in India. For
more information, see http://www.cbpsindia.org/.

$660,000 to the Center for Policy Research, an
action oriented think tank based in India, to
increase the debate and discourse on issues of
urban local governance and urban service
delivery. With the rapid expansion of cities in
India, our goal is to provide policy makers the
necessary information to make more informed
decisions. For more information, see http://www.cprindia.org/.


* FUEL THE GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

Google.org supports efforts to lower transaction
costs to invest in SMEs, create opportunities to
access larger financial markets and make
investments in this sector. SMEs are critical for
inclusive economic growth and job creation in the
developing world, but lack the capital and tools
necessary to succeed. Many micro-enterprises and
most large businesses have access to capital
through microfinance institutions, banks and
capital markets, but SMEs remain extraordinarily
underserved, creating a "missing middle."
Google.org wants to help increase the flow of
capital to "the missing middle" by tackling some
of the root causes that prevent these firms from
becoming profitable investment opportunities.
Technoserve is an initial partner:

$4.7 million grant to TechnoServe to provide
general support to expand Technoserve's efforts
to support enterprises, spur job creation, and
strengthen poverty alleviation programs globally,
and to develop and implement a business plan
competition to support entrepreneurs in Ghana and
Tanzania. For more information see, http://www.technoserve.org/.

These three new efforts join two climate change
related initiatives announced earlier this year:


* DEVELOP RENEWABLE ENERGY CHEAPER THAN COAL (RE<C)

This cross-Google collaboration has set a goal of
producing one gigawatt of renewable energy
capacity that is cheaper than coal, within years
not decades. The initiative, known as RE<C, was
launched in November 2007 and will focus
initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind
power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems
and other potential breakthrough technologies.
For more information on Google's commitment to a
clean energy future, see
http://www.google.com/renewable-energy. As part
of the RE<C initiative, Google.org is supporting
strategic investments, including:

$10 million to eSolar, a Pasadena, CA-based
company specializing in solar thermal power which
replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant
with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar's
technology has great potential to produce
utility-scale power cheaper than coal. Google
announced its intention to work closely with
eSolar in November, and has now closed the
investment deal. For more information, please
visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/esolar.pdf.


* ACCELERATE THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF PLUG-IN VEHICLES (RECHARGEIT)

RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims
to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and
stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the
adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and
vehicle-to-grid technology. Google.org launched a
$10 million request for investment proposals this
Fall, and will invest amounts ranging from
$500,000 to $2 million in selected for-profit
companies whose innovative approach, team and
technologies will enable widespread
commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric
vehicles, electric vehicles and/or vehicle-to-grid solutions.


Unlike conventional philanthropies, Google.org is
a hybrid organization, giving it the flexibility
either to make direct grants or invest in
for-profit companies that might yield returns.
Google..org can also lobby public officials in
favor of policies supporting its goals.


* ADDITIONAL GOOGLE GIVING

Beyond the grants and investments announced today
under Google.org's core initiatives, Google will
continue its philanthropic work through programs
to leverage Google products for non-profits,
including: Google GrantsTM, which donates free
ads to non-profits; Google AppsTM, which provides
free, web-based services to non-profits; and
contributions from departments including Google
EarthTM, which offers mapping to monitor events
such as the crisis in Darfur.

About Google.org
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, uses
the power of information and technology to help
people improve their lives. We develop and invest
in tools and partnerships that can help bring
shared knowledge to bear on the world's most
pressing challenges in the areas of climate
change, economic development and global health.
For more information, visit http://www.google.org.

About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect
millions of people around the world with
information every day. Founded in 1998 by
Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey
Brin, Google today is a top web property in all
major global markets. Google's targeted
advertising program provides businesses of all
sizes with measurable results, while enhancing
the overall web experience for users. Google is
headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices
throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For
more information, please visit http://www.google.com.


Conference Call Information
Google.org's call begins today at 9:00 AM (PT) /
12:00 PM (ET). To participate, call 877-604-9673
in the United States or 719-325-4905 for calls
from outside the United States, and use the
confirmation code 4699562. A replay of the call
will be available beginning at 3:00 PM (ET) today
through midnight Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by
calling 888-203-1112 in the United States or
719-457-0820 for calls from outside the United
States. The required confirmation code for the replay is 4699562.

Media Contact:
Jacquelline Fuller Google press@...

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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
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