Tag: Ron Baecker

Ethical Tech Startup Guide: My New Book is Now Available

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Ethical Tech Startup Guide, published by Springer Nature, draws on almost five decades of entrepreneurial experience and innovation and offers a broad perspective on ethical tech startups. It approaches the subject on two fronts by considering both the business of ethical technology as well as the challenges of tech startups with an imperative to behave ethically.

The book is a clear and concise presentation of principles for ethical tech startup success, with recommendations are grounded in the experiences of 26 example firms and the entrepreneurs whose leadership and skill animated them.

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We are Drowning in e-Waste

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In a recent blog, I discussed digital technology’s contribution to the environmental apocalypse, with massive amounts of energy being used in three ways: (1) to manufacture digital technologies; (2) to operate them; and (3) to dispose of and replace them with newer versions. 

Electronic waste (e-waste) occurs when repair of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is impossible or undesirable and where devices are discarded thoughtlessly.  A 2020 estimate of the amount of e-waste produced in the world was 54 million metric tons, which amounts to 7.3 kg fo every person in the world. Who would have predicted that the figure would be so high? The amount is doubling every 16 years. Asia generates the greatest quantity, followed by the Americas and Europe, which also produces the most per person. 

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