The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Welcomes You!

Sir Arthur C. Clarke was an engineer, futurist and humanist who lived by the precept that it is our personal responsibility to use all our cognitive and creative capabilities to imagine past today to shape a better tomorrow.

The Arthur C. Clarke foundation proudly honors his legacy by sparking our imaginations, and daring to fuse our experience, creativity and expertise to think differently at the annual Unleash Imagination program. We invite you to explore this site for the legacy of Sir Arthur, information on the foundation, and details on this year’s exciting Unleash Imagination evening of events!

Unleash Imagination.

Shape the Future.

Arthur C. Clarke Awards and the Clarke Conversation on Imagination
November 21, 2024
Once in a Lifetime Reception • Dinner • Awards Program • Dessert
Embassy of France, Washington, D.C.

2024 Arthur C. Clarke Awards and Clarke Conversation on Imagination

Join us for 1:1 cocktail conversation with these esteemed awardees

5:00 Cocktail Reception | 5:55 Dinner | 7:10 Awards Program | Dessert, Autographs and Photos

Announcing Your 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Awardees

INNOVATOR AWARDEE

JULIE PACKARD

Founder and Executive Director Monterey Bay Aquarium
for her global leadership in ocean conservation and initiating the importance of ecological education.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDEE

NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE

Co-founder MIT Media Lab
for his vision and guidance designing the future of human-computer interaction in business and society.

IMAGINATION IN SERVICE TO SOCIETY AWARDEE

SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE (STScI)

for allowing us, through stunning images and analyses, to feel like fellow explorers of the universe.

2024 Arthur C. Clarke Awards Moderator

Steve Scully | Moderator

Sirius XM Host of “Briefing with Steve Scully,” and former White House correspondent, Steve Scully, will moderate this year’s Clarke Conversation on Imagination.

How might we augment vision and beneficial collaboration between AI and other technologies and Humanity?

In his book, Profiles of the Future, visionary Arthur C. Clarke taught us the limits of the possible, while also allowing us to reimagine the impossible. He was a man of extraordinary prescience and vision who forecast that the partnering of technology with our planet’s inhabitants could either prove of great benefit or an imminent threat.

Nearly six decades ago, his HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey served as a warning, and yet pinned the humans who programmed HAL as the ultimate culprits. Mindful of this warning, and his reminder that “data isn’t information, and information isn’t vision,” how do we get people in our 21st century AI world – young and old – to think like Arthur Clarke – with vision and insights, while also serving vital pro-humanity values? Change agents, those with fresh visions, are often maligned or ignored.

How do we promote beneficial new ideas, including from the young and not yet societally recognized, as decision leaders, and make such ideas more accessible to and accepted by decision-makers and investors?We are being swept into a world where technological advances, often happening too fast to even comprehend, are raising more questions than answers.

How can we use this period of questioning to humanity’s benefit? SIRIUS XM host Steve Scully will engage the three 2024 Clarke Awardees whose visions and accomplishments advance human well-being, seeking their thoughts about where we are and where we need to go from here.

Introducers of 2024 Sir Arthur C. Clarke Awards

Special Introducer of Innovator's Awardee - Julie Packard

John Racanelli

President and Chief Executive Officer, National Aquarium

Special Introducer of Imagination in Service to Society Awardee Space Telescope Science Institute

Nicola Fox, Ph.D.

Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

Special Introducer of Lifetime Achievement Awardee - Nicholas Negroponte

Larry Irving

President of the Irving Group and the Chairman of the Board of the Public Broadcasting Service

Scenes from 2023 Unleash Imagination

Save the date and join the annual celebration – in person or virtually.

Annual Dinner Party Among New Friends

Join us for a delightful and unforgettable evening of cocktails, elegant sit-down dinner and dessert encompassed by the unique program opportunity to meet this year’s awardees in one room. Meet new friends, chat and take pictures with our esteemed awardees and special guests, and leave inspired and enlightened with new friends to meet again next year!

The Clarke Conversation on Imagination

Take your seat in the live audience or watch virtually, from wherever you are, as our moderator Steve Scully challenges the Clarke Awardees on topics of both great interest and concern to the future of our planet, and our daily lives. Questions from the audience are some of our favorite parts! Check out some past Clarke Conversations on Imagination.

HAL 9000 Challenge

We are especially excited about the planned 2025 launch of the new intergenerational co-mentoring program, the HAL. With your help, HAL will open new opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to work with adult experts to create actionable plans which will benefit humanity. Learn how you can support this rich and productive program launch!

Get to Know Us!

About Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Learn About the Foundation

SEE THE LIST OF PAST AWARDEES

The Clarke Foundation is active and involved throughout the year making change and building opportunities for today’s Youth!
Nominate an Arthur C. Clarke Awardee!
Nominate your choice for a future Arthur C. Clarke award! Past awardees range from scientists, science fiction authors, to physicists, business leaders, entrepreneurs and technologists. Submit your nomination now!
Tell Me More About Unleash Imagination
The Clarke Foundation is committed to providing opportunities for our youth to explore their imagination. To surround them with some of the greatest though leaders of our time and to challenge, and be challenged, to lead us into a positive, productive and promising tomorrow.

Sponsor the Future of Unleash Imagination

With the sponsorship package including a table for 8 at the beautiful Embassy of France, online promotion before during and after the event, our sponsors return year after year to invest in the future of the invaluable programs, maintaining the legacy of the visions of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Not on our mailing list? Join here: clarkefoundation.list@gmail.com

Past awardees, from the left: George R.R. Martin, Margaret Atwood, Martin Rees, Stephen Hawking, Cixin Liu, Jill Tarter, Irwin Jacobs, Mark Dankberg, Fred Ordway III.

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