Sun Microsystems, the creator of the Solaris operating system, in conjunction with the United Nations, announced its support of the UN's Global Youth Leadership Summit in New York City, which will bring together youth leaders from around the world to address challenges outlined by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015 – such as eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, supporting environmental sustainability, and improving maternal and child healthcare in the developing and developed worlds. The Summit is designed to provide a framework for youth leaders to discuss and debate strategies to achieve the MDGs and promote peace, create their own networks for exchanging ideas, cooperate on new initiatives, and reach out to more young leaders and organizations.

"With more than one-fifth of the world's 6 billion people being between the ages of 15 to 24, this generation represents the part of the world population most affected by the MDGs," said Dr. Djibril Diallo, director of the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace, and chair of the UN Youth Summit series. "We are excited to partner again with Sun Microsystems so that youth leaders from around the world can learn how technology can help them accelerate progress toward the challenges that face the world. We hope our successful partnership with Sun will inspire other companies to join initiatives with the young leaders."

As the sole corporate sponsor and technology partner for the Youth Summit series, Sun offers a platform for the delegates to network during and after the event. Sun will provide training on technology-enabled collaboration, blogging, and communications to assist the youth delegates understand the implications of new technologies and how to utilize these tools to improve their work, collaborate with peers and maintain connections. As it has with regional Summits past, Sun will host the Summit Web site to help increase participation by streaming the proceedings, offering real-time inquiry and discussion forums, and tools for interaction. Sun is also offering a first-time mentoring program for the youth delegates, matching them up with Sun employees across the world with business, technological or personal expertise in areas which could benefit the delegates' home-country projects. Every delegate will be offered the chance to pair with a Sun employee, and Sun will provide a global platform for ongoing interaction to take place after the Summit is completed.

"At Sun, we've always believed in the power of the network and the social impact of Sun's technology on network participation. We want to provide everyone with the tools they need to succeed and participate in this new networked world," said Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, senior vice president of brand and global communications, Sun Microsystems. "Today, we are moving toward an age of participation where real progress can be made on a global scale through collaboration and communication, and whether you're in Dakar or Duluth, and online at an Internet cafe or on your Java Powered cell phone, the network empowers that participation."

Van Den Hoogen will speak at the Summit on developing a mechanism for knowledge sharing as well as managing projects. She will also be providing training and mentorship to help delegates harness the power of technology in their work.

Sun Sponsorship Part of "Share the Opportunity" and The Participation Age

Sun's support of the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit is part of its "Share the Opportunity" initiative, a global effort to help promote participation in social change. Sun believes the world is entering a new era — a Participation Age — where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are driving a new round of network participation. From blogs to Java technology, SMS messages to Web services, participants are forming communities to drive change, create new businesses, new social services, and new discoveries. This growth in the network economy is fueled by sharing and collaboration among communities interconnected by technology and driven by purpose. Sun also believes that sharing and collaboration in the Participation Age will stimulate innovation to help all participants from across the world grow and prosper.

UN Global Youth Leadership Summit

The first ever UN Global Youth Leadership Summit grew out of five regional meetings, resulting in a network of youth leaders consisting of young professionals, community leaders, social entrepreneurs and students from around the world. Being held in New York City from October 29th through 31st, the Summit brings together two young leaders – one male and one female – from each of the member states of the United Nations, making this an historic event which enjoys the support of the Secretary-General and world political leaders.

The Summit is designed to help the next generation of leaders face the tremendous challenges outlined at the United Nations Millennium Summit held in September 2000. There, leaders from around the world endorsed the Millennium Development Goals, committing to reduce poverty by half, ensure universal quality education, empower women, reduce mortality rates, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and achieve environmental sustainability by 2015.