Each year the National Science Technology Medal Foundation (NSTMF) recognizes significant contributions that shape our world. The 2024 honorees include visionaries whose work impacts how we connect, innovate, and address current issues. Among them are several distinguished members of the Marconi Society, whose innovations exemplify the power of technology.
Dr. Mayowa Awe, the newly appointed Executive Director of the National Science Technology Medal Foundation, expressed her views on the impact of the National Technology & Innovation Medal (NTIM).
“The National Medal of Technology and Innovation stands as a testament to the transformative power of innovation and its profound impact on society. It not only honors the brilliant minds behind groundbreaking advancements but also serves as a beacon of inspiration for future generations. By recognizing those who push the boundaries of technology, the medal reinforces the critical role of innovation in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. As we celebrate these achievements, we are reminded that true progress is a collective endeavor fueled by an unwavering commitment to create a brighter future for humanity.”
This year the NSTMF recognized 2013 Marconi Fellow, Martin Cooper, and Marconi Society Board Member, Victor Lawrence with the National Technology & Innovation Medal.
We had the opportunity to connect with Martin and Victor, as well as past laureates, about receiving the National Technology & Innovation Medal. They shared their thoughts on expected breakthroughs and impactful emerging technologies for the coming years.
Martin Cooper
2024 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
“Technologies are only meaningful in the context of how they improve the human experience and address the important societal challenges.”
As one of the 2024 NTIM recipients, Marty Cooper reflects on the transformative potential of future advancements, particularly in education and healthcare, and on efforts to reduce global poverty.
“I believe the major impact of technology on people in the future will be in education and healthcare, as well as continuing to reduce the number of people in the world who live in severe poverty,” Cooper shared. “Smartphones now provide every person access to all the knowledge in the world. They already have had an important impact on poverty. The smartphone will become an even more powerful tool for humanity as it includes artificial intelligence with the potential of eliminating poverty, eliminating disease, and transforming our education system. The latter is necessary and crucial.
“We’re approaching the ability to perform complete physical examinations, not just once a year, but every minute. This capability will enable us to detect and cure diseases even before they occur.
“The education community must adapt to the reality that students now have full-time access to all the world’s information. They no longer need to be taught facts, but rather how to access and assess all that information. New approaches to teaching promise to ultimately make students smarter than ever and equip them to solve our biggest problems.
“These advancements will result in a significant boost in productivity driven by new technologies, which will, in turn, help eliminate poverty.”
Cooper also reflected on his personal experience receiving the National Technology & Innovation Medal, which provided a unique opportunity to connect with other trailblazers.
“The most valuable experience the Medal offered me was the opportunity to meet with the other awardees. It would take far too long to reflect on the few hours spent with the 30 or so recipients, but one moment that stood out was meeting Feng Zhang. He was awarded the National Medal of Science for developing a groundbreaking drug that cures sickle cell disease using gene modification through CRISPR. The future is happening now.”
Victor Lawrence
2024 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
“You have to stand on somebody’s shoulder to see far, but I also hope my shoulders are strong enough for the next generation to be able to stand on and see far.”
As a 2024 NTIM recipient, Victor Lawrence reflects on the significance of the award. He described the experience as both an honor and an inspiration.
He shared his thoughts on advancements he anticipates this year and the emerging technologies poised to have the most profound impact in the years ahead.
“I see significant breakthroughs on the horizon in AI agents, robotaxis and autonomous delivery, and the use of AR/VR headsets and immersive technologies,” Lawrence explained. “AI agents will soon act autonomously to solve complex tasks and optimize workflows without human prompts, collaborating with both humans and other AI systems. These advancements will address challenges in areas such as medicine, finance, and customer service.”
Lawrence also envisions a future where autonomous vehicles become integral to urban life.
“Robotaxis and autonomous delivery systems will soon be a part of daily life in more cities as public trust grows and regulations adapt. This evolution will redefine urban mobility and logistics, improving the efficiency of last-mile delivery with self-driving vehicles and drones.”
Turning to immersive technologies, Lawrence highlighted their expanding role beyond entertainment: “As AR/VR devices become more comfortable and affordable, we’ll see them increasingly used in industrial settings, paired with digital twins to simulate and optimize physical environments. These tools will revolutionize manufacturing, construction, and healthcare, enabling predictive maintenance and better decision-making.”
Views from Marconi Fellows who have received the National Medals in past years
Vint Cerf
1997 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
“Artificial intelligence is the hyperbolic topic of the day, but there is substance as well. Experts are learning how to make smaller, specialized models that can be activated by other large language models (LLMs) for particular purposes. These interactions are also reflected in the emergence of agentic AI models that can carry out tasks by interacting with other online systems, including other LLMs. Standards for syntactic and semantic interaction are likely to emerge to allow agents to interact even if they have not interacted before. There are risks, of course, that there will be ‘misunderstandings’ that lead to errors and failure. The implementers of these systems will need to work on risk mitigation.”
Cerf also emphasized the need for sustainable digital preservation. “Digital content is not eternal,” he warned. “Deliberate steps must be taken to ensure accessibility over decades, even centuries. I believe there will be some progress made along these lines during 2025. There are legal, technical, and financial hurdles to overcome to reach sustainability in digital preservation.”
Reflecting on his 1997 medal, shared with Robert Kahn, Cerf acknowledged the collective effort behind the Internet’s success. “It was a very gratifying experience, but I was conscious then and now that the success of the Internet was the consequence of a countless number of engineers and entrepreneurs who saw the potential of the idea of such a global network and contributed to its viability and utility.” With that he also shared the implications of the Internet. “Now we see what happens when 2/3 of the world has access to the Internet and the World Wide Web,” he said. “There are powerful uses and, sadly, abuses of this amplifier of human endeavor. It is the abuse we now have to cope with, while trying to preserve the demonstrated utility of a global network linking people and computers in a collaborative setting.
Robert Metcalfe
2003 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and recipient of the 2023 Turing Award, shared insights from his current work as a computational engineer at MIT. His focus on geothermal energy harvesting promises breakthroughs in cost reduction and fusion energy.
“The big breakthrough this year will be a tenfold reduction in drilling costs,” he shared. “Geothermal harvesting could rival traditional energy sources, offering clean, reliable, and abundant energy.”
Metcalfe also pointed to advancements in fusion energy and artificial intelligence, particularly efforts to improve AI’s accuracy by reducing hallucinations.
Federico Faggin
2009 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
Faggin emphasizes the transformative potential of understanding consciousness, which he describes as “the master technology of the future.”
“The most important technology emerging now is based on the growing scientific evidence that we are more than biological machines,” Faggin explained. “Accordingly, we are conscious quantum fields with free will. We are independent of our physical body, and we exist in a deeper reality than space-time. In other words, each of us is like a quantum field controlling a very sophisticated ‘drone,’ our physical body, for the deeper purpose of experiencing and knowing itself as a field.”
Faggin states this realization will fundamentally reshape our approach to technology and society: “Cooperation rather than competition is the way forward! And the technology of the future is the master technology that will teach us how to develop and use all the other technologies for the good of all. This is the technology of human transformation that recognizes our deeper spiritual nature, incomparable and yet integral with the physical nature of our bodies.”
Faggin explores these ideas further in his book, IRREDUCIBLE: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature (2024, Essentia).
John Cioffi
2022 National Technology & Innovation Medal Laureate
Known as the “father of DSL,” John Cioffi shared a lighthearted moment from his award ceremony with President Biden. “He jokingly blamed me for his granddaughter’s excessive use of social media,” Cioffi recalled. “I responded, ‘I just make the links run faster, Mr. President; it’s you who provides the messages.’”
Cioffi discussed advancements in the communication field, emphasizing security and sustainability. “Security is not just encryption but protection against theft, disruption, etc. AI methods will be stressed to support such security.” He also noted the increasing interdependence of AI and communication systems, stating, “There is also an increasingly important support of AI by communication, as the interchange of information between distributed processors supporting AI computation will become AI’s main limitation to advance. The two areas necessarily are codependent for progress.”
Andrew Viterbi (1990 Marconi Fellow / 2007 NTIM), Irwin Jacobs (2011 Marconi Fellow / 1994 NTIM), Robert Kahn (1994 Marconi Fellow / 1997 NTIM), and Arun Netravali (2017 Marconi Fellow / 2001 NTIM) were among other Marconi Fellows who also received the NTIM. Their impactful contributions continue to inspire future engineers and shape the Marconi Society’s mission.
The 2025 National Technology & Innovation Medal winners show that technological progress aims to create a sustainable, connected, and innovative world. The Marconi Society recognizes the achievements and dedication of individuals using technology to benefit society.
