Beijing, Sept 24 (People's Daily Online) —Technology and innovation highlighted the 2014 Global Social Good Summit Beijing, promoting China’s best practices and continuing commitment to using cutting-edge technology in promoting social good.

Focusing on the theme of “Connecting for Good, Connecting for All” this year, the annual event Organized by United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has come to its third year.

“Let us bring together local leaders, entrepreneurs, experts and civil society organizations to work towards our common goal of equality for all global citizens,” said Patrick Haverman, Deputy Country Director of UNDP China.

The summit aimed to surpass last year’s, when over 60 countries took part and generated a global conversation with over 70,000 tweets and impacted 100 million people across the globe.

“Countries use social media very differently, and it's dependent on their particular cultures. But I do think China is setting an incredible example in terms of the way that major social media companies put aside the competition when they formed an alliance for social good,” Dr. Ray Yip, Director of China Country Office at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said.

“We believe that such strong partnership and the global conversation it facilities and promotes will help further realize the potential of new communications technologies in empowering people to lead healthy and productive lives wherever they are.”

Alongside the Gates Foundation and the Social Media for Social Good Alliance, the summit worked to raise consciousness of key social issues, including global warming, poverty alleviation, anti-smoking awareness and connecting people. It succeeded in generating discussions and opening dialogue with post and videos on Chinese social media.

During the event, members of the China Social Media for Social Good Alliance, including Sina, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Renren and Guokr shared their experiences and visions for China’s continuing efforts to be at vanguard of social media usage for increasing social awareness.

Over the next month, UNDP, Gates Foundation and Chinese Social Media for Social Good Alliance members will be promoting a month-long social media campaign which includes a series of fun topics like “StayCool” and “1.25Challenge”, to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming and the plight of those still living under the global poverty line of $1.25 a day, and call for creative ideas on how to “Say No to Forced Smoking”, aiming to raise awareness of the harm of tobacco.